Living in a Reggaetonation

Senior Miguel Pena stands in the hallway facing the wooden doors of the Blair auditorium, buttoning up his black blazer. The flag of the Dominican Republic is stamped proudly on his back as he waits to perform for the Hispanic Festival at Blair in May. He pulls off his black dress shoes and laces up his Jordans with haste. Adjusting his curly black hair, he holds a sleek microphone tight as he waits for the beat of the reggaeton music to heat up. He takes a deep breath. "This is the night," he whispers. Smoothing out his blazer, Pena is ready to present himself to Blair as L' Migue, a rising star on the local reggaeton scene.

Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, which is often considered to have had the second greatest influence on reggaeton music, it is no wonder that Pena's dream is to become a reggaeton artist. His father, a prominent musician and composer, provided the support and inspiration that Pena needed to get into the music business. Though music had always been a part of his life, it wasn't until last year, when Pena came to America, that his dream seemed possible.

Pena's Story

Pena's music career started with a simple pen and paper. "One day, my computer broke and there was nothing to do," he says. "So I got out my pen and paper and started writing a song." After that first song seven months ago, Pena joined three other Blazers to form a reggaeton group called Desafio.

Desafio, which performed at last year's evening pep rally in November, was featured on the cover of " Fiesta D.C .," a local Latino magazine. Although they had only been together for a few months, Pena felt that it was time to leave the group and go solo early in September. "We split up," he says simply. "I wasn't feeling the group…We still perform together. They're doing their own thing, I'm doing my own thing."

Even though the group split up, Pena will never forget the day they met their manager, Eddie Narin, and officially broke into the reggaeton scene. On a Sunday at the Chirilaguas Festival in Alexandria, Virginia, Pena describes how the group snuck backstage and asked the manager present for a chance to perform. "He said if the other group doesn't come in fifteen minutes, then we can perform. We were praying like crazy!" he says, smiling as he remembers. "It worked. We got to perform for 8000 people. Eddie was there and he liked us. He gave us his number and we called him."

Not quite there yet

Pena is modest about his accomplishments, although he has good reason to brag. After only seven months in the music business and a year in the United States, he has already performed with hit reggaeton artists such as Baby Ranks and Ivy Queen. He is also scheduled to perform with Daddy Yankee on Sept. 30 at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia along with other concerts and tours in New York and Pennsylvania later this year. Yet Pena still has a long way to go before becoming a reggaeton star. The first step is releasing a demo.

Currently, Pena has a working demo from recording sessions over last spring consisting of six songs, including his first song, "Mi Hembria," or "my baby ." Pena hopes to get back in the studio and re-record his demo for a finer quality; he plans on adding new songs for a fuller demo. While he restructures and fine-tunes the CD, there is still much to be done. From now until the release of his demo, he must get as many performances and promotions as possible, which is why his manager is focused on booking shows at festivals and concerts. "Any job is getting him exposure. He has to keep it [performances] consistent and make sure he connects with all his fans," says Narin.

Even with successful performances like those at Blair and other Hispanic festivals in the Washington area, Pena is neither overwhelmed nor comforted. "I don't think I'm better than other people. It's from them that I learned how to rap; how to sing," he says. "I don't like to say I'm going to make it, I like to say that I believe in myself. The people are the judge. If they like me, that's good. If they don't like me, I'll try harder."

He shrugs. "I just like music," he says simply. "Music is what I do."