Is Merengue Dying? Not If You Bring The Strawberries And A Plastic Tarp, Baby

Is merengue music saucily shuffling its way to the grave? Maybe, if this year’s Latin Grammy nominees for “Best Merengue Album” are any indication:

Look at the nominees for Best Merengue Album in the Latin Grammys and you can’t help but notice: All five - Kinito Mendez, Juan Luis Guerra and Tono Rosario from the Dominican Republic, and Elvis Crespo and Limi-T 21 from Puerto Rico - have been stars for well over 15 years. And all arguably reached the pinnacle of their careers in the 1990s.

Haha.Old. But surely the fact that the genre is no longer innovative or viable has no bearing on the fact that young people aren’t buying merengue 8-tracks anymore, right? Tell us what else can we blame it on, Kinito, our white-denim-overall-wearing friend:

“This is a different generation,” he says of young music fans. “They know other rhythms, not just merengue. In the bombardment of communication they get from radio stations, television and the press, merengue isn’t getting top billing.”

God, if only we didn’t have so many darned musical options from which to choose.

But it’s more than that, he added, blaming distribution problems and (surprise, surprise) piracy. Pirated music is one thing in Santo Domingo, he says, but in the land of parking tickets?

“In a country of rules like the United States, I don’t see how people get away with downloading music free or buying it on the corner,” he says. “How strange is that?”

Kinito. Why do you hate freedom?

Is merengue an endangered species? [NY Daily News]