The prolific and eclectic musical journey of Luis “El Terror” Días

Jun 25

Any serious research on the multiple streams of contemporary Dominican music will inevitably lead you to the central figure of Luis “El Terror” Días. Beyond the international recognition that other Dominican musicians have amassed, with genres like merengue or bachata, the overwhelming influence of Luis Días prolific and eclectic musical journey is undisputed.

Luis Días was born in the province of Bonao in 1952, to a family with musical inclinations. His father was a Tres player and his mother a Salve singer. In his career, spanning decades, he covered almost every aspect of Dominican popular and traditional music. When he was not busy with his own productions, creating fusions between Afro-Dominican music and Rock, Blues, Reggae and Jazz, he was composing hits for merengueros.

In 1984 he was commissioned by the National Carnival Organizing Committee to write a song about the Carnival for that year. His track ended up being the perennial anthem for this celebration “Baile en la calle”. In 2006, the sampling of a part of this song by Shakira in her “Hips Don’t Lie” single, featuring the Haitian rapper Wyclef Jean, would end in a legal battle for plagiarism.

His melodies are reminiscent of work songs from the Dominican fields and his lyrics are infused with a mix of political, rural-urban imagery and, of course, love. If you pay close attention, these lyrics will take you through a wide array of cultures and iconic moments that have shaped Dominican history from pre-Colombian times until the late 1990’s. This voyage includes both United States occupations of the Dominican Republic, in 1916 and 1965, the life and murder of rural spiritual leader Liborio Mateo “Papá Liborio” or peasant social movement activist Mamá Tingó, the persecution of leftist intellectuals during the 60’s and the 70’s, among many others.

Today, his presence continues to shine over all Dominican music, as one of the most avant-garde Dominican artists of the second half of the 20th century. We invite you to discover, through these live recordings, two of the many sides of Luis Días rich legacy.