Compadre Pedro Juan is a classic Dominican merengue composed by Luis Alberti and first released around 1951 with Alberti and his orchestra. The song tells a lively story of Compadre Pedro Juan inviting his dance partner to the jaleo, celebrating a girl with black eyes who moves with a flexible, captivating body, and warning that if he delays the merengue can end and he might be left out. It remains a staple of Alberti’s merengue repertoire and has appeared on later releases such as the 1988 album Los Merengues Favoritos de Trujillo and on Orquesta Santa Cecilia’s 2010 tribute Homenaje a Luis Alberti.
