Merengue is a type of music and dance originating in the Dominican Republic, which has become a very popular genre throughout Latin America, and also in several major cities in the United States which have Hispanic communities.[2]

Merengue was first mentioned around the middle of the 19th century and has locally been very popular since then. The genre was later promoted even more by Rafael Trujillo, the dictator from 1930 to 1961, who turned it into the country's national music and dance style. In the United States it was first popularized by New York-based groups and bandleaders like Rafael Petiton Guzman, beginning in the 1930s, and Angel Viloria y su Conjunto Típico Cibaeño in the 1950s. It was during the Trujillo era that the merengue "Compadre Pedro Juan", by Luis Alberti, became an international hit and standardized the 2-part form of the merengue.[3]

Internationally known merengue singers and groups include Fernando Villalona, Juan Luis Guerra, Carlos Manuel El Zafiro, Eddy He