"Caracas En El 2000"...A Sonic Portrait Of Venezuelan Youth Joy Before Socialist Catastrophe

A few weeks ago I discovered one of the musical releases of 2023 that has touched me the most on a personal level “Caracas En El 2000”. The truth was a discovery, first because I am not a fan of urban music in general and although I have no prejudice in recognizing that not all the genre is "the same" and there are very good productions that have nothing to do with sexual harassment. or misogyny, the cult of money and violence and rather than that they are focused more towards the quality of the beat and focused on produce clubbing and dance tracks oriented, which I like and find very interesting, however it is not a genre that I follow as much as electronic music or Indie rock.

A song composed and performed by Elena Rose (the only woman nominated at the 2023 Latin Grammys), an excellent singer and songwriter who, researching for the post, I discovered that she has composed songs and worked with many great international artists, such as Alejandro Sanz and Carol G among others, also participates and performs Danny Ocean (another Venezuelan artist with more than a billion streamers with hits like "Me Rehuso" (with a very popular version in English) & Jerry Di, another well-known Venezuelan artist from the urban scene with also more than 750,000 views on his songs and collaborations with international artists such as Wisin & Yandel.

But what surprised me most was not only discovering Elena's fantastic voice, who among other things sings jazz and many other musical genres, reason why she is a highly sought-after artist, and to me it is not a surprise that Venezuelan musical talent is very well known and esteemed outside of Venezuela, you only have to think in Gustavo Dudamel as a living proof of that fact, director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra for many years or Kenny O'Brien whom I had the opportunity and honor to meet in person in Los Angeles California, pianist, arranger and composer who has worked for artists such as Michael Jackson, Celine Dion and many other legends of the music industry.

What impacted me the most and very deeply about “Caracas In 2000” was the precise and brilliant way in which they described the Venezuela before Hugo Chavez and the disastrous Socialist Regime literally ruined the lives and dreams of more than 7 million. of Venezuelans who left the country (in my case for more than 25 years without ever returning) in the largest mass exodus in recent history, explained through three characters, three teenagers who, using absolutely Caracas slang and rhythms that represent us as a culture 100% (despite our personal musical preferences) they describe the Caribbean joy that characterizes the Venezuelan people (since for me and I believe that many other compatriots, Venezuela is a 100% Caribbean country located in the north of North America south more than a South American nation) and the simple things that we used to do for the last decades since the late 70´s like skateboarding the highways of Caracas watching dozens of Macaws flying above us, or going to the beach after school to celebrate with friends without having a penny in our pocket but being millionaires in joy and enjoying that deep connection with the Caribbean Sea, which by the way is named this way because the indigenous tribes of northern Venezuela and Colombia, the indigenous Caribs of whom I carry blood in addition to my Italian origins.

That joy, hope and naivety that makes us the happiest country in the world, and very emphatic with other cities worldwide and their coastal life style, places like California or Hawai, despite the horrors and misfortunes suffered under the Socialist regime of Chavez and company that separated many of us from our Caribbean Sea, where we spent our childhood and great part of our teen years.

It is very difficult to describe the feeling or the memories that this song brings in our minds and our hearts with words and much more so to people who are not Venezuelan but in my opinion if you were born in places like Los Angeles, Honolulu, Puerto Rico, Barbados or Polynesia with a strong love for the sea and life in the tropics you can imagine and feel, I believe, the nostalgia and the feeling of being expelled from paradise and from the sea side and also, you can understand the beauty of memories such riding a skateboard and seeing the Macaws fly in freedom feeling the breeze and the sun on the face, which are the type of images that the lyrics of the song evoke in our minds, that freedom that we lost and it is not known if we will regain it. So this song can easily became a hymn, a common song for those of us who had to leave, a love letter to our city, our youth and the things that unite us, the Caribbean Sea and our identity, the Caribbean rhythms that we enjoy to dance, our diversity and I think it is a very beautiful portrait of what we are and the things that can never be taken away from us, our essence and joy... definitely one of the best songs I have discovered this year