Riccie Oriach is a Dominican singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer born in Santo Domingo in 1989. He came up through punk and heavy rock and became one of the leading names in Dominican alternative music by setting rock, electronics, and Caribbean folk rhythms such as palo, merengue, bachata, and guaguancó against humorous, colloquial lyrics. He won the Premio Soberano for alternative music in 2018 and received a Latin Grammy nomination for his second EP.

Early life and formation

Oriach comes from a family rooted in the north of the country and, by his own account, spent his childhood by rivers and visiting grandparents in Santiago and La Vega. He was named after his father. He taught himself piano and other instruments, took some production courses, and lived for a period in the United States, where he worked in a skate shop; skateboarding, which he took up around the age of ten, remains a visual signature of his videos. At fourteen he began playing punk and hard rock with friends, organizing concerts himself as a teenager, and he has described feeling a «vacío de dominicanidad» as he grew up, which led him to study Dominican and Caribbean folk music. He credits the singer-songwriter Irka Mateo as an early inspiration.

«Viaje al Infinito» and the Soberano

In September 2017 Oriach toured Colombia for ten shows in two cities with his band, La Alucinante Banda. On 25 November 2017 he released his first EP, «Viaje al Infinito», six songs produced by Federico López Schaper and issued alongside a title-track video; a vinyl edition followed. In March 2018 he won the Premio Soberano in the alternative music category, at the first ceremony to include it.

That year he shared stages with Vicente García, Pavel Núñez, and Residente, and was invited by Eduardo Cabra, known as Visitante, to contribute to the «Trending Tropics» project, recording «La Muerte de la Muerte» with the Puerto Rican rapper PJ Sin Suela.

«Mi Derriengue»

Oriach began working with Eduardo Cabra as producer in late 2019, and «Mi Derriengue», a six-song EP, was released on 28 February 2020. It draws on merengue, bachata, rock, and electronic music, with samples and everyday Dominican expressions in the lyrics. «Antojo» had a video filmed in Colombia with La Alucinante Banda; «La Cuyaya» sets a bachata guitar against psychedelic lyrics. The single «Pa' Que Suba» was adopted by many as a soundtrack to the protests that followed the suspended municipal elections of 16 February 2020. The EP received a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary/Tropical Fusion Album.

In August 2020 Bandcamp Daily listed him among ten artists fusing Dominican roots music with global sounds, alongside Vicente García and La Marimba. He also took part in the collective recording «Los dominicanos siempre le damos pa'llá», with Pavel Núñez, Maridalia Hernández, Letón Pé, El Prodigio, Shadow Blow, Sergio Vargas, and Miriam Cruz.

«Maquiné» and later work

His first full-length album, «Maquiné», appeared on 28 May 2021 through Bandcamp. He performed at Expo 2020 Dubai, and in a 2023 interview he described the audience there as people from around the world dancing to Dominican music. In August 2023 he released the single «Baila Como los Animales» and played a concert at the Hard Rock Café in Santo Domingo, while recording a new album he said would be more raw and more electronic than his earlier work. At his shows he has given away plants to attendees.

Legacy

Oriach helped establish Dominican alternative music as a category recognized by the Premios Soberano, and his recordings, from «Viaje al Infinito» to «Maquiné», are a reference point for artists who combine rock and electronic production with Afro-Dominican rhythms.