Juan Luis Guerra

After a year of study in philosophy and literature at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, he switched to the Conservatorio Nacional de Música where he finished his undergraduate study. Guerra was a great admirer at this time of the nueva canción, embodied by Pablo Milanés, Silvio Rodríguez and Facundo Cabral. After finishing his study at the Santo Domingo conservatory, Guerra went to the Berklee College of Music in Boston to study composition and arranging. After his return to the Dominican Republic, he released his first album, Soplando (1984) with a group of local musicians which subsequently became known as Juan Luis Guerra y 440. The 440 part of the band's name refers to the standard tuning "A=440." Two albums followed, Mudanza y Acarreo and Mientras más lo pienso ... tú. Although they saw little acclaim internationally, the band garnered some fame in their country, resulting in them being nominated to represent the Dominican Republic at the prestigious Festival OTI. The