Daniel Jimenez Afanador

Growing up in Colombia during the '90s, songwriter Daniel Jiménez Afanador and his friends threw late night parties where the heavy metal riffs of Iron Maiden collided with the salsa grooves of Fruko y sus Tesos. Mirroring Bogota's cosmopolitan sensibility, Daniel listened to all kinds of music in his teen years - from Fabulosos Cadillacs to Queen - and after his mother passed away when he was only 16 - that Daniel realized that music had become a force of healing in his life. "Music became my salvation at a very early age," he reflects over a cup of freshly brewed Colombian coffee in his Los Angeles-based recording studio. "I remember falling in love with my favorite records and realizing that all my troubles seemed insignificant compared to the beauty of those sounds. The next step came naturally: the need to write my own songs and share them with other people." These feelings of hope, positivity and a passionate dedication to the craft of creating quality music are at the core of Daniel's music. "I've always believed that a song must be painfully honest in order for listeners to be able to relate to it," he explains. "Remember that scene in the movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower when the main characters are listening to David Bowie at full volume as they drive through a tunnel?" he asks with a smile. "Music still evokes that in me. I haven't lost that feeling of joy. It's still there, the thrill of music."