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LUIS DIAS
Born in Bonao, Dominican Republic in 1953, Luis Dias is
credited with being the creator of Dominican Fusion, which
merged rock, jazz and blues with over 40 different ethnic
rhythms from the Dominican Republic and Haiti. His parents
were musicians, his mother a singer, and his father a
'tres' player. Starting in his early teens Luis joined
several merengue and rock bands and later as a Psychology
Major in his college years, founded 'Convite', a band
responsible for bringing back from obscurity rhythms from
different parts of the island of Hispaniola, as portrayed
in the recordings "Ae Candelo!" and "Convite Convida".
After briefly headlining another project called "Madora" in
1979, Luis moves to New York City for the first time (1980)
and fronts "La Cofradia" in which Dominican folk music
remains the main theme, Dias also starts
teaching workshops on Traditional Dominican Music at the
Museum of Natural History of New York City.
Luis returns to Santo Domingo in1982 and starts up
"Transporte Urbano" and this marks the
birth of the authentic "rock dominicano", where the
influence of the traditional rhythms meets the style and
execution of the "american rock". In 1984 Luis releases
his first merengue LP called "Luis 'Terror' Dias". In 1985
he was commissioned with the soundtrack for the movie "Las
Pausas Del Silencio" which earned the1st. Place at the
Philadelphia Film Festival for Best Music. At the same
time Luis starts gaining momentum as a composer of
merengues, bachatas and ballads on commission. After
several years of performing in and around the Caribbean,
USA and South America, as well as several dates in France
(Paris& Marseilles), Russia (Moscow & Leningrad), Spain
(Madrid, Tenerife & Barcelona) and Portugal (Lisbon), Luis
relocates back to NYC in the early 90's and, continuing his
intense work ethic, begins a partnership with David Byrne
in 1995 which results in his song "La Casa" being included
in the soundtrack for the film "Blue In The Face" of the
same year. In 1998 he releases two CD's, "El Accidente"
based on his experiences in NYC, and "La Yola", an acoustic
collaboration with Lliam Greguez.
In 1999 Colecciones El Europeo, a cultural institution from Spain
chooses Luis' work to release a Compilation called JALEO
DOMINICANO + HOMENAJE A LUIS DIAS and it marks the first
time this organization selects an artist from the American
Continent for such honor. For a year, between 1999 & 2000,
Luis becomes the vice-director of Casa De La Cultura
Dominicana, an organization responsible for promoting
Dominican Culture in New York City. Also in 2000 Luis
reissues his 1998 recordings "La Yola" and "El Accidente"
and for the first time releases the 1985 recording
"Vickiana, Las Sesiones", which became very well known in
the underground circuit in the mid '80's. In 2001 his
"Suite Folklorica Dominicana" premieres at the Eduardo
Brito Hall of the National Theatre Of Santo Domingo to
great public acclaim. Later that year he returns to NYC
and reactivates his band "Las Maravillas" in order to
continue his musical journeys and experimentations. Luis
also functions as a music teacher in several schools of the
NYC Board of Education and continues to work as a composer
whose songs have been recorded by dozens of national and
international recording artists.
