MEXICO CITY — Rawayana, a band composed of Venezuelan émigrés whose trippy, Caribbean-soaked pop has earned it international acclaim, was driving excessive.
Late final yr the group had simply been nominated for a Grammy, been confirmed for this month’s Coachella lineup and was about to launch a brand new album with the beloved Colombian band Bomba Estéreo. And after two years of close to nonstop touring around the globe, Rawayana was getting ready an epic homecoming: celebratory concert events throughout Venezuela that offered out nearly as quickly as they had been introduced.
However in December, days earlier than the tour was to start out, the band that has at all times seen its music as a refuge from Venezuela’s turbulent political panorama was itself embroiled in politics.
Venezuela’s authoritarian chief, Nicolás Maduro, whom Rawayana criticized final yr after he declared victory in a rigged election, delivered a fiery televised speech by which he lambasted the band and a success music it had simply launched, calling it “horrible” and an insult to Venezuelan womanhood.
Venues started disavowing Rawayana, which was compelled to cancel its tour.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
(Matias Delacroix / Related Press)
“Until further notice, this is how we say goodbye to our country,” it wrote on social media.
Band chief Alberto “Beto” Montenegro stated he was saddened by Maduro’s assaults, however not stunned. The 36-year-old singer and his bandmates are a part of the biggest diaspora on the planet — amongst practically 8 million Venezuelans who’ve fled dueling political and financial crises during the last decade — and their nation’s leaders had lengthy discovered new methods to disappoint them.
However Venezuelans, they knew, had been nothing if not resilient. And so the bandmates picked up their devices and stored doing what they’ve at all times carried out: Look ahead, and play songs for far-flung compatriots eager for the sounds of house.
“There are so many ugly things happening in the world,” Montenegro stated not too long ago whereas in Mexico Metropolis with Bomba Estéreo frontwoman Li Saumet to advertise their new super-group, Astropical. “But we try to stay optimistic and move from love. We hope our music serves to heal.”
Members of Rawayana in Hollywood on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025.
(Ringo Chiu/For De Los)
The members of Rawayana — Montenegro, Antonio Casas, Andrés Story and Alejandro Abeijón — had been nonetheless children when leftist Hugo Chávez received the presidency in 1998 and commenced nationalizing Venezuela’s industries and consolidating energy.
They began by importing tracks to the web in school and rapidly gained a following. At a time when the nation’s political context was more and more heavy, their reggae and funk-infused sound was mild — dominated by danceable songs about weekends on the seaside and cheeky covers of reggaeton hits.
“Music for us was like an escape hatch,” stated Montenegro. The band invented the identify Rawayana, which it imagined as a distant island removed from the actual world and its issues. Its first album, in 2011, was referred to as “Licencia Para Ser Libre.” Permission to Be Free.
However because the band grew in reputation, and began collaborating with among the nation’s most achieved musicians, Venezuela was falling aside. In 2013, Chávez died and Maduro took energy. The economic system plummeted, homicides soared, and Caracas grew to become probably the most harmful cities on the planet.
The capital’s as soon as thriving nightlife, with its packed salsa and meringue golf equipment, went darkish. After a number of of the band’s members had been briefly kidnapped, they determined to depart.
“There was nothing, no opportunities,” stated Montenegro. “The only thing we could do was sing in private concerts for wealthy people who could pay for them, or do government gigs. And we didn’t like either of those paths.”
The band members lived between Miami and Mexico Metropolis. Their paths overseas — aided by document corporations that helped procure visas — had been simpler than these of most Venezuelan migrants, who’ve scattered around the globe in the hunt for alternative and security.
Rawayana on the Latin Grammys in 2024.
(Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Photographs for The Latin Recording)
Whereas overseas, Rawayana stored making music for these again house — going again to Venezuela when doable to play free concert events. However they had been additionally changing into, as Montenegro describes it, “the soundtrack for the diaspora.”
The band traveled always, taking part in full of life concert events anyplace Venezuelans had settled, from Barcelona to Omaha, Neb. Venezuelan flags flew at each present.
Migrant life is tough, stated Orestes Gómez, a Venezeulan-born percussionist who excursions with Rawayana. “People want to come and enjoy like they’re back in Caracas.”
“Whenever they play, their music is impeccable, and the vibe is just incredible,” stated César Andrés Rodriguez, a music producer from Venezuela who now lives in Miami. “Everybody is enjoying themselves, dancing. I’ve never seen a bad show.”
The band continues to make sunny, funky pop that provides an escapist path. “You don’t need a visa to be happy,” Montenegro and rapper Apache croon on the music Excessive.
However Rawayana has more and more touched on political themes. One music on their 2021 album, “Cuando Los Acéfalos Predominan” (When the Headless Predominate), provided a veiled critique the corrupt elite that govern Venezuela, describing personal events the place waiters serve “champagne bottles worth five times more than your grandmother’s pension.”
Protesters show towards the official election outcomes declaring that President Nicolás Maduro received reelection in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, July 29, 2024, the day after the vote.
(Cristian Hernandez / Related Press)
Final yr, with discontent over Maduro at an all-time excessive, Venezeula’s opposition had excessive hopes that it will be capable to finest him within the nation’s intently watched presidential election.
Proof collected by unbiased observers suggests opposition candidate Edmundo González received handily, however election officers declared Maduro the winner. Venezuelans in and out of doors the nation screamed fraud.
“Venezuela has been living a great fraud for many years … an ideological, moral and ethical fraud,” Montenegro instructed Billboard. “Unfortunately we are not surprised by another electoral fraud, we have already seen it all.”
Protesters conflict with police throughout demonstrations towards the official election outcomes declaring President Nicolas Maduro’s reelection, the day after the vote in Caracas, Venezuela, July 29, 2024.
(Matias Delacroix / Related Press)
The assaults from Maduro got here a number of months later. His goal: a success music Rawayana made with the artist Akapellah referred to as “Veneka.”
The music, which grew to become probably the most listened-to songs final yr in Latin America, sought to assign new that means to the slur “veneco,” which has been used to explain Venezuelan migrants in neighboring international locations resembling Colombia.
“Where are the venecan women who represent?” the music asks. “Wherever she goes, the whole world knows she’s the boss.”
“We wanted to use it as a symbol of resilience,” Montenegro stated. “It was like, ‘I don’t care what you call me. We are the best. Period.’”
However Maduro slammed it. “The women of Venezuela are called Venezuelans with respect and dignity … not venecas!” he stated at a rally. The chief referred to as the music “insulting” and alleged the band was “trying to disfigure our identity.”
Within the days after Rawayana was compelled to cancel the tour, the band members sunk into melancholy.
However there have been good issues on the horizon. Corresponding to Rawayana’s large night time in February, after they grew to become the primary Venezuelan act to win a Grammy for finest Latin rock or different album.
Once they accepted the award, Montenegro named a dozen Venezuelan musicians in a rhymed speech and urged his countrymen to maintain their heads up.
Then, there was the shock announcement to followers of an album with Bomba Estéreo.
Final yr, Saumet reached out to Rawayana to collaborate on a single. Issues flowed so nicely within the studio they went on document a full album.
Astropical kicked off a tour in Mexico Metropolis final month, and can play the Hollywood Bowl Sept. 7.
Whereas they had been working, the musicians bonded over the similarities of their international locations — the difficulties Venezuelans face now mirror the violence that plagued Colombia within the Nineties.
And after Rawayana discovered itself attacked by Maduro, Saumet gave Montenegro some recommendation.
Success, she stated, at all times comes with difficulties. “The bigger the tree, the bigger the shadow.”
However adversity, she stated, usually paves the best way for artwork.
“The most impactful music comes from difficult situations,” she stated.
For Montenegro, what issues most are the band’s listeners. “We have the support of the people,” he stated. “So I don’t mind that much.”
