Auggie Velarde is a top artist and one of the fast-rising music talents in the American scene from Peru. He was a TUMI USA Award recipient in 2018, where he was recognized for his musical talent, journey through challenges, and contribution and commitment to community service. The award primarily recognizes successful Peruvian immigrants who defied all odds to career success.
He was the Louder.me Summer League Final Tournament winner in 2019 and has been featured as the cover of TIDAL’s “Trap del Sur” editorial playlist. Auggie’s music talent has also seen him grace SoundCloud’s home page as the selected artist for LatinX month. This music star is definitely shining bright as Auggie also emerged the winner of Château Éphémère and Groover’s “From Bed Production to Stage” Electronic Music Residency Program in 2020 despite the then raging COVID-19 pandemic.
Auggie’s success is a crowning of his many triumphs throughout life. He was born in Peru, and his family moved to USA while he was eight in search of a better life. They arrived to the states with nothing but a dream. But what stood out in his family was their determination and optimism for a better life, even during the most difficult of circumstances. Auggie reminisces about their family bond that believes that anything and everything is possible with the right mindset. He grew up with the same mentality, internalizing it to face any adversity that came his way.
It was during the same time that Auggie fell in love with music. Music was his newfound way of expressing himself as it helped him put into perspective what he couldn’t explain with words. However, his parents immediately discouraged this dream, who understood the struggle and hardship he was going to go through in pursuit of this unlikely career path. Music was the least expected path they wanted Auggie to pursue, especially for an immigrant in a country that speaks a different language.
But Auggie was not ready to let his passion die. After conquering the language barrier, he made the bold decision to chase his music dream, intertwining it with a traditional career choice in software. Fortunately, computers allowed him to create music while learning most of what he needed for his day job.
Today, Auggie has mastered not only the art of music but also coding. He is now a certified software engineer, living his music dream. He is gradually cementing his position in the American music scene and paving the way for a future generation of Peruvian artists and immigrant creators.
Auggie wants to use his story and music success to inspire others to go after their dreams. His advice is to keep pursuing your goals even when those around you don’t seem to understand what you’re doing. He says to not give up on what you love and what makes you happy. To him, you only get one chance to experience the journey of life, so you should stay true to yourself while enjoying every moment.
Auggie’s music goal is to continue collaborating with other artists, including those who influence and inspire his work. He also wants to experiment with his broad, varied music taste alongside his musical heroes. He believes that the blend of all these genres would become a source of many innovative musical experiments.His dream is to perform in his home country of Peru.
