The singer Danny Ocean first splashed onto the Latin pop scene in 2016 with “Me Rehúso.”
Alexander Tamargo/Getty Photographs for iHeartRadio/Getty Photographs North America
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Alexander Tamargo/Getty Photographs for iHeartRadio/Getty Photographs North America
On Wednesday, Venezuelan opposition chief María Corina Machado might be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize throughout a ceremony in Oslo. Machado, who was barred from operating for president and has been in hiding since final 12 months, is being honored for “her wrestle to realize a simply and peaceable transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
Additionally taking the stage in the course of the ceremony? A shaggy-haired singer and shut ally of Machado, who lately has develop into one of the distinguished voices towards the Venezuelan authorities: Danny Ocean.
The 33-year-old singer first splashed onto the Latin pop scene in 2016 with “Me Rehúso,” a reggaeton-infused breakup music impressed by his expertise shifting from Venezuela to the USA and having to depart his then-girlfriend behind. The breakout single turned an instantaneous staple in golf equipment throughout Latin America and all over the world; it has been licensed platinum 13 occasions within the U.S. and racked up greater than 2 billion streams on Spotify.
As his music profession has grown, Ocean has typically included references to his house nation and its tradition into his songs. In 2024, ten days earlier than Venezuela held highly-contested presidential elections, he launched an EP known as venequia.: a reclamation of the phrase “veneco,” a slur typically used towards Venezuelan migrants overseas.
On songs like “por la pequeña Venecia,” Ocean all however calls out President Nicolás Maduro by title, condemning the separation of numerous households — greater than 7.7 million Venezuelans have left the nation since 2014, in accordance to the United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Refugees — and pleading for a peaceable transition for the nation’s future.
And he was particular about who he’d prefer to see lead that change, collaborating with Machado straight on the undertaking. Within the music video for the music “escala en Panama” from venequia., Ocean envisions a time when displaced Venezuelans can return house. Within the video, crowds of individuals run by way of an deserted airport and onto a aircraft. Once they board, a well-known voice greets them. “Bienvenidos a Venezuela,” Machado says. “Bienvenidos a casa.” (“Welcome to Venezuela, welcome house.”)
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In an interview with NPR following the video’s launch, Ocean defined why he was throwing his full help behind the now-Nobel laureate. “It needed to be her. I believe she is likely to be the one one who can welcome us all [back] sooner or later. She is the one who needs to be that voice of welcome for us, ?” Ocean stated. “That is now not a political difficulty. That is about mild versus darkish. That is good versus evil. And María Corina was the one one who might ship that message.”
Late final July, Maduro claimed victory over Edmundo González, the Machado-backed opposition candidate who was broadly acknowledged because the winner of the presidential election. Protests swiftly broke out throughout Venezuela and all over the world; Danny Ocean’s lyrics popped up on indicators and banners, and movies on social media confirmed crowds of individuals chanting his songs. Private anecdotes of heartbreak and disillusionment turned diaspora anthems, consultant of the wrestle to finish Venezuela’s socioeconomic disaster.
On Wednesday, Ocean will lastly get the possibility to carry out for Machado herself, who plans to journey to Oslo and settle for the Prize in particular person. Venezuelan pianist and composer Gabriela Montero and Norwegian people singer Vera Sonne are additionally on the lineup for this 12 months’s ceremony. Final 12 months, the Human Rights Basis awarded Montero the Václav Havel Worldwide Prize for Artistic Dissent for her anti-violence and human rights activism, significantly because it pertains to her house nation.
