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Merengue

            Merengue is a type of dance that is most strongly identified with the Dominican Republic. It has spread by the large numbers of Dominicans immigrating to the United States, bringing the merengue with them. There are many theories regarding the origin of merengue, which will be discussed in this report. One of them being that the black slaves saw the ballroom dances in the Big Houses and when they had their own festivities started mimicking the "masters' dances". However, the Europeans dances were not very exciting, so over time, the slaves added the use of the drums to make the dance more upbeat. .
             Even though it was very popular among the masses, high-class people did not accept merengue for a long time, because it was related to African music. It was considered by some to be the music of the under-class; therefore it was of bad taste to even listen to it. Another reason why it was rejected was the strong content lyrics, generating rejection and attacks against merengue. Even today some songs are still banned from Dominican radio stations due to the poor lyrics.
             The acceptance of merengue by all classes was due to two key events. The first was its role in maintaining Dominican cultural identity from the time when the United States took over the running of the Dominican Republic's customs house in 1905, which had great repercussions on national sentiment. The second was the adoption of the merengue as a national symbol by the dictator Rafael Trujillo who was a peasant that came from the lowest class in Dominican Republic. These factors are largely responsible for the dominant portrayal of the Dominican Republic as the home of the merengue.
            


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