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- [00:00]
Announcer
This message comes from Starz. With Amadeus, starring Will Sharp and Paul Bettany, comes the new Starz original series Amadeus Experience, a tale of genius, jealousy and rivalry. Amadeus. Watch the series premiere only on Starz and the Stars app.
- [00:17]
Felix Contreras
Hey, Anna, you know who I saw the other night?
- [00:19]
Ana Maria Sayer
Who?
- [00:20]
Felix Contreras
Natalia La Forcada in her Cancionera tour May Zine. It was really fascinating and so strong. The give and take with the audience was just. It was really. I was really impressed. It was spectacular.
- [00:33]
Ana Maria Sayer
She's one of those. I mean, yeah, we have a few of them. We can count them. We can name them.
- [00:38]
Felix Contreras
Yeah, it's fascinating to watch her develop and continue to develop. She's even more than developing. It's like she's.
- [00:43]
Ana Maria Sayer
Now she's a mom.
- [00:44]
Felix Contreras
Yeah, she's a mom and she's expressing it. She's full on developed, like, oh, my gosh. Anyway, that's my cheese, mate. Oh, we haven't done the first part. From NPR Music, this is Alt Latino. I'm Felix Contreras.
- [00:55]
Ana Maria Sayer
And I'm Ana Maria Sayer. Let the chisme begin. This week, Felix, we're doing new music, but my first pick is kind of a new music mixed with chisme. A chisme about a new music. Okay, so I did a little bit of an investigation because are you familiar with the duo Chino y Nacho from Venezuela?
- [01:16]
Felix Contreras
No.
- [01:16]
Ana Maria Sayer
Okay. Super popular. Like in their day, one of the big names making reggaeton urban music. Extremely big right. In Venezuela, in a lot of South America beyond. They broke up in 2017. And to my surprise, a couple days ago, I discovered that they had released a new album. And I was like, where did this come from? So I started doing my investigations. I still can't tell you why they've come back together. But what's really interesting is the mixed reviews that I got from a lot of my Venezuelan friends. I'm gonna play you a track from the album, and then we're going to talk about it. So this song in particular is called Corales, and it's off their new album, Radio Venezuela. So they released this album Radio Venezuela. You can hear Beto from Rana on that track. Every single track pretty much features a current big name, a Danny Ocean. There's a lasso track, there's an Elena Rose track, whatever, all of the pop names in Venezuela right now. And I went and asked a lot of people. I was like, why have I not been hearing more about this release? It feels like a significant moment. They were one of the first big acts out of Venezuela to win a Latin Grammy in the urban category. And everyone was kind of like, they don't really represent us is like, the overarching thing that I heard. And it's an interesting thing that. What I wanted to talk about specifically is this phenomenon in Venezuela of, like, what feels to me like sometimes a disconnect, because a lot of things got stopped. A lot of creation has been stopped at different stages of migration over the years. And sometimes these artists that are ygando are these niveles, like, they're really becoming the big stars or they're coming back or trying to come back, represent something, aren't necessarily what a lot of people continue to identify with, especially as they collect in other parts of the world. And they. You know, one of the trademark things that I hear from a lot of people is that in Venezuela, it's like the Venezuelan thing is to listen to all types of music. And so sometimes there becomes a disconnect between what's still being made by some of the biggest Venezuelan artists and what's being appreciated. I liked, you know, it's a fun, danceable record. It has all the touches of merengue and. And all these things that are fun to dance to, and it has all the big names. But a lot of people that I. That Venezuelans that I spoke with were not as excited about, about the kind of, like, reigniting or restarting of. Of two big names from the country
- [04:38]
Felix Contreras
simply because they're not current or contemporary or they've been away too long or the sound doesn't reflect.
- [04:44]
Ana Maria Sayer
I think the third would be the closest. That the sound doesn't reflect and that they don't reflect. More than anything, them as figures is something that I heard they were like. We don't really feel identified with them themselves. Chino and Nacho, which is an interesting thing to me.
- [04:59]
Felix Contreras
So I guess the test would be, you know, how successful this album becomes on its own.
- [05:06]
Ana Maria Sayer
Totally. It might connect with other people who aren't Venezuelan, but I would have expected the first people to be championing. And usually, you know, I don't bring on a record that's explicitly not something that people are loving or that we're loving or, you know, I found it fun and danceable, but I really thought this kind of, like, separation. It's not something I hear about very often. Usually you hear about a big kind of return by a duo or a band or something that felt like it was at least big at the time and in a specific country, and there's a lot of pride for that. But they specifically feel. Feels distinct from that, which is interesting.
- [05:38]
Felix Contreras
Yeah, start the clock. Let's see what happens.
- [05:41]
Ana Maria Sayer
So that was a track off of the new Chino y Nacho album, Radio Venezuela.
- [05:48]
Felix Contreras
Okay, time for another typical alt Latino whiplash. We're going to play some Latin punk. We're going to hear a track from the new album coming from the band F from San Antonio. They've been around since 2015 after bassist Jen Alva and drummer Fani Diaz moved on from their original band. The band that we love, Girl in a Coma. Along with Letty Martinez and Adrian Connor. They have been FEA for a number of years and their new album is coming in May. This is called Careful.
- [06:24]
Guest Artist or Musician
That was the last time I show I just can't do it anymore that was the last time I shadowed I just can't do and flow hey, why am I talking? It's not your problem My heart is right clean I feel sick Better be careful Cause it's a bad run I'm very good at reading faith Isn't it better? Isn't it lovely? When I keep myself sitting check Cause I don't wanna and I don't have it doesn't have to be this way. I just can't do it anymore.
- [07:28]
Felix Contreras
We played their music before. We played FEA before. And I'm a big fan of Jen and Fonny. And I think why I'm just continually amazed by what they do is that, you know, originally in the 70s, whenever that punk ethos, whenever it was happening, it was like you didn't need to know how to play your instruments. Sex Pistols were famously like not good musicians. And that was like the prototype of all that. Jen and Fani are such amazing musicians. I had a chance to see them here in. In Silver Spring, Maryland, just outside of D.C. a while back with Girl in a Coma. Their musicality is so strong right now, and strong in the sense that it's so ferocious. It's like, it's non stop. It's just like right there, high energy, but with a lot of musicality. And it's just like they put a nice sheen on the whole punk thing because they've been produced by Joan Jett, they've been produced by Alice Bag, famously by Alice Bagg. So they're. Their punk credentials are there, but their musicality, man, and I never, never get tired of listening to what they're singing about. You know, there's a ferociousness about still tied into the punk ethos of challenging societal ills with music and lyrics and attitude and snarling and growling and all that. And they do that on their records. They epitomize that idea. They've taken on misogyny, they've taken on femicide, they've taken on heartbreak, they've even Joy of Life with just again like a musicality that just gets stronger and stronger every time. That's the end of my.
- [09:03]
Ana Maria Sayer
There's nothing better than Felix getting emotional about a pop punk girls group. You know, I absolutely love. I love a good kind of like punky, rocky, intense female vocal. And the closest thing it makes me think of to what I hear, because you don't hear a lot of that in any part really of Latin America. The closest it makes me think of is all these girl groups out of Spain. Yeah, that's where you hear it the most. It makes me think a lot of you. Remember I went to that conference, Monkey Week in like the Tippi Tippy Tippy Sur of Espana, near Cadiz. And there was a group I saw at like one in the morning, super punky, super fun that reminded me a lot energetically of them. And there's something really like, I don't know, it's very liberating that comes from hearing a group that makes music like that, that you don't always get to, I think, feel as liberated in certain parts of Latin America, where in Spain it gets to happen and with them they get to do it. And so it's always fun to hear.
- [10:08]
Felix Contreras
My punk listening playlists are very short, I will admit that. But FEA is always at the top. I think that they are the standard bearer for punk in general. Not just Latino punk, but punk in general. The band is called fea. The album's called the Nerve. The track we heard is called Careful. Their album's coming out in May, so check it out.
- [10:26]
Ana Maria Sayer
Me now?
- [10:27]
Felix Contreras
Yes. You know.
- [10:28]
Ana Maria Sayer
Okay. This one I'm really excited about. I have talked about this artist before, actually, Felix, I forgot until this very second. We saw her together in Spain, in Bilbao. Paola Prieto.
- [10:40]
Felix Contreras
Yes.
- [10:40]
Ana Maria Sayer
She's Texas born, Argentine artist. She now lives in Buenos Aires. I've always been in love with her voice. In love with. I think her songs are beautiful. Her songwriting is gorgeous. Until now, in this year, 2026 has not released a full length album. So imagine my excitement when I realized she released an album that she's decided she won't be releasing on any platforms like Apple, Spotify, all your traditional expected platforms. So it took me a while to find the album. I tried to reach out and ask her for it and she said she would send me a cd. So in the meantime, CD has not arrived. I found the album, we bought the album. I'm going to play you a song off the album that's called Bill etc.
- [11:24]
Guest Artist or Musician
Sam Ram.
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Felix Contreras
This. This is not what we heard in Bilbo.
- [12:38]
Ana Maria Sayer
No. I was like, is this what you remember, Felix?
- [12:41]
Felix Contreras
Not at all.
- [12:42]
Ana Maria Sayer
No, not at all. She's been inching towards this a little bit. Like if you go to her whole collection, dump of a million songs on Spotify, there's kind of like some wonky production choices. Whatever. Do not fret, Felix. If you liked what you heard in Bilbo, there are tracks for you on this record. But I wanted to bring that on because I think it's really fun. She really is experimenting in a lot of ways with production on this record. Obviously kind of some funky, off kilter production, but also more than that. I mean, she's a really wonderful guitarist as well, both electric and acoustic. What you saw was her doing her bare stripped down, songwriter y acoustic and vocal thing. And she has gorgeous vocals, but she's kind of a rocker. She plays the guitar, she loves a good percussion. And so to me it was pretty exciting to hear this final presented. This is my album, my extended full length album. And I'm gonna kind of do some things that aren't necessarily what my existing fans are expecting or necessarily maybe want from me. I don't know. She's built a so far career as this kind of like pretty singer, songwriter y person and so I don't know. To debut an album with a lot of other stuff in it is risky. To debut an album not on where most people find their albums is the most risky. But I think it's great and it's really nice to listen to. I'm gonna play you one more track that is more in the traditional paola vein. It's called In Vierno.
- [15:21]
Felix Contreras
I'm always a sucker for those cool sonic textures, especially on the first track you played. I'm even more of a fan now.
- [15:29]
Ana Maria Sayer
She's gonna be something, Felix. It's just that the battle is. And I really do respect it, you know, not releasing on the traditional platforms. But it's. It's like all the artists you love the most hate them the most and want to do it on their own the most. And that's amazing. And also like it's. It's a really difficult uphill battle to do it outside of those things. I'd like to believe that that gets rewarded somehow, but I haven't totally seen that yet. But more and more artists are trying to find ways to do it.
- [15:59]
Felix Contreras
You gotta send me the link to buy the cd, because I just bought a portable CD player with Bluetooth for my car so that I can start playing.
- [16:09]
Ana Maria Sayer
Is it like you plug it in with USB or you put it in the car?
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Felix Contreras
It's like a new Walkman and you can plug it in with an aux cord, but it also has Bluetooth. And I'm trying to figure out how to hook it up to my stereo in the cars.
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Ana Maria Sayer
Felix, I think we need to buy ourselves. Gift to you. Gift to me. A Walkman. We each need one man. Oh, my God. There's so many options. I'm literally looking.
- [16:33]
Felix Contreras
Are you looking right now?
- [16:34]
Guest Artist or Musician
Yes.
- [16:37]
Felix Contreras
Okay, we're gonna take a break so that I can go online and see if I can get an even better portable CD player. We'll be right back.
- [16:44]
Announcer
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- [17:16]
Sponsor or Advertisement Voice
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- [17:47]
Announcer
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- [18:21]
Felix Contreras
Okay, we're back with more music. Okay, we're going to take a little bit of time with this one because there's a, there's a story to tell. You know, I play a lot of jazz on the show, and it's usually small group. I've been fascinated with the whole small group thing. This week, I'm bringing in a big Glorious big band. It's Bobby Sanabria's multiverse big band. They have a new album and dedicated to Afro Cuban music pioneer Arsenio Rodriguez. The album's called Arsenio and Beyond. This is a track called no Quiero. Okay, Before I go into my little explanation of who Arsenio was, listen to the original version. This is his version of Nokiro.
- [20:13]
Guest Artist or Musician
Miso,
- [20:48]
Felix Contreras
So obviously a smaller version. You know, there's so much to talk about Arsenio Rodriguez, and we could do a whole show on him because he's. He was an Afro Cuban musician, band leader, composer. He was credited with some musical innovations that are the backbone of Salon, and in particular, check this out, ana. In the 1940s, he added the conga to the small group that used to exist known as Conjunto. Before he did it, nobody played the conga in that format, right in the Cuban song. So it was largely folkloric. The conga was largely folkloric, playing the kind of roomba you saw in Callejo and Hamel in Havana. But he brought it in. That was one of his musical innovations. You know, he was well known in Cuba. He came to the United States in 52, and his career never really took off after that. He was like, well known as, like an originator, a pioneer. But even as the salsa boom started to take off, you know, his. His innovations were, you know, he was largely like, not part of that scene for whatever reason. So this album brings a spotlight back onto the kind of things that he was known for. His compositions, the great arrangements, all of that stuff. Obviously, the big band has a lot more trumpets and trombones and saxophones than the. The two trumpets in the conj. And Arsenio Rodriguez was the goat, The. The. The ground zero for the Cuban thres. We've had a lot of Cuban thres players on tiny desk concerts over the years in different formats, different sounds, different bands. Arsenio Rodriguez is like the. Go to the ground zero. Check this out. I brought in a little clip of something that's from another album that was recorded in the 1950s here in the United States with all Cuban musicians. This is him playing the tres in a track called Rapsodilla de Mariosa.
- [22:34]
Guest Artist or Musician
It.
- [23:13]
Felix Contreras
And again, I can never say enough about Arsenio Rodriguez. It just like, there's so much there and this album, I think Bobby Sanabria is a band leader, educator, cultural warrior, radio host at NPR station in New Jersey. He's so many things, but he's most of all a proponent of, like, Great, great Afro Cuban music. The roots of salsa, that's his thing. And I just saw Bobby Sanavria last night at this reception at. Here in D.C. at the Smithsonian for this amazing exhibit called Puro Ritmo, the Musical Journey of Salsa. Great, great collection of artifacts and instruments and Celia's dresses and shoes, all this great stuff. And I saw the Mambo Legends Orchestra there last night. It was just a celebration of, like, that. That moment, like the Palladium era just before it became salsa, when it was still Afro Cuban dance music that Arsenio had led up to in the 50s. That's what was happening last night. So it was kind of fun to be able to play this record again today after hearing that last night. The album's called Arsenio and Beyond. The band is Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band. And the track we heard was no Quiero.
- [24:25]
Ana Maria Sayer
Okay, this next one. This song is called A Flor da Pele and it's a collaboration between Midnight Cafe and Marina B.
- [25:07]
Felix Contreras
Evening prayers in the candlelight Breaking bread and drinking holy wine
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Ana Maria Sayer
Long ago I
- [25:19]
Felix Contreras
knew someone now she's gone she's no longer mine oh, no. I hear all kinds of stuff in that one.
- [25:35]
Ana Maria Sayer
All kinds of stuff in that one, right?
- [25:37]
Felix Contreras
Yeah.
- [25:38]
Ana Maria Sayer
So this is kind of like a random baby project that's been happening. This is one of a couple songs that have been a collaboration between Midnight Cafe and Marina B. Now, Midnight Cafe is the solo project of this artist named Oliver Pash. He's a member of this band called Skinshape. It's a British band. He's British and he's a songwriter and a producer who's, I don't really know why, ended up producing for a lot of Brazilian artists. He has a big audience in Brazil. So for a couple of tracks, he's teamed up with this really, really tiny, beautiful artist who I've actually been following for a bit. Her name's Marina B. She's just like this gorgeous singer, songwriter from Brazil. And they created this kind of just like, collection of songs that they've been slowly releasing. I heard this one. I just love it. There's something about the exact perfect combination. I think, especially for him, that he's been kind of interested in Brazil, working in Brazil. He's not Brazilian himself. To find kind of like that right voice to collaborate with. Not only, you know, obviously the production here is very sophisticated and beautiful and there's a lot there. And it's like this Brazilian jazz mpb. Beautiful, perfect little collage painting. But I think even vocally they mesh really, really beautifully on this track. So I'm excited. I hope they keep making more music together.
- [26:55]
Felix Contreras
You know what I heard? I heard Beatles.
- [26:57]
Ana Maria Sayer
That's hilarious. I mean, it's the British in him, right?
- [26:59]
Felix Contreras
You know what? You know.
- [27:02]
Ana Maria Sayer
No, but I think you're right. I agree with you. You're totally right.
- [27:05]
Felix Contreras
You know that whole guitar thing at the intro of that song, Maybe a little like Blackbird or something like that, but the nature, the sunny nature, the melodies. Also, I could hear that being played by the Beatles.
- [27:21]
Ana Maria Sayer
That was the song. A Flor de Pele, Parentheses. Actually Lonely man by Midnight Cafe and Marina B.
- [27:29]
Felix Contreras
Okay, I'm going to close it out with an artist from Guatemala. This is an artist who calls himself Dr. Nativo. He's got an album alt called Barrio Candela. This is a track called Caminantes and it features Rocco Pachucote. And I'll tell you who he is if you don't know him after we hear the track. Check it out.
- [28:11]
Guest Artist or Musician
William.
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Felix Contreras
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Right?
- [28:39]
Ana Maria Sayer
Yeah, all of it. Yeah.
- [28:41]
Felix Contreras
You know, Central America is our weak point, right. And we don't get to a lot of musicians from Central America, in particular Guatemala, Anduras, you know, Salvador. And so I'm always interested to hear music from there and how they mix things up. And in particular, Dr. Nativo, he mixes his music with things like cumbia, reggae, ska, as we heard, other forms. He released his first album in 2018. His new one was released in March. You know, he's absorbed this rich history of rock and espadrille, especially from. From Mexico. And in particular, Rocco Pachucote is the lead singer of the Seminole band Malita Vincind. He's the lead singer and like just crazy iconic figure in his whole thing about Pachuco, about being Mexican, about being all of that stuff. So that's. He's featured on this track again. The track is called Caminantes. The artist is Dr. Nativo. The album is called Barrio Candela. Worth checking out.
- [29:39]
Ana Maria Sayer
I love how some of these artists who are so pivotal and instrumental in like the creation of certain scenes or just even like in the creation of the scene of a country, they continue to iterate in all these kind of funny ways and create with each other. You weren't here last week or whatever it was whenever you were away. When I had Issaan and I brought on a Matcha Bloque de Presivo track from their album that they released, which is the same as Chico Trujillo. Matcha is part of the whole universe. That is that and there's something about, like as they keep creating and iterating, there's always like an essence that's there of what they are. And this kind of reminds me of some of that in a way.
- [30:20]
Felix Contreras
Yeah. I mean, it's what do you do when you're you know, you created your footprint, let's say, in the late 90s, and you're still doing this and you made a big you made a big noise. And you have to still be continue to create and do things, but still maintain an essence of yourself, something we talk about all the time. So, yeah, I'm glad you pointed that out. You have been listening to alt latino from npr music. Our audio editor is noah caldwell.
- [30:48]
Ana Maria Sayer
The executive producer of npr music is soraya muhammad.
- [30:51]
Felix Contreras
An executive director is sonali meghta. I'm felix contreras.
- [30:56]
Ana Maria Sayer
And I'm ana maria sayer.
- [30:58]
Felix Contreras
Thank you for listening. Thank you for listening. Thank you for listening.
- [31:17]
Sponsor or Advertisement Voice
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