Tecno-Bachata Dance Music

Tecno-bachata emerged on the scene in the late 1980's, on the heels of the doble entendre period. As artists in the latter part of the doble entendre
period had introduced electric guitars, this era in the bachata music continued with more experimentation of new sounds and styles. The flavor of the
music began to turn to more cross over sounds which gained the appeal of the mainstream audience. This period reveals strong influences of rhythm and
blues as well as of jazz.

Bachata was slowly making its way into the mainstream Dominican middle class at this time when it captured the imagination of a group of liberal middle
class musicians. This group, among them Sonia Silvestre, Victor Victor, Luis Dias and Juan Luis Guerra, began recording songs that had strong
influences of bachata, and an underlying current of bolero time. Guerra rose to great success with his record "Bachata Rosa" in not only the Latin
America markets, but in Europe and the United States as well.

The tecno-bachata was a relatively short lived period in the era of bachata. The majority of the musicians who produced tecno-bachata did not bind
themselves solely to bachata. In other words, they were not only bachateros, they, in fact, represented a wide variety of musical stylings.

The reason that tecno-bachata is considered so influential is that it is essentially a landmark in the path that bachata music has taken. It was with
tecno-bachata that the mainstream society began to accept bachata. This was due, in part, to Guerra's success. The tecno-bachateros may have also
offered some influence as well as the production values of bachata shifted. When Blas Duran brought multi-track recording to the bachata landscape, the
acceptance became more widespread.

As this genre of music has flourished and grown with the changing times, it has held to the traditional sounds, at least in some manner. A music that
has withstood the changing times, from the 1980's and beyond, the sound is still traditional for the most part. Now, however, bachata is becoming
popular throughout the world. Though it has taken time to grow and evolve, each period offers its own unique flavor. It is techno-bachata that is
considered to be the driving influence in bringing bachata music from underground to mainstream acceptance.

As tecno-bachata's popularity grew, as it impacted the genre, the middle class media grew to accept it. What is not often said out loud is that there has
always been a large and influential audience for bachata music, perhaps, it is said, the most significant domestic audience in the Dominican Republic.
When Guerra and Silvestre embarked on the tecno-bachata adventure, the bachata was already gathering an audience on its own.