Luis Días

Dominican Singer-Songwriter and Guitarist

Singer, musician, composer, lyricist from Dominican Republic. (21 June 1952 - 8 December 2009). Interested in local popular/ethnic music, he also created in 1982 the Dominican group Transporte Urbano (fusion rock, not to be confused with the Chilean of the same name). Nicknamed "El Terror", or also the Father of Dominican Rock. LUIS DIAS Born in Bonao, Dominican Republic in 1952, 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.