Afro Dominicano is a global music band that centers its music on what they call Afro Caribbean soul. They blend traditional folkloric genres from the Dominican Republic, such as perico ripiao, palo, merengue de orquesta, and bachata with reggae, bembe, calypso, samba, funk, rock, and other African rhythms.

Bandleader Adriano Brito was born and raised in New York, where Dominican music was a family legacy. His father’s eight siblings were all singers or string players. Adriano learned to play the guitar and piano from them, but at age twenty, he asked to play the accordion that hung in a Brooklyn barbershop. “The instrument chose me,” Brito says now.

Afro Dominicano calls their style a “sancocho musical,” comparing it to the mix of flavors found in the hearty stew beloved across the Caribbean. They marry the rich base of traditional merengue típico with ingredients from New York City’s soundscape.  Founder Adriano Brito describes their music as a melting pot, with the sound of punk music on your headphones layered with merengue from a nearby bodega.