Releases

Bachata has long been popular in Haitian communities in the Dominican Republic. It has become a musical path to express a clearly Dominican identity and, nevertheless, particularly relevant to the experience of Haitian immigrants. Although Creole is the mother tongue of several popular bachata artists, it is not until now that a bachata is released in the Haitian language. Bachata Haiti exhibits...
Amargue, the bitter-sweet language of bachata, permeates this album of love and loss. Joan Soriano’s roots bachata band includes his sister Griselda, brother Fernando, and a new sister in music, André Velóz. With “Me decidí” [I have decided], Joan Soriano continues his tradition of combining old school bachata with modern. Steel string mambos punctuate swinging bass lines and syncopated...
Joan Soriano has played with the biggest names in bachata and mesmerized audiences across the world, but he owes his precocious talent to an exceptionally musical family. This album, a landmark collaboration with his two sisters and brother, captures the intimacy and playfulness of their upbringing in the hills of Monte Plata, where the young Sorianos learned to dance to the rhythm of bachata in...
Joan Soriano and the masters that record with Romeo Santos, Aventura & Monchy y Alexandra present a DVD breakdown of the essentials of bachata, instrument by instrument. Bachata Breakdown En Vivo demonstrates the basic rhythms of Derecho, Majao, and Mambo with step by step instruction of bongó, güira, bass, rhythm guitar, and requinto patterns. Bachata Breakdown En Vivo DVD is available now....
The Bachata Legends unite revered figures from bachata’s storied past. The 2007 release of “Bachata Roja: Acoustic Bachata from the Cabaret Era” (iASO Records) sparked international interest in traditional bachata. The following year, using New York City as a hub, ‘The Bachata Roja Legends’ performed a series of showcases across the United States. In between concerts, iASO organized recording...
"The essential quality of bachata is amargue - literally, bitterness. But it can be a nostalgic, melancholic pain that makes you feel better, like the blues, or what in Portuguese is called saudade" - Ned Sublette Bachata Roja Amor y Amargue offers up timeless classics of traditional bachata. From the quietly sad plucking guitar of the 1960s masterpiece 'A donde andara,' to the emotive delivery...
Presented by Carlos Cinta to the music of Joan Soriano, "El Duque". Includes full songs by Joan Soriano and The Bachata Roja Legends. Bachata Breakdown demonstrates bachata instrument by instrument, with spoken beat counting. Dance and musicality instructor Carlos Cinta explains timings to bass, bongos, güira, and full instrumental tracks. Carlos illustrates timing for dancing on 1, 2, 3, 4, and...
Born in the rural countryside near Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, Joan Soriano fashioned his first guitar from a tin can and fishing line and has never looked back. Soriano plays steel string bachata with equal parts romance and grit. The Afro-infused rhythm that permeates his music has made him a favorite among dancers. Joan's first international release, El Duque de la Bachata, was...
Celebrating his recent 86th birthday, the Dominican Republic’s veteran sonero, Puerto Plata, returns with his new album, “Casita de Campo,” a glorious selection of classic love songs and lilting dance numbers composed during the repressive regime of the dictator Rafael Trujillo (1930-1960). “Casita de Campo” follows his internationally acclaimed 2007 debut album “Mujer de Cabaret.” Under Trujillo...
Bachata Roja: Acoustic Bachata from the Cabaret Era is the first ever compilation of classic Dominican bachata. From the early 1960’s to the late 1980’s the legendary voices of Eladio Romero Santos, Leonardo Paniagua and Blas Duran spoke to the hearts of a generation. The dizzying guitar accompaniment of pioneers like Edilio Paredes and Augusto Santos charted the course of bachata’s rise, and for...
In 2007, at age 84, Puerto Plata launched his critically acclaimed debut, “Mujer de Cabaret.” The album takes you back to the golden age of Dominican guitar music. Its sones, boleros and merengues are a testament to a time gone but not forgotten, of serenades, carousing and revelry. Puerto Plata’s sweet, nostalgic voice is accompanied on the requinto by two of the Dominican Republic’s finest...
Super Uba's album, Tierra Lejana, is a tribute to the classic acoustic guitar style of the Dominican Republic. The album was recorded live and mixed minimally - to give a more raw, natural, and musical sound. The Dominican Republic is home to an extraordinarily rich musical culture which is still relatively unknow to outsiders. The island's guitar music, merengue, bachata and son, are quite...