Merenhouse

Merenhouse, merenrap or electronic merengue,Mambo o Mambo de Calle is a style of Dominican merengue music formed by blending with dancehall reggae and hip hop.[1] The mix of Latin music, house music and dancehall started in NYC in the late 1980s.

Merenhouse usually combines rap singing (talk-singing) with actual singing. It has instruments that are typically in merengue music, such as saxophones, trumpets, accordion, bass, guitar, güira, tambora (drum). However, they can be combined with electronic sounds or even electronic sounds sampled from the actual instruments (much like house music). Sampling music means reusing a sample or portion of a sound recording in a song. Merenhouse is very upbeat and intended for dancing, similar to house music. It is hard to identify merenhouse based on its time signature and rhythm alone. Some merenhouse music is in a fast 2/4 beat and has typical merengue style rhythms. Some also is in a slower 4/4 beat, identifying more with the hip hop style. Merenhouse can be characterized mostly by the instruments/electronics used and the combination of vocal styles.

  1. ^ Sellers, Julie A. (October 2004). Merengue and Dominican identity: music as national unifier. McFarland. pp. 175–184. ISBN 978-0-7864-1815-2.