Dominican dembow (), also known as simply dembow, is a style of music originating from the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

which has been mostly described as a subgenre or derivative form of

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ) is a modern style of popular music, popular and electronic music that originated in Panamanian reggaetón, Panama during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puert ...

which evolved from

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

. Dominican dembow is characterized by its use of a sped-up dembow rhythm as its core percussion element (while standard reggaeton employs the same rhythm at a slower

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

). The name dembow is credited to the

Shabba Ranks Rexton Rawlston Fernando Gordon OD (born 17 January 1966), better known by his stage name Shabba Ranks, is a Jamaican dancehall musician. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was one of the most popular Jamaican musicians in the world. Throu ...

song

Dem Bow "Dem Bow" is a song performed by Jamaican reggae artist Shabba Ranks, produced by Bobby Digital. This song uses the "Ku-Klung-Klung"/"Poco Man Jam" riddim (based on the title of the 1990 Gregory Peck and Red Dragon song) created by Jamaican ...

which was remixed by Wisin Y Yandel and many others and the

Dembow beat The dembow beat or dembow riddim is a musical rhythm best known for its use as the core percussion element in reggaeton music, having taken its name from the 1990 dancehall song "Dem Bow" by Shabba Ranks. The rhythm, first developed by Jamaican a ...

became a staple in the reggaeton community. The subgenre diverged from early reggaeton during the 2000s. During this time, Puerto Rican reggaeton was evolving to become more melodic, polished, and lyrically romantic, and would eventually become the basis for most reggaeton music today. However, the "softening process" marginalized the scene in the Dominican Republic, which retained a rawer, unembellished, and more aggressive sound. A simultaneous shift towards faster tempos may have also been influenced by the country's "historical preference" for the fast-paced merengue genre. Dominican dembow ultimately spread its influence beyond the Dominican Republic to countries like

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It came to be known globally as a result of the general growing popularity of Spanish-language music in the 2010s. During this same decade

trap music Trap music, also known simply as trap, is a subgenre of hip-hop music which originated in the Southern United States, with lyrical references to trap starting in 1991 but the modern sound of trap appearing in 1999. The genre gets its name from t ...

began to influence the production style of Dominican dembow. Dominican dembow artists are known as ''dembowseros.'' Notable ''dembowseros'' include

Tokischa Tokischa Altagracia Peralta (born 17 March 1996), known mononymously as Tokischa, is a Dominican rapper. After working for the renowned photographer Raymi Paulus, she was offered to enter the music industry. She signed a recording contract with ...

Chimbala Leury José Tejeda Brito, musically known as Chimbala, is a Dominican urban music rapper and singer from Santo Domingo. He has been dubbed one of the primary performers of dembow in Latin America. He has collaborated with artists such as El Alf ...

El Alfa Emanuel Herrera Batista (born 18 December 1990), known by his stage name El Alfa or El Alfa El Jefe, is a Dominican rapper, known as the King of Dembow. Batista was born in Bajos de Haina, San Cristobal. He is known for his initial afro hair ...

, and Rochy RD. Non-Dominican artists have also occasionally produced songs in this style, such as

Bad Bunny Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (; born March 10, 1994), better known by his stage name Bad Bunny, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. Known as the " King of Latin Trap", Bad Bunny is credited with helping Spanish-language rap music achieve m ...

with his hit song " Tití Me Preguntó".

Notes

References

{{reflist Dominican dembow 21st-century music genres Dominican styles of music Caribbean music genres

See also

Notes

References