A Picture Becomes Music Joaquin Diaz

By Stephen Pate – When I saw Tim Carter’s photograph of merengue accordionist Joaquin Diaz I felt as if could hear the music.  The photograph captures the color and passion of the musician.  A casual browse through Flickr turned into a musical adventure.

I immediately wanted to hear the Mr. Diaz’s music, which is easy today with YouTube and the internet. Googling his name, I could find videos and a home page dedicated to Joaquin Diaz.  “Experience the most exciting traditional merengue music you’ll ever hear!” Great, I thought.

Tim’s photograph captured Diaz in the heat of his performance at the 2013 Lowell (MA) Folk Festival. While there is no video of that performance, I did find other videos. Listen and feel the joy of this amazing artist.

“It was the last two acts that really spurred the capacity crowd to its feet.”  wrote Churchill Edwards of Diaz at a performance in Malaysia. “Joaquin Diaz and his band got the crowd swaying and sashaying to the infectious Afro-Caribbean rhythms of the Dominican Republic.”

Joaquin Diaz is a Dominican Republic merengue musician, who has lived in Montreal since 1990. He is not famous but works the summer folk and music festivals in Canada and the United States. He has also toured Europe as and ethnic folk artist.

Joaquin Diaz has a few videos on YouTube and a 4 CD’s out like Merengue Alegre and Mi Corazon. Diaz, not to be confused with spanish musician and folklorist Joaquin Diaz, is an awesome artist.

His management company has put some videos on SoundCloud, which are embedded below. If SoundCloud does not work in your browser, try this alternate site, under “Showcase.”

Check out the lineup for this years Lowell Folk Festival when it’s posted and keep your eye out for Joaquin Diaz if he performs near you.  It’s a good idea to check out folk festivals. They can contain exciting musical surprises.

Featured image photo by Tim Carter, creative commons license. See more of Tim’s fantastic photography on Flickr.  Follow me on Twitter at @sdpate or on Facebook at NJN Network, OyeTimes and IMA News Buzz.

By Stephen Pate, NJN Network