Crespo updates aging merengue genre with new sounds
By Leila Cobo
MIAMI (Billboard) - Elvis Crespo's first album in three years is titled "Regreso El Jefe" (The Boss Is Back). Due June 5, its name isn't subtle, but then again, there's nothing subtle about the artist who, in his heyday in the late '90s, reinvented merengue and took it to a broader audience than ever before.
That was when Crespo was signed to Sony Discos, the Latin music powerhouse of the day, and when CDs were selling hand over fist. Crespo's debut, "Suavemente," sold more than 800,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, an extraordinary number by any standard.
That was also when merengue, the fast-clipped, two-time dance music from the Dominican Republic, was at its height, dominating airwaves and precipitating a slew of tropical stations that populated their playlists with these sounds.
Today's Crespo will release "El Jefe" on Machete, the successful urban-leaning label belonging to Universal. For Crespo, whose last three albums were on indie Ole (the label owned by former Sony Discos chief Oscar Llord), it's a return to the majors and the beginning of something entirely new.
"I'm living a very mature moment, where I see the business from a very different perspective," said Crespo, whose last album, 2004's "Saborealo," sold 60,000 units, according to Nielsen SoundScan. "I'm a firm believer that one has to live within the times and forget about past glories. But the essence has to remain."
Crespo's essence is merengue bomba, a more driven, edgier merengue, initially popularized by such acts as Los Hermanos Rosario. On "El Jefe," he returns to that, but blends in multiple fusions, from bachata -- a guitar-based variation on romantic Cuban bolero that originated in the Dominican Republic -- to rap.
In a clear bid to propel a genre that has floundered in the past five years, he features collaborations with merengue stars like Los Hermanos Rosario, Giselle and the original lineup of Grupo Mania (to which he once belonged).
There are also newcomers like Zone D'Tambora, a group featured on first single "La Foto Se Me Borro."
Their inclusion, Crespo says, is part of his endeavor to bring new blood to the genre.
"La Foto Se Me Borro" entered Billboard's Tropical Airplay chart in mid-May at No. 19 and should climb with promotion around New York's Puerto Rican Day parade, where Crespo will have his own float.
"I feel merengue has needed (more) radio," Crespo said. "But those of us in the genre have never stopped working. This is a genre with a 150-year history, but it was necessary for us to give things a new look, to not give up, but show programmers that merengue is viable."
Reuters/Billboard
