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WELLESLEY, Mass. -- If you have never heard of bachata,
Wellesley College's Mezcla student organization hopes to
change all that. On Thursday, Nov. 20, from 7-9 pm in Collins
Cinema, the group will present “Santo Domingo Blues:
Los Tigres de la Bachata,” a film and lecture describing
the struggle of bachata musicians to emerge from the margins
of society. Tufts University sociology professor Deborah
Pacini-Hernandez will provide a historical and social context
to introduce the film and director Alex Wolfe will speak
afterward.
“Despite its nearly 80-year existence, bachata continues
to be heavily stigmatized,” said Wellesley College
junior Celeste Owens, Mezcla lecture co-chair. Bachateros
(bachata musicians) compose songs of bitterness that narrate
lives greatly affected by political and economic policies
of the Trujillo dictatorship and the Balaguer Era that
followed the Dominican civil war of 1965, she explained.
“Mezcla feels that the screening of Santo Domingo
Blues and the accompanying lectures are essential to the
understanding of an often overlooked society of Latin America,” said
Owens, who hopes to “promote bachata as a legitimate
form of cultural expression and foster an appreciation
for Dominican culture and multiculturalism.”
Wolfe’s film was a hit at the 2003 New York Latino
Film Festival, and Pacini-Hernandez is the author of Bachata:
a Social History of a Dominican Popular Music. For more
information, e-mail cowens@wellesley.edu.
Since 1875, Wellesley College has been a leader in providing
an excellent liberal-arts education for women who will
make a difference in the world. Its 500-acre campus near
Boston is home to 2,300 undergraduate students from all
50 states and 68 countries.
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