(nydn) Look at the nominees for Best Merengue Album in the Latin Grammys and you can't help but notice: All five - Kinito Mendez, Juan Luis Guerra and Tono Rosario from the Dominican Republic, and Elvis Crespo and Limi-T 21 from Puerto Rico - have been stars for well over 15 years. And all arguably reached the pinnacle of their careers in the 1990s. It's a clear indication of what anyone who listens to Spanish-language radio already knows: There's trouble in merengueland. Where are the young artists? Have reggaeton and bachata gobbled up the fan base so completely? An upbeat but slightly frustrated Mendez addressed the decline of merengue as he made his way through New York on a tour through Dominican strongholds like Lawrence, Mass., and the Bronx. The performer and producer, who leaped to fame with Cocoband and Rokabanda before striking out on his own in 1995, was promoting his Latin Grammy-nominated album "Con Sabor a Mi." But with crowds mostly in their 30s, he says, he had to break out the old hits by popular demand: "El Baile del Suasua," "El nonito" and the sing-along favorite "Cachamba." "This is a different generation," he says of young music fans. "They know other rhythms, not just merengue. In the bombardment of communication they get from radio stations, television and the press, merengue isn't getting top billing." But it's more than that, he added, blaming distribution problems and (surprise, surprise) piracy. Pirated music is one thing in Santo Domingo, he says, but in the land of parking tickets? "In a country of rules like the United States, I don't see how people get away with downloading music free or buying it on the corner," he says. "How strange is that?" As a result, it hasn't been easy for the next generation of merengueros: "The labels don't want anyone new, because nothing is selling anymore, least of all new artists," Mendez says.

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