In Santo Domingo it’s hard to find a telephone pole or street sign that isn’t plastered with posters for upcoming performances or festivals. It’s also home to one of the liveliest nightclubs in the Caribbean, Guacara Taina, a sprawling, multi-level complex built inside a cave in the southwestern part of the city. “But it’s not just a city thing,” says David Wayne, co-founder of IASO Records, a New York-based world-music label with a particular emphasis on music from the Caribbean. “You can be driving down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere and come across a parada (roadside bar) where a band is playing and a hundred cars are parked outside.” For fans of bachata, the plaintive, so-called “country-western music” of the Dominican Republic, the place to hear it is Santiago, the islands second largest city. Marked by its guitardriven melodies and lyrics about relationships and hard times, bachata originated in the 1960s and found its earliest popularity among the poor. Santiago is also the cradle of merengue typico, played by a threepiece band consisting of the accordion-like melodeon, tambora (doubleheaded drum) and guira (a cylindrical percussive instrument). The more expansive form of merengue, which can include the saxophone, piano, flute and even violins, boasts two annual showcases, at the Santo Domingo Merengue Festival in July and in October at the Puerto Plata Merengue Festival along the north coast.
Welcome to the cigar world
While Cuba steals the cigar spotlight, the Dominican Republic owns the record book – it is the largest producer of cigars in the world. A drive through the central countryside, in the Santiago and Cibao Valley regions, will lead visitors through the heart of the country’s 600,000 acres of tobacco plants. They produce cigars with a wide variety of colors, aromas and price tags – any of which make great souvenirs. Among the more popular and well known brands are Arturo Fuente, La Aurora, Cojimar, Romeo y Julieta and the famous Montecristo, which originated in Cuba but has been produced in the Dominican Republic since 1995. For those wanting an up close look at the cigar making process, a number of factories offer tours. Most are located in Santiago and Tamboril. They include Grupo León Jimenes Tobacco Company, Fabrica Anilo de Oro and Tabacalera Jacagua, all of which offer visitors a free, freshly made cigar at the end of the tour. Also in Santiago is the Museo del Tabaco, which is housed in an old Victorian tobacco warehouse. This distinctive museum displays a collection of authentic tools, unique art and old photographs related to the tobacco industry. Exhibits cover crop usage dating back to the Taino times, and there is a mock cigar room where guests can observe how some of the finest tobacco in the world is processed and rolled.
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