A local band’s artistic journey from Colombian musical tribute to the Wammies
By hola | Published | No Comments
DeSanguashington is a local band known for its fusion of Colombian music such as cumbia and vallenato with other musical genres like pop, rock, and champeta. Its name, inspired by a famous Colombian band, is a Hispanized way to say “We are from Washington D.C.” This week the band has officially earned local bragging rights. DeSanguashington was named as a finalist for three Washington Area Music Awards in the Best Latin Album, Best Latin band, and Best World Music Album categories. The awards, known as “Wammies,” recognize talented DMV musicians and artists each year. The winners will be announced in late March.
“We are extremely excited,” says Velu Ochoa, the band’s principal spokesperson.
The group got started by jamming in Meridian Hill Park (also known as Malcolm X Park) in D.C.’s Columbia Heights neighborhood. Eventually they took the next step to become a formal band and started composing their own lyrics. Today the band has a growing following across the Washington region. Current members are Velu Ochoa (voice), Richard Benjumea (guitar), Danny Ramirez (accordion), Gunnar PY (bass), Diego Castañeda, Hugo Moreno, Hermanzo Moreno, and Jaime Barreto (percussion). In the future, they hope to be recognized as ambassadors of Colombian music and continue spreading their roots and culture around the world.
Their music attracts people from different backgrounds because, as the band members say, it is all about the rhythms. Despite the obstacles any band faces, particularly in these covid times, they have persevered. In 2020, they released their first EP, “Viajero.” Due to the pandemic, the band had to cancel its album release party last year but released the official videos from “Viajero” on their YouTube channel. Now the band members are working on a new single.
Here are some highlights from our interview carried out by Hola Cultura’s S.P.E.L. youth empowerment and storytelling program.
How long have you been playing together?
“We are a Colombian-American band that has been playing music in the area of Washington D.C. for over five years,” Velu Ochoa says.
“For me, [being in the band] is an opportunity to meet friends, create music and participate in the history of the city,” adds Diego Castañeda. “[The EP] took hard work. Now we have it in our hands and hope you enjoy it!”
The album, Ochas explains, “had been in production for over two years. Now it is on Spotify, AppleMusic, iTunes, YouTube, and VANcast. We are very proud of it. It is all D.I.Y. (do it yourself) music …that we are happy to share with the world.”
How did the band get its name?
There is a group on the Caribbean Coast of Colombia called “Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto” [The Colombian Bagpipe Players of San Jacinto]. The band is famous because they have a musical instrument called la Gaita, the Colombian bagpipe. We decided to start with this name [the band was originally called the Gaiteros de Sanguashington]. It was fun but kind of hard for some people to pronounce. So for marketing reasons and other reasons too, we decided to reduce the name to “DeSanguashington,” Castañeda says.
“We wanted to keep [the name] but have a local meaning,” Ochoa says. “What “DeSanguashington” really means is: “They are from San Jacinto and Washington D.C.” It is just Hispanized.” “We like to use [the image of] George Washington wearing the iconic Colombian sombrero [el sombrero “vueltiao”]. It’s sort of fun.”
“The music is a combination of genres of cumbia and vallenato” popular on Colombia’s Caribbean Coast,” says Ochoa. “We wanted to keep the folk [genre] that musicians in Colombia left us, but also include some modern rhythms—maybe a little bit of pop with rock and some champeta.”
What are the instruments you use to create your music?
“Accordion is our main instrument along with caja vallenata (percussion) tambor alegre (percussion), tambora (percussion), guitar, bass, drums and guiro (percussion)” Ochoa says.
Despite the original name of the band, the band stopped playing gaita about two years ago and now focuses on percussion and accordion sounds.
Tell us more about the new album.
“Richard Benjumea (guitarist), and Danny Ramirez (accordionist) and I composed the lyrics. Then we got together with the percussionist and give it life. It is really a collaborative job.” Ochoa says.
“The most surprising thing is how welcoming people from here [in the Washington area] are to the music. Not only Latinos listen to us. People from more Anglo backgrounds are really enjoying it too,” according to Ochoa.
“Our goal with the music is to internationalize it even more. It is not just made for people who understand the language. When I grew up I used to listen to a lot of English music and didn’t understand at all,” Ochoa says. “It is all about the rhythms. We want people to get up and dance and really connect with the roots and the sounds and the music itself.”
“We want to continue doing music and spreading the word about our culture and our roots,” she adds.
“It took us two years. It was a lot of fundraising to produce the album,” she says. “Everyone in the band has other jobs and other lives. So it was also a matter of organizing the calendar so everyone could attend the recordings. It was hard to get everyone in the room at the same time. It is already hard finding time to rehearse.”
You were set to have an album release party just when the COVID-19 lockdown hit, right? How did the pandemic change things?
“We were actually supposed to have our release party in March (2020) but we were able to do one [performance] in February [before the lockdown], which was a smaller event at a house in Washington, D.C.,” Ochoa says. “It was a pre-release party and people loved it.”
How have you coped since then in order to keep practicing and creating new music?
“I think that is one of the bigger challenges but as human beings,” right now, says Ochoa. “Everyone is trying to cope as much as they can in different ways… I am just trying to do music, stay healthy and exercise. And hopefully, after the storm passes we can pick up where we left off with DeSanguashington.”
How can your fans keep hearing your music and support you while the pandemic continues?
“They can still hear our music on Spotify and create playlists with their favorite songs and also on the YouTube channel,” Ochoa says. “Musically, they can support us by listening to us because that is how the algorithm works. The more people who listen to us and share [the music], the more people know about us. That is how social media works.”
You can find out more about DeSanguashington by visiting the band’s website or YouTube Channel.
—Victoria Hincapié, Linda Hernandez + Caitlin Schneider
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