Fidelina Pascual, who works as La Mami del Swing, is a Dominican merengue típico accordionist, singer and bandleader based in New York. She has led her own conjunto since 1993 and owns the outfit that carries her name.

Early years and formation

She comes from a family of musicians — six brothers, all of them players. Her brother Agapito Pascual, the típico accordionist and bandleader, is the one who taught her the instrument. She describes herself, still, in two words before anything else: singer and accordionist.

Her own conjunto

She formed her first group in 1993 and has fronted her own ever since, which in merengue típico means running the band as well as playing its lead instrument. She is the owner of the outfit, not a hired voice in front of someone else’s.

That conjunto has worked as a school. A long line of young musicians has passed through it on güira, tambora, bass and accordion, her own children among them.

New York

She works out of New York, where merengue típico has had a second home since the seventies and where a Dominican audience keeps the dance circuit alive. Llámame is the record that travelled furthest — the one where she spends three minutes demanding a call back — and El Telefonema, El Pájaro Pelu’, La Pava and Me Pica belong to the same live repertoire. She and Agapito still play together, from opposite ends of the diaspora.

The women accordionists

She belongs to a line of women who lead típico ensembles rather than sing in front of them: Fefita la Grande, María Díaz, La India Canela and Raquel Arias among them. Between them they turned the woman running a conjunto típico from an exception into an ordinary feature of the genre.