Juan Luis Guerra

Name: Juan Luis Guerra-Seijas 
Date of birth: June 7, 1957
Place of birth: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Juan Luis Guerra is a Dominican singer, songwriter and self-producer. Guerra is the son of a professional basket ball player and grew up near the National Music Gallery in the Dominican Republic. As a teenager he was influenced by the Beatles and by U.S hippie music.

Juan Luis Guerra and his band, the 440, are the new wave of artists that revitalized Latin music which had begun to diminish in the late 80’s due to stagnation and lack of innovation. He started off with only learning the basics of guitar playing, and then began attending the National Conservatory on a scholarship. One of his teachers got him into  prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he took up an interest for the various subgenres of jazz and soon started experimenting by blending local music with African influences, folk songs and jazz with his band, 440. The band got its name from the universal tuning pattern of the A note, 440 Hertz.

In their next albums "Mudanza y Acarreo" and "Mientras más lo pienso tú", Guerra and 440 began adding merengue and strings of "perico ripiao," and  soon found a young fan base endoring his music.  This new music, called bachata-merengue soon won considerable acclaim.

The group was chosen by the government of the Dominican Republic, to represent the country at the International Music Festival of OTI, the Iberoamerican Organization of Television. In 1988,Guerra and 440 released one of their greatest hits, "Ojalá que llueva café", which became the third best-selling record in Latin America.

Bachata Rosa was released In 1991, which became a smash hit throughout all of the Americas and earned Guerra his first Grammy Award in the U.S. The next record, "Areito", however caused a huge controversy in the Dominican Republic as it spoke out against the social injustice born by the desperately poor.

Trivia:
Juan Luis has sold 20 million records, and won numerous awards including nine Latin Grammy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and two Latin Billboard Music Awards. He won 5 Latin Grammy awards in 2007 tying him with Juanes for the record of most Latin Grammys won in one night.

Being a Dominican native, his music is heavily influenced by native Caribbean rhythms, such as merengue and bachata and his lyrics are often charged with intentionally simple, heavily metaphorical, erotic, or popular expressions, such as "Burbujas de Amor"

Discography:
1984 Soplando
1985 Mudanza y Acarreo
1987 Mientras Más Lo Pienso...Tú
1990 Ojalá Que Llueva Café
1991 Bachata Rosa  - Platina
1992 Areíto 
1994 Fogaraté
1995 Grandes Éxitos Juan Luis Guerra y 440 
1998 Ni Es Lo Mismo Ni Es Igual – 2x Platinum
2000 Colección Romantica – Platinum
2004 Para Ti, Vene Music – 3x Platinum
2007 La Llave de mi Corazón, EMI
2007 Archivo Digital 4.4 
 

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.