Musiquito —born Francisco Arturo Avelino García in Moca, Espaillat, around 1952, died there of a heart attack on 22 June 2022— was a Dominican merengue singer and bandleader remembered above all for «Cómetela Ripiá».

A nickname from the town band

As a boy he never missed a rehearsal of Moca’s one municipal band, following its members through the streets so closely that townspeople took to saying, as they passed, «ahí viene la banda con el musiquito ese» — there goes the band with that little musician. The nickname stuck for life, and the band itself took him in at thirteen.

From «Los Juveniles de Moca» to «Luis Ovalles y Orquesta»

In 1967 he joined «Los Juveniles de Moca», led by the saxophonist Luis Ovalles, who renamed the group after himself in 1973. Musiquito remained until 1979, shortly before Ovalles left for the capital in search of a wider audience.

«Víctor Taveras y Musiquito»

In 1980 he formed «Víctor Taveras y Musiquito» in Santiago de los Caballeros with the musician Víctor Taveras, recording a single LP that included the merengues «La Ropa», «El Disco Rayao’» and «La Gran Fiesta de los Políticos» without much radio success. The partnership ended when Taveras left the country on a scholarship to study at a university in Detroit.

«Musiquito y Orquesta» and «Cómetela Ripiá»

His career took off in 1981 with his own group, Musiquito y Orquesta, and its breakout hit «Cómetela Ripiá», still remembered by its chorus, «¿Tú la quieres mucho? Cómetela ripiá». Among his other songs, «El Añoñaíto» (1983) went on to be popularized far beyond the Dominican Republic, played at Barranquilla’s Carnival in Colombia the following year, alongside «Ay Mami», «Yo lo Coloco» and «El Tulipán».

Legacy

One of his last notable appearances came in 2018, at the fiftieth-anniversary celebration of Conjunto Quisqueya at the Teatro Nacional, where he stood in for the late singer Aneudi Díaz on account of their similar voices. He died four years later, at seventy, in his native Moca.