Traveling a Long Way: Joan Soriano and "Vengo de Lejos"

Today's random tune comes from the Caribbean and is performed by Joan Soriano, a Dominican bachata singer and guitarist who blends modern and traditional bachata styles. The seventh of fifteen children, he began his music career with a self-made guitar fashioned from a tin can and some fishing line. After mastering his style of bachata playing, he began working as a session musician in Santo Domingo. His album El Duque de la Bachata won the Indie Acoustic Project's Best Worldbeat Album of 2011. This song, Vengo de Lejos, can be found on his 2012 album La Familia Soriano.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Dancing Woman: Puerto Plata and "Mujer de Cabaret"

Today's random song is by Puerto Plata, the stage name of José Cobles. Puerto Plata is a Dominican artist who's music and singing is reminiscent of guitar music heard in the Dominican Republic in the 1930s and 40s, before it was stigmatized by dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, who preferred accordion-heavy merengue tipico. By the 1960s, after Trujillo's assassination, Dominican guitar music began to develop into bachata. Plata does not play bachata, however, but a music closer in style to contemporary Cuba, even though it is inspired in the Dominican past. In addition, Plata's band features some of the Dominican Republic's finest musicians, such as guitar legends Edilio Paredes and Frank Mendez. This song, Mujer de Cabaret, can be found on Plata's first internationally distributed CD, Mujer de Cabaret, released in 2007.

All in the Family: Joan Soriano and "Vengo de Lejos"

We go to the Caribbean for today's random tune. Vengo de Lejos is from Joan Soriano, a Dominican bachata singer and guitarist who blends modern and traditional bachata styles. The seventh of fifteen children, he began his music career with a self-made guitar fashioned from a tin can and some fishing line. After mastering his style of bachata playing, he began working as a session musician in Santo Domingo. His album El Duque de la Bachata won the Indie Acoustic Project's Best Worldbeat Album of 2011. Vengo de Lejos can be found on his 2012 album La Familia Soriano.