About the Founder

---

Singer/songwriter David Soto [AKA DāSo] started on his musical journey as a child while performing with his mom in the Puerto Rican folkloric dance troupe, Grupo Cemí. He grew up in the ethnically diverse neighborhood of Loisaida in New York City amidst a flourishing culture of Nuyorican poets back in the early 70-80s. Learning from mentors María Hernández, Bimbo Rivas, TatoLaviera and Luis Guzmán, he honed his craft in front of live audiences performing in places like the Nuyorican Poets Café, Tompkins Square Park, local community garden parties and CHARAS fundraisers.

DāSo began his singing career as the front man for the local latin-rock group, “A Band Called Loisaida.” He spent years with the group in the trenches until he left to pursue a solo career as singer-songwriter DāSo El Afro Caribeño.  As an independent artist, DāSofocused his musical energies on creating a cross-cultural fusion music steeped in uplifting affirmations and spiritually rooted themes of unity and healing. The music is a bi-lingual fusion of hip hop, bomba, house, plena, reggaeton, R&B, salsa, and rock topped with some ballads that is often hard to categorize. He’s written and recorded some powerful compositions like: I Believe, Reggeason, Blessings, Levanta Bandera, Quiero Volar, New Beginnings, Madresita, and El Jibarito / Le Lo Lai.

In addition to his musical efforts, DāSo has spent almost two decades working as a community organizer for the City of New York, dedicating his time to youth services, counseling, advocacy and activism at the Pedro Albizu Campos Community Center (2003) in the heart of the Lower East Side.

At around the same time, he also founded DASO Entertainment (2005), a company dedicated to producing music, videos, and short films and launched a YouTube video channel (called DasoMonster) to promote the company’s various productions.

In 2007, DāSo’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to organize his first New Village Music Festival (NVMF) as a promotional outlet for young musicians, artists and their creations. The Festival, held annually in Tompkins Square Park, is a multi-cultural mix of New World arts presented in a unified celebration of live music, dance, and performing arts. In addition to the live performances, the event promotes global peace, environmental care, and health and wellness initiatives through workshops, tablings and outdoor exhibits.

Around 2015, DāSo made his acting début in a short indie film titled “Machista” (Yagrumo Productions) and continues to perform in video productions for theDasoMonster company.

In 2022, Daso founded the Piragua Art Space. The space will be available to feature visual art installations, intimate performances, music rehearsals and vocal recordings. In addition, the space will serve as the physical flagship store for the Piragua Clothing Brand, which launched online in 2017.