For Rawayana, earning a Grammy nomination is an act of Venezuela resilience

Though the winners for the 67th annual Grammy Awards have yet to be announced, the Venezuelan band Rawayana has already achieved a career milestone with the nomination of their fifth studio album “¿Quién trae las cornetas?” for Latin rock or alternative album.

“This nomination represents something very beautiful because of where we come from and how difficult life has been for our generation,” said Rawayana vocalist Alberto “Beto” Montenegro.

Under their independent label Brocoli Records, Montenegro and his bandmates Antonio “Tony” Casas, Andrés “Fofo” Story and Alejandro “Abeja” Abeijón have taken a different approach to music, tapping into a range of genres from tropic pop to electric funk. Formed in 2007 during an era of political upheaval, the group looked to escape to their own figurative island, drawing name inspiration from the Hindu epic of  Ramayana, a tale where good triumphs over evil.

(Ringo Chiu/For De Los)

Within the last two years, the eclectic funk-fusion band from Caracas has gained international popularity for “¿Quién trae las cornetas?,” further propelled by their NPR “El Tiny” takeover performance which currently boasts 7.2 million views. “Feriado,” a party-groove track about honoring someone’s day of conception, earned Rawayana their first Latin Grammy for pop song in 2024. The group is also slated to perform at Coachella this April.

However, their most recent Grammy breakthrough starkly contrasts a situation months prior where the group canceled their highly anticipated homecoming tour due to numerous phoned threats, according to Montenegro, whose mellow mystique hardens at the mention of Venezuelan matters.

At the same time, the decision to call off the sold-out concerts follows comments made by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who criticized Rawayana and rapper Akapellah’s song “Veneka” at a rally. Though many consider the term as socially derogatory against Venezuelans, the collaborators looked to reclaim the label through their empowering lyrics.

“Then Maduro comes out and says that… trying to distort the reality of a song that in fact expresses praise toward Venezuelans,” said Montenegro. “The majority of us are the greatest, we are people who lead, everything beautiful that ‘Veneka’ expresses, and more than that!”

Still, Rawayana remains resolute in their idea of fiercely spreading joy through their music. The quartet is joining forces with the Colombian electro-pop band Bomba Estéreo to form a supergroup named ASTROPICAL, derived from their shared affinity for astrology and tropical rhythms. They’ve released their first single “Me Pasa” on Thursday ahead of their upcoming album.

“This is a very important time on a political, cultural and environmental level. We need melodies and lyrics such as these ones as a way of shepherding the moment,” said Li Saumet, lead singer for Bomba Estéreo. “This band has invigorated me, and inspired me to make more music.”

(Ringo Chiu/For De Los)

For now, in the days leading up to the award ceremony, Rawayana is relishing their Grammy nomination and reflecting on the difficult journey that they took to get there. Gilded gramophone in hand or not, Montenegro views the nomination alone as a symbol of the group’s personal growth.

“[The Grammy nomination] is a beautiful representation of how resilient Venezuelans are,” said Montenegro.

If they do win this Sunday, they would be the first Venezuelan act to receive the honor in a category popular for prizing top acts like Maná, Shakira, Calle 13 and many more.

De Los spoke to Rawayana frontman Montenegro ahead of the Feb. 2 ceremony.

The following Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

The first time I heard of Rawayana was on “El Tiny” desk two years ago. Did that moment mark a before and after for the band?

Totally. I think that “El Tiny” is very beautiful because it’s raw. When we finished recording the episode, I remember telling everyone that it was beautiful because it is characterized by bringing the magic of live music to its maximum expression. How beautiful is it that one of the highs in our careers is to go back to the basics, to acoustic music without special effects in a library-setting, and that it has generated such an energetic rush.

How does it feel to be nominated for a Grammy?

Yesterday I was driving around L.A. and I was reflecting on this. It’s difficult to explain, but it was uphill for us. We are an independent project, and I was reflecting on all those years where we were intuitive, where we tried to do what we could in Venezuela where there is a lack of musical infrastructure. And then we had to leave our country and start from zero, and I think it’s wild that now we are recognized by the Recording Academy.

Right now we are in Los Angeles working with producers that we never imagined working with. This is a beautiful life reminder. We’ve worked little by little and we are enjoying it.

You sound very emotional right now.

It’s something so complex. [The Grammy nomination] is a beautiful representation of how resilient Venezuelans are. This nomination represents something very beautiful because of where we come from and how difficult life has been for our generation. And we are so exposed that, inevitably, we are an example of that [resilience].

(Ringo Chiu/For De Los)

You won a Latin Grammy last year for your song “Feriado.” Tell me about that.

It was also very unexpected because it’s been a whirlwind two years after the release of “¿Quién trae las cornetas?” We feel that the music industry has welcomed us. We don’t make music to win awards. Our purpose is for our songs to be basic, complex, fun, sad. That we have an impact and open up conversations for further dialogue.

Let’s talk about your album,“¿Quién trae las cornetas?” What was the concept behind it?

It was a really complex project. It was about confronting the uncertainties of life. The album starts with the lyrics: “I leap into the void in life, with or without parachute…” It also reflects the sounds of us who come from a country whose major cities lie on the coast, so we play a lot with those elements. We also worked on this album in Miami, Mexico, L.A. and Puerto Rico, so it also has that personality.

There’s been some criticism from Maduro about your lyrics in the song, “Veneka.” I saw that you also canceled your Venezuela tour around the time that he made those comments. Can you elaborate on this?

In regards to our tour cancellation, we were receiving threatening phone calls months prior.

There’s many artists outside of Venezuela who don’t tour the country, and for us who come from the country, it would have been contradictory to not tour Venezuela. If we didn’t believe that the country was capable of hosting our concert, then we wouldn’t be nominated for a Grammy. ... In our philosophy, it is not possible for us to abandon our audience.

But well, the political situation in Venezuela in December was very tense. We had expressed ourselves freely about who we voted for, and well, because of the tenseness, people associated with the government were transmitting things to us, not good things.

And then Maduro comes out and says that… trying to distort the reality of a song that in fact expresses praise toward Venezuelans. The majority of us are the greatest, we are people who lead, everything beautiful that “Veneka” expresses, and more than that! They’re trying to misconstrue it, like they have with other realities, which I try to ignore.

Have you thought that your music is perhaps sparking conversations in Venezuela?

In the case of Venezuela, it’s very complex, because politics have taken over everything. We have political figures that have on the daily hoarded the radio for hours and hours. We have political figures that seem to be more interested in entertaining than governing. It doesn’t surprise me that with the impact we are having on a national and international scale, they are trying to grab attention from that. It’s sad because it stains the culture, it stains the music, it stains art… and “Veneka” is more than that. It represents flipping and reassigning meaning to a word that was traditionally used to attack Venezuelans outside of our country... “Veneka” means uplifting ourselves. “Veneka” is recognizing that despite the adversity, we recognize that we are the best that we can be...

When I hear your music, I see it as a symbol of resistance in a way.

Have we not gotten to the point where the simple act of prospering is a symbol of resilience and resistance? Just the act of you being able to survive.

(Ringo Chiu/For De Los)

What direction is Rawayana headed?

We will be releasing our single, “Me Pasa,” ahead of our next album. Apart from there being a new album, it’s going to be a new band that we are forming alongside Bomba Estéreo, called ASTROPICAL. It’s going to be 12 songs and it’s a project with Bomba Estéreo, and we are going to be doing a tour this year... So I am really happy because we have this new band! But we are also exploring music as Rawayana, thinking through new sounds and themes. For now, we are also enjoying the moment. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. We are just focusing on our resilience, not only in a political sense but in terms of our personal resistance in life. Truth be told, we are enjoying the moment.