merengue ?

S

Salsero_AT

New Member
Hi !

I would like to know which of you like to dance merengue and if you know any good songs ? I liked it when i started dancing because it was easier for me in the beginning but now i find the music a bit tiring but perhaps it is only because the dj´s here play bad merengues ? :?

Greetz
Christian
 
Merengue Songs

Hi Salsero_AT. You can start with Music from Oro Solido (Planeta Solido CD), Fulanito (El Hombre Mas Famoso De La Tierra CD) and Grupo Mania (Masters of Stage CD). Good CDs, Hi Energy, Drink plenty of water. :D
 
I love Rubby Perez' CD "Vuelve El Merengue". All but 3 tracks are merengue (1 is salsa, the other 2 are bachata). Track 2 "Weepa" (pronounced waapa) what a way to start a party! :D Track 3 is also very good dominican-sounding, not way-too-fast merengue. Muy sabroso! :wink:

Merenguera at heart
 
Once you get into music more you'll find as you have. Merengue can get very tiring, not because of the DJ, but because it is a relatively simple style of music.

I, myself, don't find any of the new merengue bands satisfying, but if I must listen to merengue I'm more into old school merengue, where the lyrics contain more than 'la vaca', 'la vaca'(the cow, the cow)... People such as Johnny Ventura and Sergio Vargas are good. But you can always buy Fania Salsa CDs which normally had 1 Merengue song and are generally good merengue tunes, you'll build up your salsa collection and at the same time get some real merengue.
 
I personally LOVE merengue...

It's really in my blood, but I do agree that the newer bands
now are not really producing great stuff...

I'm very good friends with a lot of the people mentioned here
so I would recommend:

Ruby Perez
Sergio Vargas
Raul Acosta Oro Solido (His label 24K Records has a ton of bands)
Tun Tun (He's got some cool stuff)
Fernandito Villalona (or Fernando Villalona)
Victor Roque y La Gran Manzana
Pochy y su CocoBand
Victor Roque
Banda Lokka
Banda Pesa
Johny Ventura

Then you might want to check out some of the "Perico Ripiao"
genre...which is more traditional, complex, and faster...
 
I second salsarhythms recommendation. There is good stuff out there. Songs like "La Vaca" make merengue look boooooring and monotonous.
 
If you think merengue is boring, you have never really danced merengue.

I absolutely love merengue for the connection that you can get with your partner. Maybe its me, but sometimes when I mambo, the over-training takes over and I seem to focus a lot more on doing things 'the right way'. I find that most salseras let lose when we merengue, and the closer position allows me to do fun things like a mini-dip or a sitdown ( my legs are the chair ), and they are a bit more responsive to it. Maybe sometimes I'll even try a cuban arm wrap to surprise her, but I love merengue and its less popular cousin, bachata.

I find it interesting that a lot of salseros here will sit out a cha-cha, when it is an awesome opportunity to improvise and trully play with the music. Maybe I'm new, but I love any chance I get to get on the floor and shake my non-latin knat.

And about 'La vaca', it's supposed to be a party song. Do you put down hip-hop as a genre when there are songs like " It's getting hot in here " and "who let the dogs out?". Some of the best knat shaking songs I've danced with, "El venado", "El Tiburon" are just what they are, stupid fun that makes you move what the good lord gave ya.
 
brujo said:
If you think merengue is boring, you have never really danced merengue.

I absolutely love merengue for the connection that you can get with your partner. Maybe its me, but sometimes when I mambo, the over-training takes over and I seem to focus a lot more on doing things 'the right way'. I find that most salseras let lose when we merengue, and the closer position allows me to do fun things like a mini-dip or a sitdown ( my legs are the chair ), and they are a bit more responsive to it. Maybe sometimes I'll even try a cuban arm wrap to surprise her, but I love merengue and its less popular cousin, bachata.

I find it interesting that a lot of salseros here will sit out a cha-cha, when it is an awesome opportunity to improvise and trully play with the music. Maybe I'm new, but I love any chance I get to get on the floor and shake my non-latin knat.

And about 'La vaca', it's supposed to be a party song. Do you put down hip-hop as a genre when there are songs like " It's getting hot in here " and "who let the dogs out?". Some of the best knat shaking songs I've danced with, "El venado", "El Tiburon" are just what they are, stupid fun that makes you move what the good lord gave ya.
Click to expand...


well, see, I'm looking at it more from an artistic point of view. I only back Sergio Vargas' statement when he said songs like La Vaca are destroying an art form. After listening to it once was enough, it got over played and tiring after that. Even when I can dance the bazoocas out of a merengue the music's constant repetetiveness doesn't allow me to dance more than 2 in a row. It is just a different animal all together, while I can value the fun of a song, and its catchy-ness when they all turn into the same and the art in them is dilluted, then I begin to question how from such beautiful art form it became a mess. Old school merengue was hot and fun.

However, I must see music as an interpretation of how society is shaping in today's world. After all music is recorded history in a song....
 
Merengue

Hi,

I'm posting a query on Merengue the dance, and not about Merengue music, so I don't know whether I'll be ruled out of context.

The club that I dance Salsa, sometimes play Merengue music too so I'm keen to do a bit of Merengue dancing. Most of my friends commented that Merengue is an easy dance and if you can dance Salsa you can dance Merengue. My Salsa instructor say the same thing too (without actually showing me how to adapt the Salsa moves to dance Merengue).

Is it true I can use the same Salsa moves I've learned to dance Merengue and if so any pointers on doing it.

rgds,
rickyT
 
Hi rickyT... yes, you can use the exact same moves. The key to translating them is just to keep your footwork going (1,2,1,2,...) as you execute them at any given tempo. Does that make sense?
 
The thing I like about Merengue is you can try almost any move, and if it doesn't work out, you can get back on the beat almost immediately. It's also relatively slow, so you can try a lot of crazy leads, and if you end up in a twisted knot, just untwist and you're OK.
 
Merengue is a slow dance? :shock:
You can dance it any way you want it! Some guys dance slowly, but others go so crazy I can't catch my breath after just one song.
It's also a great way to practice new moves and play with your shoulders (something I'm still not comfortable with in salsa...)
 
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