Bachata dancing has the same name as the music it was created to dance to, and both stem from the Dominican Republic. Traditional bachata music has a 4/4 beat with an accent on 4 and has influences from Spanish guitar music and Sub Saharan Africa. It is usually played using the same instruments: lead guitar, bass guitar, rhythm guitar, bongos, and güira. Bachata music is similar to the blues and stems from a disenfranchised working class singing about heartbreak, despair, and loss.
Bachata is still often danced to traditional style bachata music and there are lots of talented songwriters and performers who use this style. There is also another group of performers who are using modern technology to remix popular music to fit bachata-style instrumentation and beat. This video of Judit and Yexy Jr. dancing to a bachata remix of Señorita is a great example of how well remixes can fit bachata dancing.
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The goal of a bachata remix is to retain the essence of the original track while also making it possible (and desirable) for people to perform bachata dancing to it. This is usually achieved by changing the speed (often to make it faster), changing the beat to a 4/4 beat, and laying over the top traditional bachata instruments such as bass guitar and bongos.
Of course, there is debate about whether these remixes count as true bachata music, and in many ways, they likely don’t. But when it comes to making music for people to dance to it can be argued that the only important consideration is whether it will make people want to get up and dance. When a bachata remix is successful, everyone who hears it at a dance social will immediately recognize it as bachata music and will know exactly how to dance to it. And they can enjoy popular music while they do so, which can add that extra bit of fun to the evening.
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