Berto Reyes has been playing the accordion for more than 50 years. Instrument that he brought to New York City on a musician’s visa in the early 1990s.
Since then he says that he began to represent Dominican folklore by playing in libraries and different social events the contagious rhythm of merengue called perico ripiao.
“The ripiao perico is the essence that we have, if you don’t touch the ripiao perico, people don’t feel good,” explained Reyes.
Together with his other musicians and his wife who is also his ‘manager’, they came to share the culture of their land at the Hispanic Heritage Month event at the Flushing Public Library.
“As soon as you feel that rhythm of the drum, that rhythm of the güira and especially of the accordion, you shake or you get down,” said Elena Díaz, manager of Berto Reyes.
Also known as typical merengue, the ripio perico began in 1840 in the city of Santiago de Los Caballeros and was heard throughout the northern region of the Dominican Republic.
It is made up of three instruments; the tambora, the Taíno maraca and the guitar that were replaced by the güira and the accordion in the late 1800’s.
This music was not well seen in Dominican society since it was played in brothels and in rural areas. It was not until the end of 1930, that the dictator Rafael Leonidad Trujillo turned merengue into a national rhythm and other instruments were combined to soften this music with the saxophone and an acoustic bass guitar.
“And it gives it a category of society, it founds the Santa Cecilia orchestra, it is an orchestra merengue, a salon, but the ripiao perico always remained what it is. It is closely linked to the identity of the Dominican,” explained JC Malone, analyst political.
An identity that Berto Reyes and his band showed to those who came to enjoy this presentation.
“The spark of that meringue ripiao that is called in Santo Domingo, the one that has to be maintained because each country has something beautiful, something beautiful that has to be maintained,” said the assistant, Mr. González.
Although for many the merengue does not have the cultural force that reigned in its beginnings, Berto and his group will continue taking this rhythm to all corners of the city.
So that the new generations are motivated to cultivate one of the cultural heritage of humanity from the Dominican Republic.
We would like to thank the writer of this write-up for this outstanding material
Stories of immigrants: Berto Reyes, exponent musician of the perico ripiao