Bachata

The Dominican Republic's guitar music

Bachata is the guitar-led popular music of the Dominican Republic — romantic, syncopated and built around a distinctive lead guitar line. Once dismissed as music of the rural poor, it is now danced worldwide.

Origin & history

Bachata grew in the Dominican Republic through the middle of the twentieth century out of bolero and other guitar traditions of the region, long treated as disreputable by Dominican radio.

It moved into the mainstream in the later twentieth century and then internationally, carried both by Dominican artists at home and by the diaspora in New York.

Notable artists

Juan Luis Guerra

Dominican musician whose work brought bachata wide international attention.

Romeo Santos

Dominican-American singer central to bachata's modern, diaspora-shaped era.

Where it lives

Dominican RepublicExplore the Dominican Republic hub →

Where these artists come from

149 Bachata artists are on TimTim.Live, and 142 of them have a public hometown. Here is where they come from.

Countries

Cities and places

Some of the artists

Questions & Answers

What is bachata?+

Bachata is the guitar-led romantic popular music of the Dominican Republic, with a distinctive syncopated lead guitar and a partner dance of the same name.

Where is bachata from?+

The Dominican Republic.

Is bachata the same as merengue?+

No. Both are Dominican, but merengue is faster and horn- or accordion-led, while bachata is slower, guitar-led and romantic in subject.