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Juan Luis Guerra

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Juan Luis Guerra Seijas (born June 7, 1957 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Dominican singer, songwriter, and self-producer who has sold over ten million records worldwide and has won numerous awards, including ten Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards, and two Latin Billboard Music Awards. He won 5 Latin Grammy awards in 2007 in the same night which ties him with Juanes to hold the record for most Latin Grammys won in one night.

He is one of the most internationally recognized Dominican artists in the past decades. His pop style of Merengue and bolero and Afro-pop/Latin fusion have garnered him considerable success outside the Dominican Republic. Juan Luis Guerra is sometimes associated with the popular Dominican music called Bachata, and while this association is partially true, he actually uses the basics of Bachata rhythm with a more Bolero feel to the melodies in some of his songs. He does not limit himself to one style of music, instead, he incorporates diverse rhythms like merengue, Bolero-Bachata, Balada, Salsa, Rock & Roll, and Gospel. "Ojalá que llueva café" is one of his most critically acclaimed self-written and composed pieces. A remix of Llave De Mi Corazon with Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas is also an example of his fusing of different genres.

Education

After studying philosophy and literature for a year at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, Guerra switched to the Conservatorio Nacional de Música. Guerra was a great admirer, at this time, of the Beatles music.

After finishing his studies at the Santo Domingo conservatory, Guerra went to the Berklee College of Music in Boston to study composition and arranging in 1979.

Career

After his return to the Dominican Republic, he released his first album, Soplando (1984) with a group of local musicians that subsequently became known as Juan Luis Guerra y 440. Note that the band's name in Spanish is officially publicized as Cuatro Cuarenta (Four Forty), a shortening of the normally strict reading of number "four hundred and forty." The 440 part of the band's name refers to the standard tuning of A440. Reportedly the name for the band came from a practice session where Juan Luis's brother suggested the name because the name would reflect how "in-tune and precise they were."

Two albums followed, Mudanza y Acarreo and Mientras más lo pienso ... tú. The band garnered some fame in their country.

Their next album, in 1989, brought them international fame. Ojalá que Llueva Café (If only it would rain coffee), a slow melodic number with superfast background tracks, became a number one hit in many Latin American countries, with the hit song of the same name. Subsequently, a video of the hit song was filmed and Juan Luis Guerra and his 440 band began touring. (The song's fame was revived in 1996 with a cover by Café Tacuba). In 1990, they released their next album, Bachata Rosa, which became a major hit and earned him his first Grammy award. The album, having sold more than five million copies at that time, allowed Guerra to keep touring Latin America, USA and Europe. This album contains memorable love songs such as "Burbujas de Amor" (Bubbles of Love), "Bachata Rosa", "Rosalia", "Como Abeja al Panal" (Like a Bee to the Beehive), "A Pedir Su Mano" (To Ask For Your Hand), "Carta de Amor" (Love Letter), and "Estrellitas y Duendes" (Little stars and elves).

Guerra became a controversial figure in 1992 after he released his next album, Areíto (which is a Tai­no word for song and dance). It featured the hit single "El costo de la vida," (The Cost of Life), whose video version was banned in several countries because it had an "anti-American" undertone, this due to the fact that there is a generalized underlying fear in Latin America of broadcasting public criticisms about the United States. The video has also been interpreted as anti-capitalist. Other songs also included protests against the poor conditions in many Latin American countries, the celebration of the discovery of the Americas ("1492"), and the double standards of first-world nations.

That situation might have had something to do with his next album, Fogaraté (1995), where he stayed away from recording any protest songs. This album is particularly centered in the more rural and lesser known types of Dominican music, like the Perico Ripiao.

Guerra's 1998 release Ni es lo Mismo ni es Igual (It's not the same nor is it equal) garnered much critical acclaim, winning three Latin Grammys in 2000. Its hits include "Mi PC" (My PC), "Quisiera" (I Would Like To), and "El Niágara En Bicicleta" (Niagara on bicycle).

In 2004, Guerra released his first new album in six years. Entitled "Para Ti" (For you), the album's songs are mostly religious in nature, reflecting Guerra's fervent Christianity (though not Roman Catholic). With this album the singer won two awards at the 2005 Billboards, in the categories of Gospel-Pop and Tropical-Merengue, for the hit single Las Avispas, the first time ever that one song has won these two categories at the same time. Other hits included "Para Ti" and "Soldado" (Soldier). At the same time, Guerra was honored with the Latino Special Award for the Music Academy of Spain for his contributions to the music of his country and the Caribbean in the last 20 years.

In January 2006, Juan Luis performed at Berklee's 60th anniversary along with other artists such as Paul Simon, Herbie Hancock, Michael Camilo and Chiara Chivello. That same year, he recorded with Diego Torres in "Abriendo Caminos" and with Maná in "Bendita Luz".

Notably, Juan Luis Guerra was part of the highest grossing music tour of all time, as he was the opening act for the The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang Tour at their San Juan, Puerto Rico show in February, 2006.

He was also invited by Sting to sing with him at a concert at Altos de Chavón, La Romana in the Domincan Republic in 2006. At the Premio Lo Nuestro awards in 2007, he was given the honorary lifetime achievement award. He also performed the lead single of his new album, "La Llave De Mi Corazon," released in March 2007.

"La llave de mi corazón" reached number one on the Billboard charts for four consecutive weeks, and was the #1 selling album in Colombia while climbing the charts in other countries .

Juan Luis Guerra was honored at the Latin Grammy Awards in 2007 as person of the year, where he won 5 awards, sweeping each category he was nominated in: Best Tropical Song, Best Merengue Album, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year. The engineers of his album, Allan Leschhorn, Luis Mansilla, Ronnie Torres, and Adam Ayan were also awarded with Best Engineered album.

On March 10th 2008, Juan Luis was honored with 4 awards in los Premios Casandra, the most important award event in the Dominican Republic. He won for Orchestrator of the year, Outstanding artist abroad, Music album of the year for La Llave de mi Coraz%C3%B3n and "El Soberano" (The Sovereign), the most important award of the night.

Singing in other languages

Guerra has recorded several songs in English, like "July 19th" on his Fogaraté release (1995), and more recently "Medicine for My Soul" and "Something Good" with Italian singer Chiara Chivello. Some of his songs have verses in both English and Spanish such as "Woman del Callao," "Guavaberry," "Señorita" and more recently "La Llave de Mi Corazón". Album Areíto featured two songs, cover-title song "Areíto" and "Naboria daca, mayanimacaná" which are sung in the Arawak language of the extinct Taino natives of Hispaniola.

Discography

References

External links



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