Merengue típico

David David

David David was born in the city of Nagua in the María Trinidad Sánchez province of the Dominican Republic. He was from a family that loved music and dance: his father Carmelo, a military man from the Trujillo era, enjoyed playing tambora and singing. His mother, Altagracia, always sung in chorus with his father, although she did not sing professionally. They would hold parties among themselves, and in this happy familial atmosphere Rafaelito, Radamés, and David were born. Rafaelito was the first musician of the three; he was inspired by the traditional music as were his brothers since their house always maintained a party atmosphere what with the musician friends their father would invite there. Upon seeing how the accordionist played his instrument, Rafaelito copied it using silver cigarette paper and hummed the music he played on that "accordion." Later, he made a tambora for Radamés from an oil can, and he converted another can into a little guira. He gave it to his little brother David, who was barely three years old, and thus they began to practice on what they considered musical instruments.

One January 6th, the family had a true party because their father brought home a real accordion for Rafaelito's birthday. From that day forward, every time Carmelo went to the city of Santiago, he never left his children at home. He would put a straw hat on each one and take them to play their instruments in all the city's parks. During one of these little tours, one day in Duarte Park a luxurious Montecarlo pulled up and out came a gentleman wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a Mexican-style mustache, a gentleman with a foreign appearance. He was impressed with the children's playing and called the father aside. He made an offer that Carmelo considered for several days and sleepless nights. Then he sat the children down with their mother, and told them of the offer made by that strange man. The proposal was to bring all three to live in the capital in order to work on a children's television program, the most watched program on Dominican television, which was called "The Sheriff Michael."

The boys worked for that program for two and a half years, far away from their parents, until one day the gentleman received an offer to play on international television programs outside of the D.R. He meant to take the boys illegally out of the country with out their father's permission, but one of his employees was a good friend of Carmelo's, and put a stop to the plan just in time. On one of Carmelo's trips to the capital, he found out about what could happen to his boys. He called the authorities and explained what was going on. The boys' father took them back to Santiago and, much later, they found out that the impresario had been shot in punishment, but that he survived.

The boys continued playing together, and wherever they went they were a big attraction. While they continued going to school, on the weekends their father would take them to the small towns on the outskirts of the city. They began to gain popularity all over the country and the Cibao region, which is how they came to be called Las Estrellas del Cibao (The Stars of the Cibao). They were invited to all the radio programs of the different cities, including Radio Quisqueyana and Radio Norte, the two most popular stations in Santiago at the time. After hearing them on the radio, the Tabacalera cigar company signed them to a four year contract to work exclusively for them and to play for their radio show.

At the age of ten, David began to practice the accordion. By thirteen, he was in full command of the instrument. One day a boy, by all appearances a student, came to the house looking for someone to accompany him in a folkloric group called Areíto. The group was really looking for Rafaelito, since it was he who they knew to be an accordionist, but Rafelito was already independent; he had his own group and Radamés went with him. Since they couldn't get Rafaelito, the boy first tested David and then accepted him as accordionist for the group. The group carried out folkloric research and also performed theatrical works. With them, David gave cultural presentations in all the clubs, such as the Ateneo Amante de la Luz in Santiago. They also traveled to the farthest reaches of the Dominican Republic in search of history and art to present in their shows.
Four years later, a famous musician called Rafaelito Román came to David's house. He was interested in David as a guirero, and offered him work and the opportunity to study in Puerto Plata, a Dominican tourist town. At the same time, David was still interested in learning more about the accordion, and Rafaelito Román helped him in this endeavor. At the end of three years with Mr. Roman, David switched over to the group of El Ciego de Nagua, the most famous of the Dominican merengue típico groups, with whom he played guiro for two years
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At the age of 19, a young millionaire, a childhood friend of David and his family, returned to Santiago from the United States. Upon his arrival, he proposed to help David in his musical career, which allowed him to produce his first recording with his own group, La Explosión Típica. Thus began David's career as a professional accordionist. His popularity grew until it reached the ears of the impresario José Tejeda in the United States, who offered him work in that country. David didn't think twice and, together with his family, he accepted the offer
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In 1993, David came to the United States and signed a recording contract with A & G Enterprises in New York City. He recorded two discs with that company under his own name: Vamos a Hanguear (1993) and La Nueva Generación (1994). He performed in the best nightclubs of the region, including Las Vegas (New York City) Atlantic Palace, Mambo Café (Connecticut), Tropical Club (Passaic, NJ), and other showplaces like the Waldorf Astoria, one of the city's most prestigious ballrooms, where he was invited to perform by TV channel Univisión 41 and the impresario Oscar de la Renta. In 1995, after two tours to the Dominican Republic, disagreements between David David and his record company led him to break their ties. Another company, Chelsea Rose, paid a release to A & G so that David could begin to work with them. With Chelsea Rose, David produced just one disc, Unico (1995). In the following year, David began to work at a higher level with The Center for Traditional Music and Dance, a folkloric organization located in Manhattan. With them he toured to Chicago, where he played in the Casa Dominicana and the La Palma nightclub, and he even performed twice in New York's famous Lincoln Center (1996, 1997).

David, finding himself free, took advantage of the situation and made himself his own executive producer in the year 2000, recording the CD Reboleo the following year. The production led to a tour in Miami, which was widely acclaimed by the press and the public in the city of the sun. He also was contracted by the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, D.C. to play in their Festival of American Folklife, the largest cultural festival in the United States. In July 2001, David played there together with groups like Los Macondos from Colombia, Los Pleneros de la 21 of Puerto Rico, and Son Mundano, a group of salsa stars from New York City. Following the Smithsonian concert, David gained influential relationships with musicologists that work in the area of traditional music. This opened the door to invitations to explain Dominican traditional arts in places such as Indiana University, Bloomington, where David recently taught some folklore classes and made cultural exchanges with Hoosier Squeeze, an accordion group, The Bloomingtones, an old time music group, and Sophia Travis, keyboardist/accordionist.