Alberto Amancio Beltrán (Palo Blanco, La Romana, May 5, 1923 – Miami, February 2, 1997) was a Dominican singer, known in the Latin American musical world as “El Negrito del Batey”.
Early years
Beltrán was born in the town of Palo Blanco, in the province of La Romana. As a child, he barely had a basic education because his family’s economic situation forced him to sell candy on the streets. At the age of fourteen he was attracted to music and debuted as an amateur singer on the radio. This first artistic incursion led him to take singing lessons.
From 1946 to 1951 he belonged to several groups in his country, such as “Brisas de Oriente”. Later, he formed his own group called “Dominican Boys”.
International projection
In 1951 he emigrated to Puerto Rico. There, he recorded with “Los Diablos del Caribe”, a group led by Mario Hernández, the song “El 19”.
He then traveled to Cuba, first to Santiago and then to Havana on July 15, 1954, to work with the Puerto Rican composer and singer Myrta Silva on Radio Mambí.
On August 16 of that same year, he was requested by the Sonora Matancera and recorded the composition Ignoro tu existencia by Rafael Pablo de la Motta and Aunque me cueste la vida by the Dominican Luis Kalaff. Both songs, in bolero rhythm, were recorded on the same 78 rpm disc.
On November 16, he recorded the merengue El negrito del batey composed by Medardo Guzmán, which catapulted him internationally as it became a sales hit.
From there came the nickname with which he became popular. That same day he also recorded the boleros Todo me gusta de Ti by Cuto Esteves, Enamorado de la inspiración by José Balcalcer and, for the second time, El 19 by Radhamés Reyes Alfau.
On January 18, 1955 he recorded his last pieces with the Orquesta Sonora Matancera. Then, he spent some time in Venezuela where he left phonographic records with the orchestras “Sonora Caracas”, Los Megatones de Lucho and the Orquesta de Jesús “Chucho” Sanoja.
Hired by the Dominican musician settled in Venezuela, Billo Frómeta, he participated in two albums recorded in Cuban studios: “Evocación” (1956) in which he performed as a soloist and “La Lisa-Maracaibo”, in which he shared credits with the Cuban singer Carlos Díaz.
What does El negrito del batey mean?
In the Dominican Republic the batey smells of black and the black often smells of batey. Both evoke in their generality misery and human abandonment, fruit of injustice and discrimination. This is so, although it pains us to say it
The Negrito of the Batey
They call me the little black man of the batey
Because work for me is an enemy
To work I leave everything to the ox
Because work was made by God as a punishment
I like the merengue apambicha’o
With a black woman who is a retrechera and a good girl
I like to dance de medio la’o
I like to dance half tight with a tasty black girl
Hey!
Get your ass out of here!
There!
They call me the little black guy from the batey
Because work for me is an enemy
To work I leave everything to the ox
Because God made work as a punishment
I like the merengue apambicha’o
With a black woman who is a retrechera and a good girl
I like to dance de medio la’o
I like to dance half tight with a tasty black girl
Hey, there!
And you tell me if it’s not true
Merengue much better
And you say if it’s not true
Merengue much better
Because that of working
It’s a pain for me
Because that of working
To me it causes me pain, it sounds!
The meek ox works hard
But he never gets dengue fever
The meek ox works hard
But he never gets the dengue
I’ll dance with a good black woman
I’ll dance to a good merengue
But I never get tired
To dance a good merengue, it sounds!
There, candela!
Finbroso, hey!
The gentle ox works hard
But he never gets the dengue
A lot of work the gentle ox works hard
But he never gets the dengue
But I never get tired
Of dancing a good merengue
But I never get tired
Of dancing a good merengue, it sounds!
There!
Dominicanize!
Read also: International Salsa Magazine presents Alexander Abreu and his Habana de Primera
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