Films: The Duke of the Bachata

The Duke of the Bachata
El duque de la bachata

USA, 2009, 53 Minute Running Time
Additional Countries: Dominican Republic
Genre/Subjects: Colorado, Documentary, Family Issues, Music, Social Issues
Program: Documentary Films
Language: English, Spanish English Subtitles

DIRECTOR: Adam Taub
Producer: Adam Taub, Marsha Taub-Edwards
Editor: Adam Taub
Cinematographer: Adam Taub

Filmmaker Adam Taub (La Quinceañera) follows Joan Soriano, a bachata musician, as he strives to make a success of his career and improve the lives of the extended family he leaves behind in the rural Dominican Republic.

Bachata is a Dominican musical genre that emerged in the wake of the repressive Trujillo dictatorship. Recorded for the first time in 1961, its sound was demonized as vulgar and only began to receive recognition after many of its practicioners made the switch to electric instruments in the 1990s. Bachata is guitar-based: a typical band features three guitars and two percussion instruments. Soriano, for his part, has enriched the standard repertoire by drawing on traditions from Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean, adding elements of merengue, salsa, and the percussive Afro-Dominican genres known as salve and palo. But even at age 35, this boyish charmer must still take a backseat to the legends of the tradition, whether in concert or in recording sessions for the established likes of Joe Veras and Zacarias Ferreira. Journeying to New York and Chicago in pursuit of stardom, Soriano is aware that the price of his ambition will be the pain of separation from his family. But he also knows it may be worth paying, as a music producer promises to record a CD of his work.

Taub became interested in bachata during a year-abroad program in college. When he decided to make a documentary about it, he searched for a musician who, like bachata itself, had roots in the backwoods and barrios of the Dominican Republic. Though he had a long list of candidates to begin with, upon meeting Soriano, Taub knew he’d found his subject.

Official Film Website

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