The Modern Bachateros: 27 Interviews by Julie A. Sellers

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Modern Bachateros: 27 Interviews by Julie A. Sellers Filiberto Mares Hernández, Ph.D. Julie A. Sellers. 2017. The Modern Bachateros: 27 Interviews. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Print. ISBN (print): 978-0-7864-9882-6. ISBN (ebook): 978-1-4766-27441. The Modern Bachateros: 27 Interviews is an insightful book that elucidates imperative themes about the evolution, impact, and transcendental characteristics of the modern bachateros as well as the bachata's global effect. The book has a foreword by Jerry W. Carson, an exhaustive introduction by the author, Julie A. Sellers, 27 interviews (with Dre Hidalgo, Javier Franco, Alejandra Feliz, Solo 2, and 23 more artists), a conclusion by the author, and a list of the interview dates, as well as chapter notes, and an index. This book also includes pictures that help visualize who the artists are and also to portray relevant places to the movement and protagonists. The book has an interdisciplinary approach to the topic that goes from history, linguistics, and media studies, to anthropology, sociology, and journalism, but not necessarily in this order. The book is a rigorous and informed, first-hand research of modern bachateros. Julie's unquestionable knowledge of the topic makes it accessible for all types of audiences and readers; from a professional scholar interested in the genre to fans eager to know a more into depth history and analysis of the modern bachateros and the movement itself in the last few decades. One of the many salient aspects of the book is the organization of the interviews. First, the book doesn't include all the author's questions which gives fluidity to the interviewee discourse, and to the book in general. Interview after interview there is a common dialogue among the bachateros. There is no rupture within the book. The 27 interviews are the intimate voices of those artists and producers who created the modern bachata and have, in many ways, evolved with it. They tell their stories with pride for what they have accomplished and contributed, not only to the genre, but to Dominican identities around the globe, particularly in the USA. When Jay Heightz (Jerry García) responds to the question about Spanglish, he affirms that "Spanglish explains our culture because we're right at the middle. We can't say we're full Dominicans; we can't say we are full American because the reality is that we're not […] The reality is we were Dominicans, but in New York" (101). The 27 interviews also reveal some commonalities among the [End Page 224] bachateros. One that really stands out is the humble origin of most of them. This approach exposes their struggles to get from A to Z. They also agree about the important role that Aventura has as a pioneer of the modern bachata in the US. Likewise, they express themselves about their successes and their failures, what makes them humans living their dreams, and the creators of a massive intercultural movement in the twenty first century. Other recurring themes in the 27 interviews are: contemporary underground bachata movements, for instance, the integration of women in a "male-dominated genre" (74), Spanglish use in modern bachata, the polemic question if the bachatero is born or made, and the intricacies of the music industries, as well as personal secrets revealed for the first time to the public in this book. To conclude, Julie Sellers points out about modern bachata, "What started as an intimate expression of a transnational, multicultural, and bilingual self has morphed into one of the hottest Latin genres on the market today" (210). Finally, this third book about bachata reaffirms Julie A. Sellers as a thoughtful, consolidated writer, and a referent to the topic. Filiberto Mares Hernández Department of Modern Foreign and Classical Languages Benedictine College fhernandez@benedictine.edu Copyright © 2018 Instituto de Estudios del Caribe, Universidad de Puerto Rico