#Muere jony ventura full#

The show was broadcast on Saturdays from 7:30am to 9:30pm and lasted for a few years.

#Muere jony ventura full#

The following year, the broadcaster established his own full day radio program, “Sábado Dominicano,” in which merengue reigned, enjoying a privileged center stage. Soon, on February 27, 1970, “Pappy” revved up his efforts to promote merengue by debuting the first three-hour radio program exclusively dedicated to the Dominican rhythm. As a way of undermining these barriers on the radio, Lafontaine cleverly began substituting merengue recordings for the songs set to air on Radio X, without making waves. Lafontaine would begin his campaign to raise the visibility of merengue and Dominican musicians more broadly at La X, where he became privy to the structural barriers facing merengue at the time. Spanish-language radio, which he ultimately achieved at iconic stations Radio X and 97.9, better known today as La X 96.3 and La Mega 97.9. In 1969, Lafontaine arrived in The Big Apple with the intention of breaking into U.S. Known for his distinct hoarse voice and humor, Pappy enjoyed a rich career in broadcasting which began in his native Hato Mayor de Rey and extended to Santo Domingo and New York City. Īmong the chief promoters of merengue was Dominican radio jockey José “Pappy” Lafontaine. At the time, the goal for merengueros lovers was to reach salsa’s stardom position, both at the national and international levels. The formula was simple: the larger the audience, the larger the orbit of merengue. 'Championed by Dominican promoters and audiences in New York City, merengue began to lay strong roots in Dominican spaces, creating a memory that would increasingly penetrate the Latin spaces of the larger society.'Ĭhampioned by Dominican promoters and audiences in New York City, merengue began to lay strong roots in Dominican spaces, creating a memory that would increasingly penetrate the Latin spaces of the larger society. The decade would witness the rise of merengue acts with increased audience sizes and more live presentations with seasoned merengue artists from the Dominican Republic. Despite this lack of confidence, which limited merengue artists’ access to important resources including industry connections, financial backing, promotion, and distribution support, merengue began to create a space of its own, backed by a desire to preserve a cultural legacy. Those who dominated the music industry did not see Dominican music as a lucrative market. However, merengue did not count on the same support as salsa from the New York City Latin recording industry. Yet, compared to salsa, merengue required less movement of the feet and the arms, making merengue much easier to dance to for a novice dancer of Latin rhythm or others who were unfamiliar with merengue. Merengue shares some of the core qualities that made salsa into a cultural sensation as a contagious and highly danceable rhythm. During this time, m erengue was pushing its way in and had the potential to match or even surpass salsa in popularity.

While the popularity of boogaloo was short-lived, experiencing a national boom around 1966 and declining shortly thereafter, salsa was converted into an international phenomenon that would dominate the Latin music industry into the next two decades. He became particularly close to Celia Cruz, he said, singing with her and looking up to her as if she were an older sister.In the late 1960s, the advent of salsa and boogaloo fever created a challenging musical environment for Dominican artists in the United States. He began playing in New York City in 1967, finding success with American audiences and also recording duets with salsa stars of the day. Ventura appeared regularly on daytime variety shows and even hosted his own game show. He made the Combo Show’s performances into visual spectacles, dancing with such abandon that he was compared to Elvis Presley - a comparison he encouraged by dressing like the American singer and even adopting his trademark smirk. “Traditional merengue was completely identified with the tyranny and had been usurped by the enormous popularity that rock ’n’ roll had awakened in Dominican youth,” Mr. Since young Dominicans were increasingly listening to rock ’n’ roll and salsa, he updated the merengue sound, incorporating those influences. He sang lead vocals on the biggest Dominican hit of 1962, Luis Peréz’s “ La agarradera,” an up-tempo song full of double entendres.īy 1964 he had started his own band, Johnny Ventura and the Combo Show. Tall and handsome, he was a charismatic frontman. Ventura started out playing saxophone, but soon discovered that his natural talent was as a baritone singer.