By Jessica Hayek | Staff Writer
Rawayana predicts Venezuela’s future on their eighth album, ¿Donde esta el after?, days after its release. The album, released on January 1st, begins with the sounds of traditional Tambores Venezolanos.
In celebration of the new year, they sing in Spanish: “Rawa wishes you a happy new year, and may the sons of bitches finally leave”. By the morning of January 3rd, Nicolas Maduro was arrested by the U.S. military in Caracas and then charged in New York with drug trafficking and narco-terrorism.
After winning their first Grammy last year for their song “Feriado” on ¿Quién Trae Las Cornetas? Rawayana continued 2025 strong despite a cancellation of their domestic tour due to their criticisms of former president Nicolas Maduro by dedicating their Coachella set to Venezuela. Members of Rawayana have since then said goodbye to their home, due to their concern for the band members’ safety.
This album highlights the struggle for Venezuelans living in and outside of their home, while creating a new sound that blends music from the Caribbean together with contemporary tropical sounds: “venetón”.
Songs like “Ingles en Miami” and “Mimir” poke fun and make light of experiences understood by some of the people in the Venezuelan Diaspora. Meant to be listened to in order— each song brings us through a story of celebration, hard work, hook-ups, political commentary, and pain. In true Venezuelan style.
“Bienvenidos A La Tierra” talks about the senselessness of a Venezuelans’ reality and the image they have to portray while living in a censored society. Beto Montenegro, leader of Rawayana, criticizes the public by singing “With an app, they watch the war live, welcome to Earth. Where everyone’s crazy, they don’t think with their brains.”
He mentions Venezuela’s government-run television station, “They get nose jobs and lie like Pinocchio. Now that they’re all paid off, they look like they work for Channel 8. Everything’s wrong, and I find it hard to trust. I don’t know if you’re a carnivore or a pure vegetarian.” He lacks trust due to the paid-off journalists who run the state’s narrative, unable to tell if people are money-hungry or innocent.
Montenegro sings in the chorus: “There’s hardly anything real left. Everyone is toasting to the photo. There’s an alien among us. Behave yourselves, my people, they’re going to think we’re crazy.” The dissonance between reality and what censored Venezuelans portray online blurs their lives, as Montenegro asks them to behave for the camera, feeling there is an ominous, strange presence of lurking surveillance.
Despite the painful undertones of the album in songs like “Tonada por Ella”— a ballad dedicated to Venezuela inspired by traditional folk music— Rawayana asks us to live in the moment. Bringing us to our feet, ¿Donde esta el after?, is a celebration of life and resilience for Venezuelans to sing and dance away all the pain, healing us and pushing us forward into the uncertain future.
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