For the prominent Merenguero, leader of the fat tape, Jose Virgilio Pena Suazo, The exponents of the urban genre have to ensure that “it becomes music”, because they are sound creators.
Peña Suazo made a strong assertion that if time went back and he was faced with the dilemma of venturing into merengue or reggaeton, he would not think twice and lean towards merengue as it was more durable, while in the urban genre there is a theme every month .
He added that urban exponents depend on the sound of the moment to be able to sing, which doesn’t happen if you hire Fernando Villalona, who can interpret you “la hamaquita”, “cama y mesa”, and if you hire Sergio Vargas he can sing “la I want to die”.
interviewed by Hector Herrera Cabral in program D’ADENDA broadcast by Telesistema Channel 11 and TV Quisqueya for the United States, the composer and singer assured that no other rhythm had more dancing and presence this Christmas holidays than the merengue.
He cited as an example the case of his orchestra, which played 25 parties during this period, because in everything you saw merengues and even more merengues because this music is in the DNA of the Dominicans.
“Merengue is more durable, urban music has a performer every month because the urban genre guys have to make it music, they’re creators of sounds for example, they create sounds, but the lyrics are true that last forever, so they’re inside of these generated sounds, because they are more sound creators than artists, rely on these sounds in order to be able to sing,” emphasized the head of the fat tape.
He said that, paradoxically, contrary to what one might think, most of the spectators who attend the dances of the merengueras orchestras are young people, although one has the impression that this part of the population only likes the urban genre.
“Those who want to see me go to my social media accounts so you can see that those who visit them the most are young women because time does not pass them by,” he said.
He recalled that great exponents like “der General”, who caused a sensation decades ago, especially with the theme “Two pounds of hips, that’s not hips”, which almost nobody remembers anymore, in contrast to successful merengue songs , which are orchestrated interpreted as “The Big Apple”, and among others, those of the teacher Dionis Fernández.
“Maybe it’s not a trend, it’s sounds they’ve created, some of them are very talented guys that I hope will start thinking about sounds that will last forever because what has no quality is made by.” eaten alive by time,” he argued.
He claimed that “you can say nice things, albeit in a simple way, if you want to stick with it now you have to work on the basis of quality, because if you don’t you get beaten for three months and then you go home”.
Referring to new representatives of the merengue, Peña Suazo assured that the society produces what it needs, because “the society gives what it needs, if this society needs 20 merengueros tomorrow, it produces them immediately, and he mentioned new talents like Manny Cruz, Ala Jaza, Gabriel and Techy Fatule, among others.
José Virgilio said that the merengue is not in crisis, but that the radio stations that do not include our rhythm in their programs reach the extreme that there are merengueros who own stations that do not play merengues in their radio stations.
He reveals that a giant Cuban sandwich they gave him at Club de la Rosario motivated him to study music
Despite the fact that he is one of the most successful and versatile merengueros who composes, arranges and sings, José Virgilio assures Peña Suazo that he was never a good student in the subject of music pedagogy, which he could never pass with more than 70 points than him was a student. from high school.
He explains that after completing his pre-university education, he had to stay in his hometown of Cotuí for two more years to study music, as a stepping stone to entering university.
“And after I’m in university I have one more year to be an accountant because I realize I was born for music I never passed 70+ in high school because I said that’s for crazy people. , I received the subject at 1 p.m. at the gymnasium in my city and in the morning I left my house with a breakfast of bread and coffee, because there were no means for my mother to prepare another kind of breakfast, ”said the leader of the Gorda band when he was interviewed for the program D’AGENDA.
He insisted: “I never passed music after 70, I was good at biology, literature and English, I published those subjects after 95.”
He said his brother Arturo invited him to a concert because he was a musician in the band Rosario Dominicana, but he attributed it to people being crazy because he didn’t like music at all.
“And I remember my brother being very insistent that I go with him until he convinced me, and that night at the Rosario Club, which was something impeccable, with a lot of luxury, and when I sat down one asks me young woman when i wanted a cuban sandwich which is huge and he brings me it full of ham and cheese french fries bayonnaise and soda and as i sit down and take my first bite i tell myself this is life is what I was looking for,” the renowned merenguero recalled in a humorous tone.
He explained that the next day he started learning Solfeggio to read music, and that’s when an opportunity arose, and six months later he was already playing bass in the Rosario music band, but he didn’t like it because one of the members that said he knew ten friends who had died “unfortunately” while playing that instrument.
He said that despite the inconvenience, after just six months he was the group’s bassist, earning a salary of 25 pesos for dances, and from then on his track record in the music industry was known.
denounces that many record companies abuse and steal artists with income they earn via virtual platforms
José Peña Suazo believes that many record companies abuse and even steal artists with the revenue they earn through monetization on virtual platforms and this is influenced by the little knowledge they have about this business.
“For example in my case I have a lot of songs that are not in my catalog from my company Milloncito Publishers and belong to Musical Productions, the company I was in before, there is more success from that company than from this side of me . , and every time I collect in Milloncito what they can pay me in three or four years, I have only earned it once with my company,” he explained.
The leader of the Banda Gorda claimed that “because many record companies also abuse the artists, more precisely, they steal a lot from the artists, because since they didn’t have this information before this commercialization could achieve what is now, it takes everything these problems with themselves.”
“Well what happened is that when this digital world came along I had more than a hundred songs that were mine and if they pay me for that 100 and it was 200 turns out a payment for that is that they pay me like ten of them once,” he explained.
He said this allowed him to see the nature of the business and what the record companies hide from him, so he did what he calls a “remaster” with parts of his songs because through that mechanism, what you record it live and uploads to the YouTube platform, the record label cannot claim it.