Music Production Disrupted by Landslide, Venezuelan Artist Dedicates New Song to Victims

A young artist who has released seven new songs on popular music streaming services including Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music over the past year, Sergio Nadra is one of the rising stars of Venezuela's music industry.

Following the successful release of the music video for his single "Me Voy" in May on YouTube, Nadra and his music production team hoped to take advantage of this momentum by releasing his next single "Ensename" in the near future.

While Nadra’s music production crew were busy filming the new video for "Ensename," a scheduling conflict made it impossible for them to shoot a scene in the city of Maracay in northern Venezuela. To make sure they could release the video as planned, Nadra’s team decided to return to his hometown of Las Tejerias to film the scene last week.

The crew’s experiences in Las Tejerias ended up being much more than they had bargained for.

"We started to film the music video in a house and some parts of the town at around 11 am on Saturday. At around 6pm, we decided to leave the house to shoot some scenes at a pedestrian crossing. But it started to rain shortly after, and we decided to return to the house. And all of a sudden, the electricity went out," Inry Rosa, an independent audiovisual producer who was filming the new music video for Nadra, told Sputnik.

Aftermath of a landslide in Las Tejerias, Venezuela, October 15, 2022.

What happened next made Rosa realize how close his team came to a tragic disaster.

"A few minutes later, some relatives came knocking on the door of our house. They desperately asked us to go up to the third floor of the house because it could be flooded by the rising water in the river nearby. But I had parked my car in front of the house and it had all my photographic gear for the video shoot in it. I had to rush downstairs to move my car and retrieve my gear," Rosa said.

After they waited on the third floor for about one hour, the rain stopped. Rosa and his team decided to go out to find out what had happened.

"At around 9-10pm, we walked around and saw everything that was damaged by the landslide. The pedestrian crossing where they were filming was only about 100 meters away from the ‘hoyada,’ which was the worst hit area during the landslide. Everything there was destroyed," he said.

Mass Destruction

The musician shared several pictures that showed the damage caused by the landslide in the area.

The whole neighborhood was filled with mud and trees that had been swept away in the floods. All the cars that were parked in the streets were completely submerged and destroyed. Large numbers of massive tree trunks had smashed into various houses and caused serious damage to buildings.

The house Rosa and his team were staying at was actually Nadra’s grandmother’s home. Fortunately, Nadra and his family members were not hurt during the landslide.

"There was a small community medical center in front of the house. It received a lot of injured and deceased victims," Rosa said.

Aftermath of a landslide in Las Tejerias, Venezuela, October 15, 2022.

Venezuelan officials have raised the death toll caused by the landslide to 43, with at least another 56 people missing.

"The worst hit area was a place with a large number of small businesses. When the landslide happened, there were still many vendors who were running their businesses and many shoppers as well. Some were able to escape to safety, but others were not so lucky," Rosa said.

When the producer and his team went to visit the worst affected areas the next morning, they could still see locals making desperate efforts to rescue the victims who were buried or trapped under the debris. Every few minutes, they could see a body covered in mud being retrieved by volunteers working around the clock.

"The whole neighborhood was still working hard to search for those who disappeared during the landslide. There were hundreds of volunteers who were trying their best," he said.

Music Supports Recovery

Rosa returned to Maracay earlier this week, but Nadra stayed in Las Tejerias to support his family during this difficult time.

According to Nadra, power has been restored in the city and the national government has provided food, water and clothing to those affected by the landslide.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro visited Las Tejerias on Monday and vowed to rebuild "each and every home" in the city.

Aftermath of a landslide in Las Tejerias, Venezuela, October 15, 2022.

As someone who grew up in Las Tejerias, the tragic disaster was very personal for Nadra.

"The theme of the song is about heartbreak. We want to make a dedication at the end of the video to honor all the affected victims," Rosa said.

The team hopes to release the new music video, which includes scenes from Las Tejerias, by the end of October or in early November.