Sarambo! Merengue! Palos!
Colorful Conjunto Folklorico dancers and their pint-sized audience at the New Jersey Folk Festival / April 2007
These talented young people are part of a dance troup that performs Dominican folk dances [Salves (the music of festivals for the saints) and Palos (a long-drum dance)] and social dances [e.g., Merengue, Pambiche, Valse, Sarambo, and Polka]. They were accompanied by singers and musicians on a variety of drums and rhythm instruments. Dominican music includes call-and-response singing and lots of clapping to keep the rhythm. The group's spokesperson explained how slaves from the U.S. brought square dancing and the accordion with them to the Dominican Republic. The square dancing morphed into a new dance form and the accordion, with its big sound, meant they didn't need as many musicians. According to Salsa & Merengue, dancing the Merengue is all about the rhythm and is an easy dance to learn as the accordian and tambura drum help to "lift" the feet of the dancers.
Pictures of the musicians after the jump.
Keeping the rhythm
The man on the left sits on his drum and plays it with his hands behind his knees
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