Juan Luis Guerra and Festival Starlite Occident

Born Juan Seijas in 1957, Guerra turned to muisic relatively late in his life, at least compared to most other pop and rock stars of his calibre. Despite music always being a passion of his, Guerra only turned to it as a career path after completing a degree in Philosophy and Literature at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo. However, once he left university his next stop was to study guitar and music theory Santo Domingo National Conservatory of Music. He proved so adept at the course that he was able to transfer to the Berklee College Of Music in Boston during the course, and left with a diploma in Jazz composition.

He returned to the Dominican Republic in 1982 and set about starting his career in music, which began in earnest with the release of his first album in 1984. “Soplando” was recorded with a group of local musicians that later became his full time backing band Cuatro Cuarenta (Four Forty). The record was never intended to be a commercial hit, being as it was a set of Jazz-inflected ideas he’d come up with while still at Berklee. Once he’d got his first record out of his system, he began writing Merengues, music native to his home country of the Dominican Republic.

However, his first record had gotten him some acclaim and notice in the Dominican music scene, and he was signed to Karen Records in 1984. The label were, fortunately, understanding of Guerra’s desire to go in a different musical direction and he immediately set to work on his next two records, 1985’s “Mudanza y Acarreo” and 1987’s “Mientras Más Lo Pienso...Tú”. Guerra had already picked up a loyal following around his native country but “Mientras…” was what really grabbed people’s attention, and with his next two albums he became one of music’s biggest names in many Latin American countries. His 1991 album “Bachata Rose” especially put him on the map, selling five million copies the world over.

Ever since then, he’s remained an icon in the world of Latin muisic. He’s won an abundance of Latin Grammy awards and has had four of his albums certified Platinum. He’s even made an impact in the English speaking rock world as well, supporting The Rolling Stones in San Juan, Puerto Rico and collaborating with Sting to name but a few. He remains one of the Dominican Republic’s premier musical exports, and for that, he comes highly recommended.