Entry · catalog no. 8410
Moechella
/ /moʊˈtʃɛlə/ /mo-CHEL-uh
noun · Washington, D.C. (Shaw / U Street) · 2010s
✓ Verified
1.
The May 2019 street gathering in Washington, D.C., where go-go bands played in protest after a Shaw store was made to stop playing the music.
“Moechella was the day the whole city showed up for go-go.”
2.
By extension, a protest that defends Black culture against displacement.
“They called the rally a Moechella for the neighborhood.”
Origin & Attribution
In spring 2019 a Metro PCS store in the Shaw neighborhood, where go-go had played outside for years, was asked to turn the music off after a new neighbor complained, setting off the #DontMuteDC campaign. The name is a play on the Coachella festival and the D.C. slang moe, and the organizing came from Free DC and Don't Mute DC supporters. A large Moechella protest was held on May 7, 2019, and the Washingtonian reported on it the next day. The term belongs to D.C.'s Black community and go-go musicians.
2019
Shaw store muted; #DontMuteDC campaign begins
2019
Moechella protest held with go-go bands in the street
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
Washington, D.C. (Shaw / U Street) · 2010s
Spoken by
D.C. go-go bands, residents, and activists
$MOECHEThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady7 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
60/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
2019
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
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Citations & Sources
■
Why last night's Moechella protest was a big deal for DC, Washingtonian (May 8, 2019)
article
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Long Live GoGo: the movement shows that Moechella is about more than music, Washington City Paper (2019)
article
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+ Cite a sourceDC Fights Gentrification With Moechella Go-Go Music Protest, NewsOne (2019)
article
See also