Rawayana’s sixth album, ‘¿Dónde Es El After?,’ is a vibrant show of Venezuelan pride amid conflict — with a prescient message from the country’s late intellectual Arturo Uslar Pietri.
All eyes are on Venezuela this week, following the U.S. raid in Caracas that seized President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday.
The South American leader and his wife, Cilia Flores, have a lengthy trial ahead after pleading not guilty to “narco-terrorism conspiracy” charges; their next court appearance is scheduled for March 17. In Maduro’s stead, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has been sworn in as the country’s acting president; on Thursday the government announced that it would begin to release political prisoners held during Maduro’s tenure.
Originating in Caracas, the Grammy-winning band Rawayana first formed in 2007, during an era of political and economic upheaval under Maduro’s predecessor, the late President Hugo Chavez. Now, as the future of Venezuela and its 30 million citizens is clouded in uncertainty, the timing of the band’s latest release feels strangely fated.
On Jan. 1, the band dropped its patriotic sixth studio album, “¿Dónde Es El After?” — which features an all-star cast of fellow countrypeople, such as Elena Rose, Servando & Florentino, Mazzarri and Joaquina.
Conceptually, the new LP is rooted in Rawayana’s vision of Venezuela as a dreamlike space filled with joy, poetry and memory — as opposed to the concrete dystopia that foreigners have pieced together from foreboding headlines in international media.
“After so many years running toward the future, I understood that the real after isn’t ahead or behind: it’s here, in the present, in the instant where music, body and consciousness meet,” said Beto Montenegro, Rawayana’s lead vocalist, in a statement.
“This album celebrates that now,” Montenegro added. “It leaves nostalgia behind to embrace the pleasure of existing, of creating, of feeling. It’s an invitation to look around and recognize ourselves. The after is no longer being sought. It’s being felt. And we’re all invited.”
Its opening track, “Si Te Pica Es Porque Eres Tú,” already seems to have riled up fans in the YouTube comments. Some quickly clocked the parallels in Rawayana’s lyrics to the events that occurred Saturday.
