Alt.Latino: A Banjo, Bomba, Bardo y Más

Summary

All Songs Considered: Alt.Latino - A Banjo, Bomba, Bardo y Más

Release Date: April 16, 2025
Hosts: Ana Maria Sayer and Felix Contreras

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Introduction: Excitement for Spanish Language Pop

The episode kicks off with Ana Maria Sayer expressing her enthusiasm for the current state of Spanish language pop. At [00:51], she shares, "I am so excited. I have not been this excited actually, Felix, about an album in a while," setting the tone for an engaging discussion about groundbreaking Latin music.

Gerard Lajos: La Fuente Lampola

Ana Maria introduces Gerard Lajos's single, "La Fuente Lampola," highlighting its rich blend of genres. At [07:32], she remarks, "That voice is so authentically flamenco to me... she could do anything and it would be anchored and it would sound consistent." Felix concurs, emphasizing the impressive musicianship, saying at [07:01], "This music is just blowing my mind and I'm hearing it for the first time."

Bardo Martinez & Combo Chimbita: Reynacer

Transitioning to solo projects, Felix presents Bardo Martinez's collaboration with Combo Chimbita on the track "Reynacer." He notes at [08:43], "Bardo is exploring the Colombian side of his family... it's a little funkier." Ana Maria adds at [11:04], "He is able to express that Colombian side. He's able to work with a lot of different artists," praising Bardo's versatility and production skills.

Vanessa Zamora ft. Santa Marta: Gravidad

Next, the focus shifts to Vanessa Zamora's single "Gravidad," featuring Santa Marta. Ana Maria describes Zamora as "quintessential indie Mexico City," appreciating her evolution in production and songwriting at [14:05]. Felix highlights the intricate production, stating at [15:05], "Nowadays, [producers] are so sound rich. How do you even describe that?"

Beat Trio: Archipelago

Felix introduces Beat Trio's first single, "Archipelago," at [16:20]. He marvels at the trio's ability to blend traditional instruments with contemporary sounds: "Edmar Castaneda is taking a traditional Colombian harp, and he's putting it in a jazz context," he explains. Ana Maria echoes this sentiment, noting the group's genre-defying approach at [17:40].

Mon La Ferte: Otra Noche de Yorad

Ana Maria brings forward Mon La Ferte's single "Otra Noche de Yorad," emphasizing its emotional depth and vocal prowess at [19:27]. Felix draws a parallel to legendary artists, saying at [21:57], "She's walking in the same sphere with Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald," highlighting the track's timeless quality and the powerful collaboration with producer Khalil.

La Barinto de Coco: Todo Senuble

Closing the artist spotlight, Felix introduces La Barinto de Coco's "Todo Senuble" at [22:56]. He shares his connection with Hector Coco Maresa and praises the band's ability to fuse various genres: "The music they make... goes back to like that essence of what the island's all about and then again expanding it with funk, with jazz, with R and B, with hip hop," he enthuses.

Musicianship and Production Excellence

Throughout the episode, both hosts delve into the intricacies of musicianship and production in Latin music. Felix reflects at [07:32] on the complexity beneath pop music layers, "What's underneath? It's just phenomenal." Ana Maria emphasizes the importance of production in shaping an artist's sound, noting Vanessa Zamora's role in elevating the indie Mexico City scene at [14:45].

Conclusion: Celebrating Latin Music's Evolution

As the episode concludes, Ana Maria and Felix express their gratitude to listeners and acknowledge the contributions of their NPR Music team. They reinforce the episode's celebration of Latin music's innovative spirit and diverse influences, leaving listeners inspired to explore the featured artists and their compelling sounds.

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Notable Quotes:

• Ana Maria Sayer ([00:51]): "I am so excited. I have not been this excited actually, Felix, about an album in a while."

• Felix Contreras ([07:01]): "This music is just blowing my mind and I'm hearing it for the first time."

• Ana Maria Sayer ([07:32]): "That voice is so authentically flamenco to me... she could do anything and it would be anchored and it would sound consistent."

• Felix Contreras ([15:05]): "Nowadays, [producers] are so sound rich. How do you even describe that?"

• Felix Contreras ([21:57]): "She's walking in the same sphere with Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald."

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Featured Tracks:

1. Gerard Lajos - La Fuente Lampola
2. Bardo Martinez & Combo Chimbita - Reynacer
3. Vanessa Zamora ft. Santa Marta - Gravidad
4. Beat Trio - Archipelago
5. Mon La Ferte - Otra Noche de Yorad
6. La Barinto de Coco - Todo Senuble

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Credits:

• Hosts: Felix Contreras and Ana Maria Sayer
• Sound Editor: Simon Rettner
• Producer: Grace Chung
• Executive Producer: Saraya Muhammad
• VP of Music and Visuals: Keith Jenkins, NPR Music

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This episode of All Songs Considered offers a vibrant exploration of contemporary Latin music, showcasing artists who blend traditional elements with modern innovation. Through insightful discussions and passionate endorsements, Ana Maria and Felix guide listeners through a diverse soundscape, highlighting the rich tapestry of Latin musical artistry.

Transcript

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[Ana Maria Sayer]

You'Re prepping the music, Felix, I feel like I'm getting ready for like a dance class or something. It's like, all right, we're getting going. Let's go. Felix, it's time for the routine. Let's go.

[Felix Contreras]

Just check the levels and do your stretches.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

Put on your Jazzercise outfit.

[Felix Contreras]

Yeah, got my outfit on. I've done my stretches. From NPR Music, this is Alt Latino. I'm Felix Contreras.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

And I'm Ana Maria Sayer. Let the chisme begin.

[Felix Contreras]

Okay, wait, hold on. I'm still stretching. Hold on.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

I am so excited. I have not been this excited actually, Felix, about an album in a while.

[Sponsor Announcer]

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[Felix Contreras]

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[Ana Maria Sayer]

This is from Spain and this is her song, La. Wow, Felix, just wait till you hear this record. First of all, I have to give credit where credit is due. I did not find her. Otis Hart, our colleague, dropped me this single. I know he dropped me this single a little bit ago. And ever since I have been on like an entire rabbit hole of que alajos. This is a single. It's called 9:30pm and let me tell you, Felix, this album confirmed this feeling that I had, which was that this was going to be the year of just absolutely excellent Spanish language pop. And this was like the tipping point for me. We started with Amaya from Spain. There's a couple other albums that I cannot name yet that I have heard that are coming shortly. Spanish language pop at this point is marked by incredible musicality. Beautiful, like, strong, powerful vocals and really creative beats. I mean, everything that this album is, Felix, I think face value, this single sounds a bit Nati Peluso, maybe even Rosalia, but that doesn't even crack the surface of what this is. It's ballads, it's bachata, it's percussion, it's strings. I'm going to play you another track because I just need you to hear one other one. It's called La Fuente Lampola. I know. Wait, just wait. You have to keep it going because there's a switch up. You need to hear.

[Felix Contreras]

Love you.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

Yeah, yeah. That voice is so authentically flamenco to me. I was like, there's no way. She's not from Andalucia. And of course, living in Barcelona from Andalusia. And that is the thread to me. She does all kinds of genres on this record, but that voice is so strong, it's so distinct, it's so undeniable. She could do anything and it would be anchored and it would sound consistent and it would sound tight because of that voice.

[Felix Contreras]

These musicians that are in the pop vein, that are considered pop, whatever that means anymore, but are making incredible music like this. This music is just blowing my mind and I'm hearing it for the first time.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

I never want to discount the artistic value of something just because a lot of people like it. Like, if anything to me, you know, we talk about this with the Bad Bunny record. That was a beautiful, musically beautiful record. And it's something that meant a lot to a lot of people. But if a lot of people are into something just because it's good and just because they connect with it, I think that's a success. And I think that's, that's art. The album was just so good, I had to bring in two. That was La Fuente Lampola by Gerard Lajos and before that La Fe.

[Felix Contreras]

I'm all for it, man. I always go back to like growing up. I'm, you know, 1968, I'm listening to the Jackson 5, right? And you can't get any more bubble gummy pop stuff than a 10 year old boy band, right? I mean it was just. But as I grew older, and we've talked about this, as I grew older and I learned more about music, the musicianship underneath all of that Motown stuff was amazing, just amazing. So it was pop music, but high quality musicianship. My little classmates in the sixth grade were going around singing their little Michael Jackson songs, not knowing that guys like, you know, James Jamerson, the bass player is playing this amazing bass part, right? You know what I mean? What's underneath? It's just phenomenal. And that's what's happening with a lot of this stuff that you bring in, man. I just, again, if you could see me, my hands are going like mind blowing.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

I still remember when you broke down that Jackson 5 track for me. It's like my favorite. It's my best party trick. I'm like, but you wouldn't believe what's happening in this song.

[Felix Contreras]

Okay, I'm gonna go take us back here to the United States. But also kind of an LA New York thing.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

Oh, I'm excited about this one.

[Felix Contreras]

Bardo Martinez is the lead singer for the band Chicano Batman. And from the beginning, from when I first heard that, I don't know, right after we first started the show, I was all in just because of the name Chicano Batman, right? And then I became a fan of the music and I was always transfixed by Bardo's lead vocals. He's doing his own solo project now and he's got a single out that he did with the band Combo Chimpita out of Brooklyn. It's called Reynaser or Reborn. Check it out and then we'll talk a little bit about what he's being reborn to. So Bardo is exploring the Colombian side of his family. He comes from Mexican Colombian roots and teaming up with Combo Chimbita who just completely electrify everything that they do. The lead vocalist, Carolina Oliveros just always makes everything pop. Certainly makes this track pop. And in a way it sort of sounds like what they were doing in Chicano Bettman, but it's a little funkier. Of course, the drummer Me is always listening. There's a lot more reference to the Afro Caribbean of the east coast and a little bit less of the Chicano soul on the West Coast.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

Something that a lot of people, too, don't associate with Bardo is that he has an incredible production sensibility. Like, he's produced a lot for a number of artists we love, like Angelica Garcia, who I brought last year, that I loved the album. It was one of my favorite albums of the year. He produced on that record. Even though he came up in this very, like, Mexican, American, west coast era, he is able to express that Colombian side. He's able to work with a lot of different artists. So I think much of that is coming to life here too.

[Felix Contreras]

Chicano Batman came in for their Tiny Desk concert a while back. It was kind of funny because the theme for the day the afternoon was where's Bardo? Right. Because he kept wandering off, right? And, like, looking at different things, but in a way that sort of reminded me of, like, just how curious he is musically. He really is, man. I mean, like, Bardo, what are you doing over here? Oh, I'm looking at the newsroom. Oh, what is this? Oh, I'm looking at these computer. You know, he's just a curious kind of guy. It seems like it was a little challenging. Okay, we're gonna do a run through Where's Bardo? But you know, and I know that the galaxies are all round us in life will form as long as the grass grows in the water Run. And all the guys were like, yeah, they told this story about how he almost missed a flight in Japan coming back or something because, like, it was one of those worst parts.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

That's how we all know that's how all these artists are.

[Felix Contreras]

Yeah. The track is called Renacer. It's with Bardo Martinez, or who just goes as Bardo and features combo Chimbita.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

This is Tijuana native Mexico City bass, Vanessa Zamora. She's been releasing a lot of singles lately. Lately I've been very excited about them, so I wanted to bring one on in particular that she did with Santa Marta. This is called Gravidad.

[Felix Contreras]

The two tracks you brought in. There's so much involved and it sounds sparse, but it's not right.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

There's so much to be said about what a good producer does for a song. Obviously, the melody has to be there. Vanessa Zamora, in many ways, to me, is like quintessential indie Mexico City. She collaborates with artists that live all across the city, brings people in from outside as well, and her leveling up in this way, to me is almost like the city leveling up. I can chart in some ways the progress of the indie Mexico City sound by Vanessa Zamora. Like, because she's so essential to the sound there, the fact that this is what she's starting to sound like me is like, oh, we're all getting into our groove.

[Felix Contreras]

Is she one of these kind of artists that you can trace her development through her recordings?

[Ana Maria Sayer]

Absolutely. She's always been a good writer. Right. But just much more sparse. And then she started experimenting with a lot of different types of production, a lot of different ways to kind of jazz up her sound. It sounds like it was made to last.

[Felix Contreras]

And it really draws a line between the role of the producer, as I'm used to hearing them in the music that I grew up with. Because there were certainly, you know, people like Quincy Jones or Phil Ramone or anybody like that. Right. They. They had a specific role. Those guys read music, they had charts, they did all this stuff. They were concerned about the notes on the page and how it all reflected in the musicians, the instruments, etc. But nowadays, they're so sound rich. Like, how do you even describe that? What is that stuff?

[Ana Maria Sayer]

That was Gravel by Vanessa Samora featuring Santa Marta.

[Felix Contreras]

Okay, we're gonna take a quick break, and then we'll be right back. So I brought in a track. It's a trio. They call themselves Beat Trio, or capital B, E, A, T. And then Rio Beatrio. Three musicians. Edmar Castaneda, a Colombian harpist. Antonio Sanchez, who's a jazz drummer from Mexico City. Most notably, he plays with Pat Metheny and his own band, Bad Hombres, and a guy named Bela Fleck, who plays banjo. He sort of reinvented the banjo repertoire. So we're going from all these great, incredible, like, lushly produced stuff to these guys who have their instruments, and they're just, again, like, ignoring genres and doing something different. They've never played together officially. They all have their own careers, but they're putting this together. They're doing a little tour. This is the first single from the record. It's called Archipelago.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

Sa.

[Felix Contreras]

They are ignoring genres, ignoring boundaries, ignoring the rules, as they should be. And they do it individually as well, with their own musical collaborations. Edmar Castaneda is taking a traditional Colombian harp, and he's putting it in a jazz context. Same with Antonio Sanchez. He brought in his band, Bad Hombre, with all the electronics and the vocalist. He's a jazz drummer, but he comes from Mexico City, so He has, like, some of that Mexican traditional sa. I'm just fascinated by what they do and how they break the rules.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

The bad hombres of it all. I definitely hear for sure.

[Felix Contreras]

Bela Fleck has, like, reinvented the sound of the banjo. He's played it in all kinds of different contexts with orchestras, with Chick Corea, even with the tabla player Zakir Hussain from India. The track is called Archipelago. The album Beat Trio is coming out in mid May. Go out and check it out.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

So for my last song, I don't really even need to say much about it. I think the song really speaks for itself. It's Christmas. We have a new Mona single. The song is called Otra Noche de like.

[Felix Contreras]

Stop it. Seriously. Come on, you got to spend.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

I just need you to hear her. Just let it go.

[Felix Contreras]

Oh, my God. Yeah.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

This is coming off of a year where she was on an award sprint. Her album Auto Poetica was incredible. One of the best albums of the year. She got nominated for album of the year at the Latin Grammys, ended up walking away winning best alternative music album. She actually got a gringo Grammy nomination also this past year for best Latin rock or alternative album for the same record. And honestly, Felix, that voice is a Grammy winning voice. She works so closely with her producer Khalil. Just that voice just singing to the heavens. Being heartbroken has everything.

[Felix Contreras]

This particular track reminds me of people like Frank Sinatra and Nella Fitzgerald and their relationship with this orchestrator named Nelson Riddle. He created the strings behind their music and it lifted their voices up to the heavens. I'm gonna say it, man. She's walking in that same sphere with Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, which is. No, it's. To me, it's a big deal because I've always been a fan of her. It's the voice. It's always the voice.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

And I have to shout out one of my best friends in the world, Nachos Hotelo. He's her mixer as well. And he always mixes her. Right? He always does those vocals. Vocals, right. It's incredible. That was Otra noche de Yorad, which, by the way, the title says it all, by Mon La Ferte.

[Felix Contreras]

Okay, we're gonna close this show by going to Puerto Rico.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

Sorry, I just get excited every time someone mentions Puerto Rico.

[Felix Contreras]

Elaborito de Coco has a single out called Todo Senuble. It's a drummer's ideal track. Check it out. It's Hector Coco Maresa is a percussionist, obviously. And most notably, he was the percussionist in Calle Tres touring band way back in the day. And I met him when he came in for a tiny desk for a band from Richmond, Virginia, of all places. Band called Bioritmo was a straight ahead salsa bandit and he stayed in touch. And even back then, I can't even remember the year, but he was telling me, yeah, I'm putting together this idea, has to be with Bombay. We're going to do all these different things. And he was so excited to tell me about it. The music that they make and they've performed all over the place, they performed all over the island, all over the world really is again, it goes back to like that essence of what the island's all about and then again expanding it with funk, with jazz, with R and B, with hip hop. The band is called La Barinto de Coco and the track is called Todo se Nuble. And that's gonna wrap us up for this week, you think?

[Ana Maria Sayer]

I think that might be it. I think I really put it all out there this week.

[Felix Contreras]

You've been listening to Alt Latino from NPR Music. Our sound editor is Simon Rettner.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

The woman who keeps us on track is Grace Chung.

[Felix Contreras]

Saraya Muhammad is executive producer of NPR Music.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

And our jefe in chief is Keith Jenkins, VP of music and visuals.

[Felix Contreras]

I'm Felix Contreras.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

And I'm Ana Maria Sayer. Thank you so much for listening.

[Felix Contreras]

Yeah.

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