Aventura’s reunion tour captures the evolution of Bachata

On June 4, Adventura – the Timeless Bachata group that consists of Romeo Santos, Henry Santos, Lenny Santos and Max Santos – went on stage at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, as part of their Terrando Ciclos reunion tour. They had already played on the site two nights in a row, and had played a show at the Madison Square Garden on May 23. With an audience full of Dominicans mainly – many of them proudly waving their flags – it was remarkable to see how a genre that was once associated with the bars and the world’s districts of resumption in the country. And it is Aventura, a group of boys formed by four Dominican teenagers in the 1990s, who would completely revolutionize Bachata beyond what one of them could have imagined originally.

In February, Romeo Santos announced that he was finding the group for the second time for the Cerrando Ciclos tour, which started on May 1 in Sacramento, California. The group had for the last time united its forces in 2020, just before the pandemic success of the coronavirus for their immortal tour. According to Billboard, he brought in $ 25.8 million. And while Tuesday evening was far from their last performance in the three states region, the group really gave everything, exciting the crowd with some of their greatest successes: “Dile Al Amor”, “Un Beso”, “Todavía Me Amas”, and their single 2021 with Bad Bunny, “Volví”. They closed the show with an invited appearance of Judy Santos for “Obsesión”.

It took a while for Bachata to become a global feeling, but today, even non -Latin music artists like The Weeknd dip their toes in the genre.

At the end of the 1980s, the genre became more widely accepted through the island thanks to the legend of Bachata Blas Durán and even more after the release of the album of “Bachata Rosa” by Juan Luis Guerra in 1992. Reyes and Zacarias Ferreira – all the artists Romeo Santos would end up collaborating. But the reality is that Bachata would not be as common as today if it was not for Aventura and the brilliant capacity of its members to modernize the genre to cross an American market.

It is fair to assume that this is probably the latest reunion rodeo in the group, since they have existed since 1996, when they have passed through Los Tinellers. It was the first time that an artist or a musical group has broken the rules of Bachata and has infused its sounds with R&B, Pop, Hip -Hop and Reggae – bringing a genre formerly called Bolero Campesino on the consumer market. Tuesday evening, I felt the emotion and the immensity of all this by watching a group that I listen to since the junior High School light up an entire arena filled with fans who shouted the words of each song played so hard at one point, I thought my ears were going to appear.

While I was looking around a closed window stadium, all I could see was many flags from Latin American agitated America, the Dominican community appearing clearly. From time to time, I would notice a non-latin in the crowd singing the Spanish lyrics and swinging their hips back and forth at the Bachata base stage. But Romeo completely addressed to the public in Spanish and even gave some cries to all the Dominicans present, in particular those who have been faithful fans since the first days of the group.

Bachata has traveled a long way since its creation in the Dr barrios, and nothing brings me more joy than seeing how long he has managed to survive – thanks to Now -Legends which always prioritizes the devoted support of the Dominican community.

Johanna Ferreira is the director of PS Juntos content. With more than 10 years of experience, Johanna focuses on how intersectional identities are a central element of Latin culture. Previously, she spent almost three years as a deputy editor of Hiplatina, and she has independent for many points of sale, notably Refinery29, Oprah Magazine, Tower, Instyle and Well + Good. She has also moderated and talked about many panels on Latin identity.