Roland Roll is a Dominican merengue singer from San Francisco de Macorís, leader of his own orchestra, billed Roland Roll Con Sabor. At the end of the 1980s he put out one of the era's most polished independent productions: the album «Con Sabor» (1989), released on his own RL Records and opening with «El mar azul», written by Luis "Terror" Días. The band was remembered for the quality of its sound and arrangements — Juan Valdez, Joan Minaya, Henry Hierro and Manuel Tejada all arranged for it — and for Roll's own melodic, finely tuned voice out front.

Career

«Con Sabor» carried his signature songs — «El mar azul», «Quinceañera», «Consuelito», «Un buen perdedor» and «Dónde está ese amor» — and traveled: editions followed in the United States (Musical Productions, 1990) and Venezuela (Evesol, 1990). A second production, «Me tienes loco», was recorded at the start of the nineties. Then Roll emigrated to the United States and vanished from Dominican stages, settling in New York, where he still lives and still performs — in July 2023 he played the Dominican journalists' gala there with his orchestra.

Legacy

Roland Roll's orchestra released «Con Sabor» (1989), with arrangements by Juan Valdez, Joan Minaya, Henry Hierro and Manuel Tejada. Its opening track, «El mar azul», was written by Luis Díaz.