Aridia Ventura: 20 Grandes Éxitos / Aridia Ventura: 20 Grandes Exitos

Bachata occupies a place in Dominican popular culture similar to that held by the Blues in the United States, and it has risen to become a symbol of national identity and a pervasive influence on nearly all Dominican music. Like the Blues, Bachata is dominated by male performers and portrays an aggressive, machismo-oriented world of street corners and barrooms that often leaves little room for female voices, but even under such circumstances women have managed to make their voices heard. Memphis Minnie and Bessie Smith attained commercial ascendancy in the Blues field at the dawn of the ‘30s and Melidia Rodriguez and Aridia Ventura provided Bachata with strong female voices while the genre was still establishing its identity in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Aridia excelled at performing excoriating rebukes to faithless male lovers and did so in a variety of styles, including Vallenatos, Merengue, and Rancheras, for which she had a particular fondness. Twenty of Aridia’s most memorable performances, including the heart-wrenching “En la Misma Tumba” are included on this compilation, which focuses largely on material she recorded and released during the ‘70’s.