Bocatabú is a Dominican rock band formed in Santo Domingo in early 2008 by singer Giorgio Siladi and guitarist Eduardo Fernández, together with Óscar Paxtot, Francisco Caamaño, Miguel Abreu and Claudia Ponjuán, that became one of the most visible acts in the country’s alternative rock scene of the late 2000s and early 2010s.

«Historias Vírgenes» and the Casandra

The band’s debut album, «Historias Vírgenes» (2009), placed the song «Bang Bang» among the most popular Spanish-language rock singles of its moment in the Dominican Republic and led Bocatabú to share stages with international acts including Shakira, Alejandro Sanz, Fito Páez, «Maná» and «Miranda!». The album won the Premios Casandra for Mejor Grupo de Rock in 2009 and received a further nomination in 2010. Dominican press at the time, and Siladi himself years later, described «Historias Vírgenes» as the best-selling physical album in the country’s history; an English-language comparative table of best-selling albums by country lists it instead with a specifically documented figure of about 8,000 copies sold, well below several other Dominican albums in the same list.

The record deal

Riding that momentum, Bocatabú signed with a United States record label, toured internationally and performed at Citi Field in New York, where members of the band met Drake and Lil Wayne. A second album, «Vidas Extraviadas», followed in 2012. Looking back on the period years later, Siladi said the contract had cost the band more than it had gained: «Bocatabú firmó su condena el día que firmó un contrato disquero» (“Bocatabú signed its sentence the day it signed a record deal”), he said in 2026, describing a music industry that prioritized sales figures over the group’s artistic direction.

«Estado Natural» and Mexico City

In early 2016 the band relocated to Mexico City to continue its career, and on 19 May 2017 released the single «Estado Natural», recorded at «Panoram Studio» — also used by Björk, Spoon, «Zoé» and Ryan Adams — which marked a turn toward 1980s- and 1990s-influenced textures layered over the band’s established sound. A further release, «Canciones Inéditas», followed in 2018, after which the group largely stepped out of public view.

Legacy

In May 2026, Siladi broke that silence in a video that named the band’s historic lineup — himself, Eduardo Fernández, Francisco Caamaño, Claudia Ponjuán, Miguel Abreu and Óscar Paxtot — recounted the group’s rise and the impact the United States contract had had on it, and said he wanted to reunite with his former bandmates “to close that cycle in a positive way.” Within days, Dominican outlets including Listín Diario and El Nuevo Diario reported that the band had announced its return to the stage, citing the reaction of fans to Siladi’s video as the reason — the first public sign of activity from a group that had been inactive since 2018.