Shino Aguakate, born Gerpis Correa, is a Dominican merengue típico singer and a radio host in New York, on La Mega 97.9’s Vacilón de la Mañana. He is the lead voice of Aguakate, the group that took perico ripiao out of the countryside and into the diaspora dance halls of the north-east.

The name

Aguakate was not chosen. It was a word he used constantly to say everything was fine, and the producer, hearing it often enough, took it for a proposal and put it on the group. He has carried it ever since, to the point that the man and the band share a name.

Aguakate

The group was formed in New York in 2003 by José Mateo Peligro together with Correa, on Peligro Records. The line-up was a típico band with the volume turned up: Belarminio Liriano on accordion, Diógenes on saxophone, Pedro Lantigua on congas, Waldi on guitar, DJ Chucky on piano, Fermín Flores singing, Eddie on percussion, Alejandro on bass.

In 2004 they signed to Universal Latino and released De Otra Galaxia. La Gallinita, La Agarradera, El Divorcio, Sólo Con Un Beso, Mueva Esa Vaina and Reggaetón Ripiao came off it. En Vivo Desde Santo Domingo followed in March of the same year, and so did a head-to-head record with Krisspy — Aguakate vs Krisspy, Mano a Mano — on Mambo Records.

Crazyssimo arrived in August 2006 with La Conquista, made with Sergio Vargas, and Quiero Verte with Don Miguelo. That range is the whole argument of the group: a merengue orchestra veteran on one track and an urban artist on the next, over an accordion.

The split and the return

The band came apart in 2006 when Correa left to work under his own name with the producer Frasier Hernández, who pushed him to mix styles so the records would reach past the típico audience.

Aguakate came back in 2010 with him as leader and shareholder, most of the old musicians returning, and management by M&M Enterprises. The touring reached Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Canada, Alaska and the Dominican Republic. In June 2011 they played La Mega’s Puerto Rican Festival on 112th and Third in Manhattan, and put Danza Kuduro and Aléjate de Mí through a típico band.

The solo work

Under his own name he has kept releasing — Volvió Juanito, Eh Mentira, Respeto, Mañé Mañé, Mujer Fea, K Lo What — and he cut La Cama de Fefita with Fefita la Grande, which put two of the loudest personalities in típico on the same record.

He is blunt about the state of the form. He has said in print that merengue típico died because they are prostituting it.

Recognition

Premios Activos gave him a Premio Especial a la Excelencia in 2026. In New York he is a fixture of the Dominican parades and festivals, and he describes himself, in that order, as Dominican to the bone, a merenguero by breeding, and a radio host.