By José Arias
El Inmobiliario
The ruling class of 19th-century Santiago rejected merengue because of its
libertine lyrics and the rubbing of hips during the dance.
SANTO DOMINGO.-If a merengue perico ripiao happens to play during a seminar, workshop, or business lunch, the participants will surely move
some part of their body, even if they don't want to and the context doesn't warrant it.
The rhythm, the flavor, and the playful spirit of the quintessential
Dominican folk and patriotic music evokes reactions like these. You just have to be alive
to experience it.
But where does the nickname "perico ripiao" for typical merengue come from?
The distinguished writer and folklorist, Rafael Chaljub Mejía, answers us in his wonderful
work “Por los Caminos Del Merengue”, that, at the end of the 19th Century in the city of
Santiago de los Caballeros, specifically in the Hospedaje sector, hundreds of
merchants, buyers and sellers of animals, tobacco and fruit growers,
highway bandits and cockfighters arrived with the purpose of selling and buying their products to
then resell them in other areas of the country.
The days of these men who had come from afar—back then there were no highways—were arduous, stressful, and exhausting. The travelers took advantage of the nights to let off steam at the entertainment venues of the time: cockfights, makeshift dance halls with dirt floors, and, of course, brothels.
In those dives, men of all ages slept with prostitutes, and the
amorous act was called "¡a ripiar el perico!" or "¡aquí se va a ripiar el perico!" (let's rip the parrot!). Therefore, the expression "a ripiar el perico" captures the double entendre and the mischievousness that characterizes our merengue from its first chords to the present day.
For a city like Santiago, conservative, couple-oriented and cultured, the libertine and erotic origin of the
dance, along with the rubbing of hips in cockfighting arenas and brothels, generated a total rejection of
merengue.
This is to say that, for the ruling class of Santiago, merengue was
synonymous with vagrancy, or rather, they hated this dance "of peasants without morals or
good manners." Unfortunately, years later, the dictator Trujillo "honored" the
maligned merengue.
To counteract that vagrancy, the "decent people" of the Cibao city danced their
European dances—waltzes and polkas—in their spacious and immaculate ballrooms. No merengue whatsoever.
Chajulb Mejía also notes that the first lyrics of a well-known merengue—as many
researchers point out—could be those of the very famous Juan Gomero. The one that goes like this:
"The girls of Juan Gómez are pretty and dance well, but they have one flaw: they laugh
at everyone they see."
At first, perico ripiao was played with stringed instruments (three and four guitars), and
then, with the arrival of Germans through the Puerto Plata dock,
the famous accordion arrived among their belongings. Decades later, the savory sound of the saxophone was added to the enjoyment
.
Among the early forerunners of merengue perico ripiao are Ñico Lora,
considered one of the first fathers of the rhythm, Papá Baudillo, who is presumed to be
the author of the merengue Juan Gomero, General Larguito and Guandulito.
Then, our latest generations met Tatico Henríquez, Francisco Ulloa and currently
Fefita La Grande, El Cieguito de Nagua, María Díaz, La India Canela, El Prodigio, Krisppy and
Geovanny Polanco, among others.
Let's get to work, damn it!
Originally published in the 5th edition of El Inmobiliario print magazine, section El Cibao en Concreto, which highlights the rich Cibao culture.
