Sophisticated arrangements that replaced raw, traditional structures.

: It sold over 3.5 million copies by 1991 and earned Guerra his first Grammy Award for Best Tropical Latin Album.

Before 1990, bachata was often referred to as música de amargue (bitter music). It was the soundtrack of rural bars and lower-income neighborhoods in the Dominican Republic. Juan Luis Guerra, a Berklee-trained musician, took these raw emotional roots and infused them with jazz harmonies, poetic lyricism, and high-fidelity production.