Luis Díaz Portorreal, best known as Luis Días, was a musician, composer and performer of popular music born in the Dominican Republic.
He was immersed in the popular music and customs of Dominican folklore. In the artistic realms he is known as "El Terror" ("The Terror"), due to his particular performance style and his overtones.
He was the author of lyrics and music that fused many diverse musical styles. In some circles, Luis was considered to be the Father of Dominican Rock, due to his contributions to alternative music and his experimentation with Dominican rhythms blended with rock guitar patterns. In his fusions, Luis accomplished fusions of rock, reggae, jazz and blues with more than 40 ethnic rhythms from the Dominican Republic and Haiti, such as Merengue, Bachata, and Mangulina, among many others.
Biography
The composer, guitarist and singer named Luis Díaz Portorreal was born in Bonao, Dominican Republic, on June 21, 1952. Since childhood, he felt a direct impulse to become a musician, given that his father was a Tres player, (an instrument similar to the guitar used in rural Dominican towns), and his mother was a singer of Salves. Lively melodies and rhythms, along with the artistic environment that contained them, were natural surroundings in his life.
He covered his first musical lessons in his own hometown, with the musicians Juan Zorrilla and Tatán Jiménez, and at his 16 years of age he formed his first music band, "Los Chonnys".
In 1970 he changed his residence to Santo Domingo with a main objective of studying psychology at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD).
He died in Santo Domingo on December 8, 2009, after suffering a heart attack and other complications therein. His funeral procession was one of the longest in recent Dominican history, parading through the barrios of Santo Domingo.
Career
In 1972, upon the initiative of the sociologist Dagoberto Tejada, he began as a guitarist and singer in the band Convite, a musical band on a mission to rescue a variety of rhythms found in the island from obscurity. Other original members were Dagoberto himself, Ana Marina Guzmán (singer), José Enrique Trinidad and José Rodríguez (lyrics and backup vocals), Miguel Mañaná (percussion), José Castillo (percussion) and Iván Domínguez (percussion).
Convite was a true musical novelty during that time. They had notable participations at "El Festival Internacional de la Nueva Canción "Siete Días con el Pueblo"" (International Festival of the New Song "Seven Days with the People") in Santo Domingo, 1974, in which Dias' composition "Obrero Acepta Mi Mano" (Laborer, Accept My Hand) was named as the official theme song, and was afterwards recorded by different protest song bands such as "Expresión Joven" (Dominican Republic) and "Los Guaraguao" (Venezuela).
After "Convite" broke up (1978), Días formed another band named "Madora" together with Gustavo Moré, Wellinton Valenzuela, Carlos Fernández, and Luis Ruiz. In this new experiment they sought a fusion between jazz and Antillean folklore. In "Madora," Luis culminated a full decade worth of reelaborating and restoring root songs of Dominican tradition. That year he also participated in the XI World Festival of Youth and Students in La Habana, 1978.
Between 1980 and 1982, Luis Días traveled to New York City, where he focused on teaching workshops about traditional Dominican music at the American Museum of Natural History. During this time he was deeply influenced by jazz and punk culture.
Birth of Dominican Rock
Although various styles of rock music had been performed in his native country for quite a few years prior, Dias' return to the Dominican Republic in 1982 represents for many observers the authentic birth of Dominican Rock. He formed the band Transporte Urbano (Urban Transportation) together with Juan Francisco Ordóñez (guitar), Guy Frómeta (drums), Héctor Santana (bass guitar), José Duluc (percussion) and Bruno Ranson (saxophone). A few years later, Hector Santana was replaced with Peter Nova on the bass guitar.
In Transporte Urbano they would pour a wide variety of their musical influences, from Bachata to heavy metal.
Awards
In 1983, he was granted a national award for his composition of the main theme song for the Dominican Carnival. The theme was named "Carnaval", but is better known as "Baila en la Calle" (Dance in the Streets). The theme's first performers were Sonia Silvestre and Luis Días himself. By 1985, the very popular Dominican merenguero Fernando Villalona recorded the song with the label Kubaney. To date, the aforementioned version has achieved the highest levels of popularity and recognition.