We lost Armando Manzanero this past December in Mexico City to COVID-19 complications at the age of 85. This week, we present our tribute for Valentine's Day, a day when his profound words can help us express the inexpressible.Read More
For over a decade, arts journalist Betto Arcos has been a familiar voice to public radio listeners, bringing them the sounds of the world — be it from a samba school in Rio or an amphitheater in Colombia, profiling artists who play unusual instruments or create cross-cultural mashups. More than 140 of those reports are collected in his new book, Music Stories from the Read More
Break Everything — Rompan Todo in Spanish — begins in the early '60s in Mexico, where bands like Los Teen Tops started covering American hits. Others, including Mexico's Los Locos del Ritmo and Uruguay's Los Shakers also inspired many young musicians across Latin America to play their own version of rock.Read More
Global superstar Ozuna performs five songs in quarantine for Tiny Desk. For someone whose work often operates at galactic proportions, this performance of five songs makes room for Ozuna's sweet tenor to take center-desk in a love letter to the global communities that supported and streamed him to god tier status.Read More
One of Cuba's best-known singers and songwriters, Rodríguez says this pandemic-era album — whose title translates to "For the Wait" — is all about dealing with uncertainty.Read More
Cuban-American pop star Gloria Estefan may have one of those game changing albums on her hands with the release of Brazil305, a re-examination of some of her most familiar songs through the lens of her life-long love of Brazilian music and rhythms.Read More
Santana had a brush with major success as a member of the band Malo, and made significant contributions to the breadth of Latin popular music.Read More
On this episode of Alt.Latino, we pull an interview from the archives with the great Cuban percussionist. From Havana nightlife in the 1940s to the pulsing streets of New York just after World War II, he reminisces about the seminal recordings and jam sessions that took place. Read More
Alt.Latino host Felix Contreras offers a playlist of music that's comforting him and his listeners amid the coronavirus pandemic.Read More
Spanglish Fly is one of the pioneers of the boogaloo revival scene happening on the East Coast. For about sixteen minutes, they turned the NPR Music offices into the hottest Latin dance club in D.C.Read More
It's almost impossible to pinpoint an exact moment in music history when the plates shift. But looking back at the last decade in Latin music, it's easy, now to see that the release of "Despacito" by Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi in early 2017 was just such a moment.Read More
The Grammy Award-winning group's self-titled album is packed with political messaging and brims with hope.Read More
As a true diva, Cruz was of her time and capable of transcending it. Her voice carried lessons in presence and stamina, and her enduring legacy has created a space for feminist interventions in salsa.Read More
Ella Fitzgerald's musical genius and influence is still being felt today. Latinx musicians Mabiland and Daymé Arocena explain how Fitzgerald inspires their music. Read More
The higher the Dominican singer-songwriter's star rises, the tighter he grips his artistic freedom. The new Candela caps a trio of albums connecting dots between bachata, merengue, trap, pop and more.Read More
Now 88 years old, Cuba's musical matriarch wants to perform for audiences until she dies. "What I have left to live for is smiles," Portuondo says. Read More
The Spanish singer studied traditional cante flamenco in college and now mixes it with pop music influences in a way that's led some to call her the "Spanish Beyoncé."Read More
Sixty years ago, a Mexican folk tune sung entirely in Spanish became a rock and roll phenomenon. Generations after Ritchie Valens, young Latinos are still harnessing its power.Read More
In many ways, Lafourcade has left her mark on the 21st century by looking back. Her work has freed music that for many younger listeners had been trapped in amber, and imbued it with new life.Read More
The resourceful Mexican jazz singer Magos Herrera partners with the string quartet Brooklyn Rider, creating an album that's steeped in Latin American culture.Read More
