Yanco Santana Brings Merengue and Bachata to Russian TV

Yanco Santana and his Orquesta EL DOMI brought the sounds of the Dominican Republic to Russian national television this month, performing live on Dobroye Utro (Good Morning), the morning program of Channel One. The appearance featured merengue and bachata and was used to introduce Santana’s bilingual song “Una Noche en Moscow,” recorded in Spanish and Russian. Multiple Dominican media outlets reported the September 2026 appearance as the first time merengue and bachata had been presented on Russian national television.

The performance placed two of the Dominican Republic’s best-known musical genres in a mainstream Russian television setting. “Dobroye Utro” is a long-running information and entertainment program on Channel One, Russia’s nationwide broadcaster, and is designed for a broad audience. The program has been on the air since 1987, making the appearance part of a longstanding Russian television format rather than a specialized Latin-music broadcast.

A Bachata Connecting Moscow and the Dominican Republic

Santana appeared with Orquesta EL DOMI to promote “Una Noche en Moscow,” a bachata inspired by his experience living in Russia. The artist describes the recording as the first bachata made in both Spanish and Russian. A lyric video released in May 2026 identifies Santana as the songwriter and credits musicians and production collaborators involved in the recording. The song was presented as a musical connection between Dominican and Russian cultures.

The television performance also included Regina Roskina, a Russian merengue performer known in Russian media and Dominican coverage as the “Queen of Merengue” in Russia. Dominican percussionist Carlos Hiraldo, EL DOMI’s güira player and percussion director, also took part. Reports identify Hiraldo and Santana as the two Dominican musicians currently performing in the orchestra.

From Higüey to Moscow

Santana is from Salvaleón de Higüey, in La Altagracia Province in the eastern Dominican Republic. He moved to Russia in 2021 and founded EL DOMI in Moscow in 2023. The group brings together musicians of different nationalities and performs merengue, bachata, mambo and other Dominican rhythms.

The project has developed beyond occasional performances. EL DOMI celebrated its second anniversary with a Moscow concert in March 2025, while later performances took the group to established cultural and music venues in the Russian capital. Santana has also appeared at the main stage of the Moscow International House of Music and has performed regularly at the Alexey Kozlov Club, a venue associated with Moscow’s jazz scene.

The group’s development illustrates how Dominican music can travel through local cultural networks rather than relying exclusively on the traditional Latin-music circuit. In Russia, Santana has sought to present merengue and bachata as Dominican cultural expressions, while working with musicians from other countries and incorporating the music into Moscow’s broader live-performance scene.

Music as a Way to Present Dominican Culture

Santana’s activities in Russia have also extended beyond concerts. He has introduced instruments such as the tambora and güira in Russian schools and participated in cultural activities featuring Dominican food, including pica pollo, pasteles en hoja and mofongo. Another initiative, “Colmadón EL DOMI,” recreates the concept of a Dominican neighborhood grocery store as a cultural display.

That approach gives the musical project a broader cultural dimension. For Russian audiences unfamiliar with the Dominican Republic beyond tourism or popular dance, the instruments, food and everyday references provide additional context for understanding where merengue and bachata come from and how they fit into Dominican life.

A Growing Story in Moscow

The bilingual “Una Noche en Moscow” project is also connected to a longer personal story. Santana is currently working on a cinematic music video inspired by Rafael Herrera, a Dominican who studied in the Soviet Union and later lived in Russia for more than four decades. The story gives the song a historical connection between Dominicans and Russia that predates EL DOMI’s current activities.

Following the September television appearance, EL DOMI received an invitation to return to Russian national television in December, according to reports published after the broadcast. If that appearance takes place as announced, it would give Santana and the group another opportunity to present Dominican music to a Russian audience while continuing a cultural project that began with his move to Moscow five years ago.