El Blachy —born Blas Darío Fragoso in Santo Domingo in 1981 and raised in Santiago de los Caballeros— is a Dominican merengue típico singer and songwriter who became one of the genre’s leading names in the 2020s, winning the Premios Soberano for Conjunto Típico in 2024 and 2025.

Years in the big orchestras

He began in the «Merengue Band», the house orchestra of the «Hotel Jaragua», where he stayed a year, then spent five years in the orchestra of Wilfrido Vargas and nine with Yovanny Polanco, whom he later described as being like a father to him. He also passed through Banda Real, which he calls his “university” and where he recorded «Perdido sin ti», a song he also wrote. His nickname comes from his grandfather, who was known by the same name.

A solo project

When Yovanny Polanco announced a break from the stage shortly before the pandemic, El Blachy struck out on his own. After a 2020 ballad-crossover tour, «En Romantiqueo Tours», he presented his own típico group in December 2020, «El Blachy y su Romantiqueo Típico», debuting with a típico cover of «La Nochecita», a song by Lenier and El Micha with Jacob Forever, arranged by Israel Almonte.

«Hola perdida» and the Soberano

His breakthrough came with a merengue típico version of «Hola perdida», a song by the Argentine artist Luck Ra, after an earlier single, «A qué vuelves», went largely unnoticed. He also turned Maluma’s «Sobrio» into típico, and recorded «Pa’ Perderte» with Manny Cruz. At the March 2024 Premios Soberano he won Conjunto Típico, reported at the time as beating Yovanny Polanco, Krisspy, Banda Real and El Prodigio; he won the category again in 2025. He has said he keeps his lyrics clean because children are among his listeners.

Legacy

By late 2024 El Blachy was booking around forty parties in November and sixty in December, and had announced collaborations with Chimbala and Bulin 47. In August 2026 he filled the Coca-Cola Music Hall in Puerto Rico, part of a run of international dates that includes a tour of the United States.