Santo Domingo. DR
Memín “El Sucesor”, musician, composer and bachata singer, died this Sunday after a few days at the Corominas Pepín Clinic in Santiago, where he underwent surgery for a hernia. He was 53 years old.
Yovanny Martín Belliar, as his real name is, had his own bachatera group, but he played for veterans like Luis Vargas and Anthony Santos for many years.
His way of playing bass and guitar distinguished him as one of the oaks of traditional bachata.
His compositions include “Que se alocó”, “Pa to perdío algo cogío”, “Bartolina” and “La Garganta”.
After the news spread Anthony Santos reacted with regret: “Today my heart is overwhelmed with sadness as I learned of your passing. I ask God for peace in your soul and comfort your loved ones.”
Then ‘El Mayimbe’ added: ‘Thinking of you dear friend and the only thing that comes to mind is the ability you had to make the deepest visions and feelings come true on the staff that you have with your skill into art. To immerse yourself in the music with your chords. The virtue that adorned you is and will remain a mirror for every musician of our genre and that everyone who knew you must forever recognize in you. Your ability to be yourself Moving in different areas of your career makes you worthy of respect, within your genre, outside etc. Your guitar’s neck is in my mind, I will never forget you “Memin” may God have you in a good place. See you later dear Friend.”
Luis Vargas reacted just as sadly: “My god, this has devastated me, we have lost one of the most important musicians and people in the bachata genre and in typical Dominican music, an ideologue, the creator of the changes that bachata has experienced, almost all of us have and must respect our Yovanny Belliard, known as Memin, but his most important dimension has always been the human being, I never hear or will ever hear anyone who has problems of any kind with Memín. God receive you with a party, my dear friend and companion forever, we will say goodbye with a party as we agreed, zan di vive vive san, see you later, man with a big heart”.
Likewise El Chaval de la Bachata He asked God to “accompany you” and “to give approval to your family and friends”, noting that he is outside the Dominican Republic and “for this reason I cannot say goodbye to you”.
The singer-songwriter Felix D’Oleo He also wrote: “A natural, an angel adorned with a frightening humility, go in peace, the great Memín.”