JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Police in the Dominican Republic's capital city of Santo Domingo are no longer searching for survivors following a deadly roof collapse at a popular night club this past Monday night. So far, authorities say 221 people are dead, with at least 200 people injured. Among those who died were two former Major League Baseball players, a local politician and some of the island's business leaders. As NPR's Felix Contreras reports, they were all there for a concert by the popular Dominican vocalist Rubby Perez, who also died in that accident.
FELIX CONTRERAS, BYLINE: The hundreds of people who attended the Monday night performance at the Jet Set nightclub in downtown Santo Domingo were there to dance merengue, as performed by one of the genre's biggest stars. Rubby Perez got his start in the early 1980s, singing with merengue band leader Wilfrido Vargas, one of the Dominican musicians who is credited with taking the popular local folk tradition to international audiences. Perez released his first solo album in 1986, and it was called "Buscando Tus Besos," "Searching For Your Kisses."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BUSCANDO TUS BESOS")
RUBBY PEREZ: (Singing in Spanish).
CONTRERAS: Merengue has a powerful connection to Dominican identity. During the U.S. occupation of the island in the early 20th century, Dominican insurgents used the music as a symbol of cultural identity and resistance by the largely Black population. During the 1960s, Dominican immigration to the U.S., principally New York City, spread the popularity of the music off of the island through artists like Johnny Ventura and Juan Luis Guerra. Rubby Perez became a major star on the island with a career that spanned many albums and decades.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (Speaking Spanish).
CONTRERAS: Spanish language media reports describe the Jet Set nightclub as iconic - a venue that could hold over 1,000 people and kept merengue traditions alive. Monday night, the death toll included two Dominican former Major League Baseball players, Octavio Dotel, who was 51, and Tony Blanco, who was 44. Authorities are trying to determine just how many people were in the nightclub at the time of the accident to establish how many are still missing. In the meantime, Rubby Perez's manager has said the body of the singer, who was 69 years old, will lay in the country's national theater for a public wake and memorial, giving grieving merengue fans an opportunity to say goodbye to one of their own.
Felix Contreras, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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