Afrobachata

1. Ya Encontre La Mujer

2. El Hombre Tuyo Soy yo

3. Me Enamore de Ti

4. Los Que Me Esperaban Llegue

5. Hasta Que No Llega Ella

6. Quien Rie Ultimo Rie Mejor

7. Popuri de Son

8. Cansado de Esperar

9. Lo Van a Bailar

10. Quiero Dormir Cansado

11. Tu Me Estas Matando

12. Puras Mentiras

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist
Yoan Soriano, el duque de la bachata, brings an afro-dominican touch to this album of new bachata. His enchanting voice and soulful guitar playing never fail to magically fill the dance floor with groovin' bodies. Soriano grew up in the farm country outside Santo Domingo, in a place called Batey Guanuma. Throughout the colonial Caribbean every sugar cane plantation, or Ingenio, had its batey. This was where the slaves who worked on on the plantation lived. The batey was the cultural heart of Afrocaribbean life in colonial times and continues to be so to the present day. The Dominican bateys have become centers of Haitian as well as AfroDominican culture because generations of Haitians have come to work in the cane fields, and have stayed. Afro-Caribbean religions such as vodou and santeria have always been strong in these communities. In more recent times, Bachata, the music of the downtrodden and the marginalized, mixed with the entrancing beats of the ceremonial! palo drums of the bateys. Yoan Soriano grew up amidst these sounds and his music is inflected with the rhythms of this world. Yoan made his first guitar out of fishing line and tin cans, and the little band he formed with his brothers and sisters drew the attention of many a passing stranger. Yoan cares deeply for his father Candé, who is often spoken to affectionately in these songs, and for his mother, Juana. He calls his guitar "Juana’s guitar". But one day Yoan decided he had to leave the batey. He was collecting firewood with Candé up on the mountain when he put down his bundle and said, "Cande, this life is not for me. I’m going to move to the city and get respect for my music". Batey Records presents the bachata of Yoan Soriano.

Product Description
Afro Bachata is the third album by Yoan Soriano. It is part of the Santo Domingo Blues bachata series. Yoan Soriano is featured in the new film Santo Domingo Blues and many of the tracks on this album appear in the documentary. This album is made to dance to. It is the rage of cantinas and colmados throughout the Dominican Republic but is only begin to hit the dancehalls in the US and Europe.

The first track, Ya Encontre La Mujer (I Found My Woman), is an evocative love song about finding the right woman. "I found the woman who knows how to love me/ I found the place in my soul where she knows how to live." The tune features the inimitable, transcendent guitar styling that has made Soriano’s playing a staple on the albums of other great bachata artists like Zacarias Ferreira and Teodoro Reyes. The tune also contains Soriano’s evocations of his parents, Cande the withdoctor and Juana. It is a magical number.

The second track, El Hombre Tuyo Soy Yo (I Am Your Man), is a bubbly, bouncey bachata that is getting a lot of airplay on the radio in the Dominican Republic these days. The happy chorus in the traditional African call and response pattern is mesmerizing. It lifts you off your feet.

In addition to a number of other vibrant bachatas including Puras Mentiras (Pure Lies), Quien Rie Ultimo Rie Mejor (He Who Laughs Last Laughs Best) and Cansado de Esperar (Tired of Waiting), the album features two wicked merengues on guitar, Los Que Me Esperaban, Llegue (For those Who Are Waiting, I Have Arrived) and Lo Van A Bailar (They Are Going To Dance It). In these merengues Soriano takes traditional drum rhythms and plays them percussively on the guitar. Track seven, Popuri de Son, represents the Cuban son tradition also popular in the Dominican Republic. There are many Dominicans who will put up a pretty good argument if you tell them son is from Cuba, not from the Dominican Republic.

The album as a whole is not only a great new contribution to the bachata genre. It represents a unique fusion of AfroDominican roots music and dancehall bachata. Yoan Soriano does not mess around.

Tracks:

Ya Encontre La Mujer
El Hombre Tuyo Soy yo
Me Enamore de Ti
Los Que Me Esperaban Llegue
Hasta Que No Llega Ella
Quien Rie Ultimo Rie Mejor
Popuri de Son
Cansado de Esperar
Lo Van a Bailar
Quiero Dormir Cansado
Tu Me Estas Matando
Puras Mentiras

Album Description

Afro Bachata is the third album by Yoan Soriano. It is part of the Santo Domingo Blues bachata series. Yoan Soriano is featured in the new film Santo Domingo Blues and many of the tracks on this album appear in the documentary. This album is made to dance to. It is the rage of cantinas and colmados throughout the Dominican Republic but is only begin to hit the dancehalls in the US and Europe.

The first track, Ya Encontre La Mujer (I Found My Woman), is an evocative love song about finding the right woman. "I found the woman who knows how to love me/ I found the place in my soul where she knows how to live." The tune features the inimitable, transcendent guitar styling that has made Soriano's playing a staple on the albums of other great bachata artists like Zacarias Ferreira and Teodoro Reyes. The tune also contains Soriano's evocations of his parents, Cande the withdoctor and Juana. It is a magical number.

The album as a whole is not only a great new contribution to the bachata genre. It represents a unique fusion of AfroDominican roots music and dancehall bachata. Yoan Soriano does not mess around.

Customer Reviews:

Good but no Mayimbe........2006-03-07

Yoan Soriano is a very underrated bachatero. he did the soundtrack for the recent documentary "Los tigeres de la bachata" or in English "Santo Domingo blues." the movie focues primarily on the way more popular Luis Vargas however. I wonder why Soriano was chosen to do the music and not Vargas himself but it's all good. Soriano is a very good guitarist and songwriter, but like many bachata singers he falls into the trap of sounding like 50% of every other bachatero out there. True, this is an album of crisp guitar work and upbeat songs, but it is not up to par with the TRUE king of bachata, undisputibly, that would be EL MAYIMBE Antony Santos. Even Luis Vargas has a wider repotoire, but then again, this is the only album I've heard by Soriano. I appreciate this album and want to give it 4 stars, but it really deserves less. The songs are very good and he has a bright future as a bachatero, I like that he is one of the lesser known bachata singers/songwriters. Many Dominican friends of mine have never even heard of him, including my wife who is Dominiana. But alot of people had never heard Juan Luis Guerra before "Bachata Rosa." This is not Soriano's "Bachata Rosa" however. Antony Santos may be "El Rey"( The King of Bachata ) but if Yoan keeps up the good songwriting and fluid guitar pickings, we may see a new contender. Santos is known for being a monster guitar plucker in the bachata style. True Soriano sounds like alot of other bachata out there, but he also is BETTER than the other 50% out there. I'd try to invest in the actual movie "Santo domingo blues" first, being that Soriano is included in the movie, but i don't see it being released on dvd anytime soon. And that is truly a shame.

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