Rawayana: Tiny Desk Concert

This Latinx Heritage Month Tiny Desk is celebrating with an 'El Tiny' takeover, featuring a wide array of artists from all corners of Latinidad.

Isabella Gomez Sarmiento | September 19, 2023
This Latinx Heritage Month Tiny Desk is celebrating with an 'El Tiny' takeover, featuring a wide array of artists from all corners of Latinidad.

No Venezuelan party is complete without tequeños. Whether it’s a wedding or a baptism, the cheese-filled treats are a must-have at every snack table — so it makes sense Rawayana pulled up to “El Tiny” with a box to share.

Kicking things off with hits from the band’s 2016 album, Trippy Caribbean, the Caracas-formed group brought its infectious energy and beach-infused sound to the NPR office. The reggae-groove that defined early songs soon turned into something more expansive, putting a Caraqueño spin on funk, merengue, rock and hip-hop. Rawayana’s set — which included two singles from the forthcoming album, ¿Quién trae las cornetas? — perfectly illustrated how the band’s sound stretches and plays off of musical movements from around the Caribbean diaspora to create something new altogether.

For more than a decade, Rawayana has been at the forefront of a younger generation of Venezuelan artists that grew up under the country’s socioeconomic crisis. At its Tiny Desk performance, it showcased just how much talent has come out of Venezuela during that time — bringing friends and collaborators like Apache, Irepelusa, Orestes Gómez, Joel Martínez and Eric Chacón to perform — and how much joy and gozadera is still left in store.

SET LIST
“High (feat. Apache)”
“Funky Fiesta”
“Feriado”
“Merengue Pa’ Cintura”
“Dame Un Break”

MUSICIANS
Betomonte: lead vocals
Fofo Story: drums
Abeja: guitar
Orestes Gómez: percussion
Ben Aler: keys
Messy Deprat: bass
Eric Chacón: saxophone
Joel Martínez: trombone
Irepelusa: vocals
Essa Gante: vocals
Apache: guest vocals

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Anamaria Sayre
Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
Creative Director: Bob Boilen
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Catie Dull, Zayrha Rodriguez
Audio Assistant: Kwesi Lee
Photographer: Estefania Mitre
Tiny Desk Team: Suraya Mohamed, Josh Rogosin, Hazel Cills, Maia Stern, Ashley Pointer
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann

#tinydesk #nprmusic #rawayana