Wilfrido Vargas

Wilfrido Vargas is the figure most often credited with carrying Dominican merengue out of its homeland and remaking it as a pan–Latin American popular music — and, more broadly, with helping turn the style into a worldwide commercial phenomenon.^[1] By the 1980s the dance music he championed had spread well beyond Hispaniola, circulating through the wider Caribbean basin, the Andean republics, and the Latin neighborhoods of the United States; several of his records, most conspicuously 'El Baile del Perrito,' set off dance fashions of their own, while titles such as 'Abusadora,' 'Comején,' 'A Mover la Colita' and 'Volveré' became fixtures of the merengue floor. Standard reference catalogues identify him plainly as a Dominican musician, but his standing in the genre rests on the part his orchestras played in moving merengue toward an international dancing public.^[2] Wilfrido Radamés Vargas Martínez, born 24 April 1949, sustained that work across more than four decades as a composer, arranger and bandleader, and is reckoned a central architect of modern merengue.^[1]

Background and training

Vargas grew up surrounded by music. His father, Ramón, played the accordion and guitar, and his mother, Bienvenida, performed on flute and guitar.^[1] He began formal study early, entering the Municipal Academy of Music at the age of ten — a grounding that prepared him for a life of arranging and bandleading.^[1] By the early 1970s he had assembled his own ensemble, Wilfrido Vargas y sus Beduinos, and cut a debut album with the group in 1972; the Beduinos would anchor much of his output for years to come.^[1]

International breakthrough

The orchestra's reach abroad grew quickly across the second half of the decade. In 1976 Vargas and his Beduinos played Madison Square Garden in New York on a bill shared with Los Hijos del Rey.^[1] His decisive commercial breakthrough came in 1978 with 'El Barbarazo,' which broadened his following across Latin America and stood as his first recording to register internationally.^[1] In the same years he worked the Dominican émigré circuit of the northeastern United States, a reach attested by a 1978 Newark broadside advertising one of his engagements. In 1979 he joined the Havana Jam festival in Cuba alongside the Fania All-Stars.^[1]

Bands and singers

Beyond his own recordings, Vargas operated as an impresario who built and directed other ensembles. Through the 1980s he founded and led several merengue groups, among them the all-female Las Chicas del Can, The New York Band, and the show-band Altamira Banda Show.^[1] Spanish-language histories describe Las Chicas del Can as the first wholly female merengue orchestra: it began working officially under that name in 1982 with his backing, and after its founder, Belkys Concepción, fell ill in 1984, the group carried on under Vargas and his company.^[3] He was, equally, a maker of singers. Rubby Pérez took the lead-vocal chair for the 1983 album El Funcionario — later placed ninetieth on the 'Los 600 de Latinoamérica' list — and earned the nickname 'the highest voice of merengue.'^[4] Eddy Herrera was likewise among the principal voices of Vargas's orchestra in the 1980s.^[5] His influence extended into Puerto Rican merengue as well: Orlando Santana, a co-founder of the 1990s band La Mákina, had earlier worked with Vargas.^[6]

Honors

Formal recognition accumulated in the early 1990s. Vargas drew a nomination at the 33rd Grammy Awards, in 1991, for Best Tropical Latin Performance for the album Animation, and in 1992 he carried off a Gaviota de Plata (Silver Seagull) at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival in Chile.^[1] At the 1994 Lo Nuestro Awards he ranked among the night's leading winners, taking two prizes. In 1993 President Joaquín Balaguer named him a Knight of the Order of Christopher Columbus, an honor he shared with the Dominican musicians Jorge Taveras, Manuel Tejada, and Julio Gautreaux.^[1]

Crossover reach and later years

Vargas's repertoire crossed beyond merengue and beyond music. His reading of El Africano — written by the Colombian vallenato composer Calixto Ochoa and drawn from the 1983 album El Funcionario — became the basis for DJ Laz's 1991 single 'Mami El Negro,' carrying the arrangement into Cuban-American hip-hop.^[1] The song belongs to a run of his dancefloor standards that also includes 'El Jardinero,' 'La Medicina,' and 'El Loco y La Luna.' He appeared on screen as well — featuring in the 1989 film 'Que viva el merengue y la lambada,' supplying 'Amor Casual' as the theme of the telenovela 'Bellísima' and 'Que Será' to the 1997 American film 'Out to Sea,' taking an acting part in the 2003 drama 'Éxito por intercambio,' and serving in 2007 as a group mentor on the Colombian edition of 'The X Factor.' By 2010 he was reported to be living in Colombia — the country from which he had drawn material such as 'El Africano.'^[1]