Get the latest gossip

‘We’re zombies. We’ve lost all connection to one another’: Astropical, the Latin supergroup healing our broken brains

After his band Rawayana were driven out of Venezuela by their own president, Beto Montenegro joined with Li Saumet of Bomba Estéreo to make music that battles political strife with pure joy

Today, the singer’s matching red-and-white mushroom earrings and handbag seem to evoke mind-altering substances, and her mystical vibe was obvious the moment Montenegro arrived at the studio to find tarot cards, incense and flowers scattered around. Rawayana’s satirical lyrics have poked fun at Venezuela’s political circus, and their song Veneka took a xenophobic slur frequently used to describe the 8 million Venezuelans who’ve fled poverty and violence in the last decade and turned it into a term of pride and identity. That nuance was seemingly lost on Nicolás Maduro, and after the president’s public condemnation of the song – possibly also precipitated by Montenegro and other Venezuelan musicians accusing him of electoral fraud – the band cancelled a tour for fear they would be persecuted by a government that regularly throws its critics behind bars.

Get the Android app