Dubbing or imitating a character is recognized as an art. It is about characterizing artistic personalities to the point that the differences become imperceptible.
There are countless characters who are dedicated to imitating artists, some only recreate their image and others even imitate their way of speaking and their tone of voice.
Videos have recently become popular on TikTok and Instagram where the “doubles” of urban performers are displayed Bad Bunny and Eladio Carrion.
Likewise, during one of the two Bad Rabbit concerts in Santo Domingo, last October, “El Falso Arcángel” made an appearance.
Daddy Yankee, Jennifer López, Anthony Santos, Héctor Acosta and others have “their other living self”, people who are dedicated to being their doubles.
Precisely there are Dominicans who become artists and work recreating celebrities, to the point that they can be confused with the originals. Although some have taken advantage of their kinship to confuse the fans, without clarifying that they are “imitators”, others even, in the case of singers, throw parties and presentations, charging different rates, using known repertoires.
More than a disrespect or a way to lacerate the image of the artist, the impersonators perform these recreations to show their talent and demonstrate their admiration for celebrities.
daddy yankee
Throughout Big Boss’s musical career, many doubles have emerged, which have stood out for their enormous physical resemblance and voice.
Among those is José Arroyo, who applied to the casting to play Yankee in the Nicky Jam series, and kept the role, which increased his popularity.
However, in the Dominican Republic, the one who won the title of official Daddy Yankee impersonator was Gandhi Regalado, a Dominican who has been dubbing the Boss for more than 10 years and has become popular to the point that he has managed to take his shows to countries like Italy, Spain and Switzerland.
It’s not only about their impressive resemblance, but also about the similarity in the voice. Regalado, who is also a singer, made his debut in 2019 when “Despierta América” posted a video of him singing “I never stay at home.”
After the event, the young man internationalized and was able to perform shows outside the country as the official double of Daddy Yankee.
He was involved in a problem when in 2020 he received a lawsuit from Daddy Yankee’s record label, who understood that he was making use of the artist’s image to profit, not as imitation but as usurpation.
El Americano RD, as it is known on social networks, clarified last year that the lawsuit had been resolved, since the record company understood that it was not Regalado’s intention to “lacerate the image” of the Puerto Rican singer.
In December 2022, he starred in presentations in different parts of the country, in addition to Guatemala. She also informed that she would be performing shows in the month of January.
Bad Bunny
The young Dominican Alexis Ventura, known on TikTok as @Alexiisv16, is dedicated to making videos imitating the “Bad Rabbit”, recreating dances and trends of the Puerto Rican artist, on the famous social network.
Ventura lives in New York and unlike other impersonators he does not perform shows or appear in public places as if he were the same artist. The tribute to the interpreter of “Titi Me Preguntó” is done through short videos on his TikTok platform.
He debuted last year with a video in which he is seen dancing “After the beach”, with an outfit similar to that of the singer and similar dance steps.
Anthony Santos
In the case of Dominican Anthony Santos, there is not one imitator, but three. In this case they are considered imitators not because of their physical resemblance to the bachatero, but because of the similarities in their voices.
Santos’s characters sing so similarly that it is inevitable not to think that we are listening to the artist himself in a show.
Anthony Nicasio is one of them. The bachatero, in addition to singing like Santos, also composes and interprets his own songs. Likewise, in the shows that he performs as an impersonator, he includes his own productions to make himself known.
Julio Reyes, another of Anthony Santos’ best-known imitators, is also a bachatero.
Although physically they do not bear any resemblance, their tone of voice is easily confused.
Reyes, who calls himself “The Diamond of Bachata”, held a party honoring Antony Santos on Thursday, January 5, at the Merengue Bar, Hotel Jaragua.
He told Listín Diario that he started imitating the Mayimbe in 2010 and he did it at the request of the public, which indicated the resemblance of his voice to that of the veteran singer, for which they asked him to interpret his songs.
Although most of the time he is hired to imitate the bachatero, he also includes songs of his own in his presentations. He is currently promoting his song “With your feet on the ground.”
Raffy Cruz, another of the bachatero’s doubles, shares the same characteristics as the previous two. The only similarity between him and the bachatero is the voice with which he holds parties interpreting Mayimbe songs.
He also stated that during his presentations he interprets songs by the artist and his own, since he is mostly hired as an impersonator.
He also commented that he started imitating Santos in 2012 and since then he has not stopped. She has made her own singles of hers, such as the one that will be released this month entitled “Aficiao´ de ella”.
He also declared to Listín Diario that he will be doing shows throughout the month, both private and public parties, such as the one he held on January 22 at the La Peña court in San Francisco, which is deep to rebuild the facility.
Hector Acosta “El Torito”
Francisco Torres is the impersonator of Héctor Acosta “El Torito”, who has been able to imitate the voice of the original artist quite well, in addition to the fact that his physical resemblance is surprising. Even his height is very similar.
The double of the Torito toured many programs in the middle of the year 2022 characterizing the interpreter of “Amorcito enfermito”.
The clone is known as Francikito, and during an interview on the radio program “Los Hijos de Tuta” he recounted his first approach with El Torito. According to Torres, at a party of the artist in New Jersey, a person approaches the now senator for the province Monsignor Nouel and tells him that there is a young man similar to him, who sings the same songs and is interested in going on stage to sing.
El Torito took him on stage and asked the public to rate his performance, he stopped the song in the middle of the performance and told the public: “The boy sings, support him, you don’t know the talent they have hidden in the neighborhoods.”
Jennifer Lopez
The Jennifer López impersonator is a Dominican makeup artist named Eve, who does makeup like the artist to the point of looking physically identical. In addition to recreating styles and photos of the American singer, she is also a content creator presenting her makeup work to her Instagram community of more than 100,000 followers.
Eve isn’t a singer like JLO, but they do have a strong physical resemblance, which is impressive to viewers who have said it’s like seeing the artist in the past.
anthony rios
The Dominican comedian Javier Ortiz is known as the double of the singer-songwriter Antony Ríos, because he can imitate the way the artist sings and when characterizing him his physical resemblance is incredible.
For a time, he made television appearances imitating the Dominican singer, but he has also imitated other characters as part of his performance, among which Pablo Escobar and El hombre Araña stand out.
He currently performs comedy presentations in different theaters in the country and is dedicated to making comedy videos through his YouTube channel.
Archangel
In the case of the popular Puerto Rican artist Arcángel, his Dominican impersonator is known on social networks as “El Clon de Arcángel”, he has more than 33,000 followers on Instagram (@lamaravilla02), where he frequently uploads videos characterizing “La Maravilla”. .
The 35-year-old named Gerly Menéndez, in addition to replicating videos of the artist, also performs shows imitating him. He was even the one who “sneaked in” during the second performance of the Bad Bunny concert in the country, characterizing Arcángel.
Menéndez was walking through the field area while being confused by the fans, who greeted him with excitement and almost took him to the stage.
Menéndez and Dominican Bad Bunny impersonators Sech, Anuell AA and El Alfa are managed by Franciscos Peralta of El Búho Records. They have even made joint presentations, such as the one on January 18 at the patron saint festivities of Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia in La Caleta.
Source-listindiario.com