Andre Veloz

Andre Veloz is a Dominican-born, Bronx-based bachatera and songwriter, pianist, painter, actor, and schoolteacher of students with special needs. She is a visible symbol of the transformation of bachata from an almost strictly male genre associated with "low culture" and "bad morals" since it started being recorded in 1962. In an interview, she said, "My country has a thing of wanting to whitewash our African past and the same with bachata. We want to whitewash our taste in music and not admit how much we enjoy it because it comes from the lowest rungs of society." In bachata,...