YEИDRY is a Dominican-Italian artist whose newly released debut full-length album, Como Agua, takes a deep dive into Afro-Dominican rhythms. The album includes palos, bachata, merengue and boleros. It fuses these with modern rhythms, taking listeners on an epic listening journey. YEИDRY, like many Dominicans, did not grow up with Afro-Dominican rhythms because of a dark racist past that stems from the infamous dictator Rafael Trujillo.
From 1930-1961, Trujillo reigned terror over the Dominican Republic. It was well documented that he would powder his face white to appear lighter-skinned and allegedly declared that merengue would be the national music–fully embracing it and trying to make it more European by adding orchestras. His intense distaste for anything Black permeated the entire country, which seeped into anything that had any African influence, which meant music. That anti-Blackness stuck and, in pop culture, has become a running joke across social media, with comedians joking about Dominicans negating their blackness.
For decades, anyone who wanted to know more about Afro-Dominican music had to go to the Dominican countryside to fully immerse themselves in the heavy percussion rhythms hidden in plain sight. Until a new generation started rediscovering our Afro-Dominican musical roots, with artists like YEИDRY and Dominican singer-songwriter Yasser Tejeda fusing them with their own songs.
In this Dominican takeover of Latino USA, Producer Jeanne Montalvo takes YEИDRY and Yasser to the oldest Dominican restaurant in Brooklyn, NY. The three of them break “mangú,” discuss the country’s difficult past, why Afro-Dominican music has been hidden, and bond over their discoveries as they find their own Dominicanidad.
Watch a special performance by YEИDRY recorded live from Puerto Viejo:
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Host: Maria Hinojosa
Producer and reporter: Jeanne Montalvo Lucar
Editor: Peniley Ramirez
Fact Checker: Roxana Aguirre
Social Media: Jeanne Montalvo Lucar and Essam Aljahmi
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Managing Editor: Fernanda Echavarri
Executive Producers: Peniley Ramirez and Maria Hinojosa
