La India Canela

La India Canela — born Lidia María Hernández López in El Limón, Villa González, in the tobacco country of Santiago Province — is a Dominican accordionist and bandleader in the merengue típico tradition, and one of the few women to lead in the genre. The first professional musician in her family, she taught herself the accordion as a child — practicing in secret because the instrument was considered a man's domain — and began playing clubs in Santiago at fifteen, learning from established players such as Siano Arias, Lupe Valerio and Rafaelito Román. She has recorded several albums and won two Premios Casandra; in 2008 Smithsonian Folkways released her album "Merengue Típico from the Dominican Republic," and she was featured on NPR. As a living artist, this profile is limited to sourced facts.