Merenhouse

Merenhouse, Merenrap or Electronic merengue, Mambo/Mambo de Calle is a style of Dominican Merengue music derived by blending it with dancehall, hip hop and house, particularly latin house. The mix of Latin, house and dancehall music started in New York City in the late 1980s.

Merenhouse usually combines rap singing (talk-singing) with actual singing. It has instruments that are typically in Merengue music, such as saxophones, trumpets, accordions, bass, guitar, güira, and tambora, a kind of drum. However, it can be combined with electronic sounds or even electronic sounds sampled from the actual instruments (much like house music). Sampling music consists of reusing a sample or portion of a sound recording in a song. Merenhouse is very upbeat and intended for dancing, similar to house music; it is hard to identify merenhouse basing only on its time signature and its rhythm alone: some of them are in a fast 2/4 beat and has typical Merengue rhythms, while some other are in a slower 4/4 beat, identifying more with the hip hop style. Merenhouse can be characterized mostly by the using of instruments/electronics and the combination of vocal styles.