Los Sufridos Peluche (2023)
The International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is celebrated internationally on 23 August. This day commemorates the 1791 revolt of formerly enslaved people in Saint-Domingue, a French colony in the western part of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola that today is known as Haiti. The revolt marked the beginning of the Haitian Revolution, which ended in 1804 with the former colony's independence and resulted in Haiti becoming the world's first Black-led republic. It would take another 17 years until the eastern portion of the island, today’s Dominican Republic, would achieve independence from Spanish rule in 1821. Hispaniola’s history remained tumultuous, shaped by wars, further occupations, military coups, tyrannical dictatorships, economic crises and, most recently, extreme gang violence around Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince and its vicious aftermath. Besides all the horror the island has witnessed, it has brought various exciting forms of expression to the fore, for example bachata, a musical genre rooted in the Dominican Republic that is incredibly rich in influence: Elements from indigenous taino as well as Spanish and African music can be found in bachata songs. While the genre was considered music of the lower class by the middle and upper classes throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, it developed into one of the most popular styles of Latin music in the years after. In recent times, bands like Los Sufridos have infused the genre with an urban vibe. Our favorite in the collective’s discography is the ultra hot “Peluche”.
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