Fulanito

Name: Fulanito; Formerly known as: 2 in a Room
Formed in the early 1990s
Place of formation: United States

Fulanito was among the first groups consisting of Dominicans, to combine Merengue (specifically Perico Ripiao) with Bachata, Reggaeton, Rap and hip hop and house.

While growing up in Washington Heights, a neighborhood in Manhattan, New York the lead singer Rafael Vargas started recording with accordion player Arsenio de la Rosa. They recorded their first song, "Guallando", and after several failed attempts of presenting their music, released their debut CD in 1997.  The album was a huge hit,  selling over 500,000 copies, while only a meagre number of 50,000 was required to reach gold status. Fulanito went on to release “El Padrino” in 1999, which experimented with Latin rhythms such as Cumbia and Samba. A month later, they embarked on a world tour from United States to Japan. Fulanito has enjoyed great successes internationally, especially in Australia, where they toured for the second time in 2008, after their, first trip to Australia in September 2004.

Trivia:
Fulanito has sold over 2 million albums throughout the world.

They were the top selling act in Colombia, and placed on the top of charts in Japan, Switzerland, Australia, United States  and Chile.

Discography:
1997 El Hombre Mas Famoso de la Tierra
1999 El Padrino
2001 The Remixes
2001 Americanizao
2004 La Verdad 
2007 Vacaneria


By Lourd Vijay
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About the Author: Lourd Vijay is the principal Promoter of Latin culture, music and dance in the Asian Region. He recently stood 10th at the “most Popular Entrepreneur of the year 2009” amongst 180 nominees from across the country. An innovative choreographer and a very able instructor, he is the director of the Lourd Vijay’s Dance Studios (www.lvds.in) in India.