Benú, from the passion for football to the passion for music
The Colombian artist is developing his career as a performer
Benú's professional life was not supposed to end on stage. He was supposed to be an outstanding soccer player who was going to play for some top team in Colombia.
At least, all his energy and spirit were focused in that direction. Until a strange illness cut short his plans.
Out of nowhere, Benú, born in Bogotá, began to feel intense pain in his joints. But when he went to the doctor, his test results were perfectly normal. Time passed and when he returned to the field, the intense pain returned, to such a degree that sometimes even walking was difficult for him.
“It was like life was telling me, ‘hey, maybe this is not the way,'” said Luis Hernando Mendoza, his given name.
Benú describes himself at that stage of his life as a boy with a lot of ego, who did not relate to anyone because he was quite busy with himself, with his career as an athlete and with meeting his goals. And when he could no longer continue playing football, he fell into a deep depression because he didn't know what he was going to do with his life, until one day, in the middle of a fever he was suffering from, he saw a video of the Tomorrowland electronic music festival, which is held every year in Boom, Belgium.
“I liked seeing that part of the energy that people managed at concerts, at festivals,” he said. “I saw that people were super happy, and I said 'I want to provoke that.'”
He found the analogy between being a DJ and a professional footballer: both are capable of provoking great emotions in people. At 16, his father bought him a small console and he learned to mix. He eventually became a DJ, then a producer, and then a songwriter. Currently, at 25 years old, he is developing his career as a performer, and promoting “No que no”, a song with Afro rhythms and urban influences.
He had previously released “Purro” and “Meu Amor”, and hopes to consolidate his career in the urban genre that mixes elements of afrobeat, reggaeton and contemporary sounds.
“Now understanding that what had happened had not been in vain, but that what happened also helped me build the person I am today and build this dream that I try to climb every day,” Benú said.