Carlos David is a Dominican merengue singer, composer and bandleader from Villa La Mata — La Mata de Cotuí — in Sánchez Ramírez. He came to merengue by way of folklore and the theatre, which is not the usual road.

Ballet and drama

In 1980 he joined the choir of the Ballet Folklórico Nacional. When he moved to the capital he began studying drama, and kept singing in the choir at the same time.

That grounding shows. A singer who has been through folkloric work knows the older rhythms from the inside, and a singer who has studied acting treats a merengue as something to be performed rather than only sung.

With Bonny Cepeda

His career proper began with Bonny Cepeda. He sang chorus, took lead vocals and wrote several of the songs — the full apprenticeship inside one of the busiest merengue orchestras of the decade.

His own records

Carlos David y Orquesta Liberación came out in 1986 and Esa Mujer followed in 1987. Between them they carry the songs he is remembered for: Esa Mujer, Frente a una Copa de Vino, Maldito Amor, Esta Cobardía, Tus Ojos Mexicanos Lindos, Lágrimas de Amor and Tu Cinturita.

It is a catalogue of romantic merengue made at the exact moment the genre was at its commercial peak, when a good singer with a good orchestra could still get a record onto every radio in the country.