Local videomaker profiles Latino musicians “United By Music”
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Today it’s our pleasure to feature “United By Music,” a photography project and short documentary featuring Washington-area Latino musicians, made by local photographer and videographer Daniel Martínez.
The 14-minute program combines interviews and performances by some well-known acts on the D.M.V.’s Latino music scene. Among the dozens of local musicians featured are La Salvadoreina; Ron Recinos; Elena Lacayo of Elena y los Fulanos; Elvis Rivas of Rock de Madera; the hard-rocking El Chato; DJ Mezkla; the DJ collective Leon City Sounds; and Daniel Gomez of Botta.
Watch the Documentary
Martínez started work on the documentary last year as a school project after his professors at the Corcoran School of Art & Design recommended students begin work on their senior thesis during the summer break from classes. At the time he already had steady gigs photographing local musicians for music publication Kesta Happening D.C., which gave him access into the music world.
Spending so much time with local musicians and touring bands in town from Central and South America had stoked his passion for music. He worked for Kesta Happening for three years and got close with some of the local bands in the D.C. area.
“I decided to talk to some local musicians. I started interviewing them and talking about how through music there’s a community of musicians in the D.C, Metropolitan area,” says Martinez, who felt a strong affinity with the musicians he interviewed.
“I wish I played an instrument. I wish when I was younger I was part of a band or something,” Martínez says. “Since the time I came here with all of my family, it was hard to do regular activities. I never really had the time to practice music.”
Originally from Bogotá, Colombia, Martinez, 35, came to the United States with his family as a teenager.
In Colombia, his classes focused on accounting. He figured he’d become an accountant after coming to the United States. But he found it boring. He discovered his passion for graphic design after a friend began studying it.
“I’m not a very artistic person, I’m really bad at drawing. But I really like doing stuff with my hands,” Martínez says.
Photography came next. Martínez always wanted to take a class as an elective and eventually had an opportunity.
“As soon as I held the camera. It was something magical. I felt something special,” says Martínez, who went on to study Graphic Design at Montgomery College, eventually earning a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design at Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. After that, he enrolled at Corcoran School of Art & Design at George Washington University, where he received his Master of Arts in New Media Photojournalism in May.
Martínez used the thesis project to practice his photography and videomaking, while growing closer to the community of Latino musicians in the greater Washington area.
“I felt like I was a part of the community. I’m not really a musician and I would really like to be one but, just being able to be close with these musicians, and in constant contact with them and going to their shows, I felt like I was one of them,” says Martinez.
Since he graduated last month, Martínez is an intern at the Smithsonian Center for Folk Life and Cultural Heritage, which puts on the annual Folklife Festival taking place this year on the National Mall. Besides working for the Folk Festival, Martínez is keeping busy with freelance gigs as he looks for a full-time job.
He is also a volunteer with Hola Cultura and the author of our video “Tamal Stories/Historias de Tamal.” Shot at last year’s TamalFest DC, these conversations about tamales and tamal-making traditions showcase the diversity of Washington’s Latino community–it is a traditional dish.
But music journalism is his passion.
“Music is like one of these powers like the Greek Gods had,” Martínez says. “Music is very powerful, very important.”
—Rebecca Toro
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