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- [00:00]
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- [00:16]
Felix Contreras
Okay, Anna, before we start the show, there's a video we have to talk about.
- [00:20]
Ana Maria Sayer
Oh, that video. So Bad Bunny released a video on July 4th for his song Nueva Yol, and he specifically decided to make it. Is it fair to say, Felix, like, pretty blatantly very political?
- [00:38]
Felix Contreras
Yes, it is.
- [00:39]
Ana Maria Sayer
I mean, obviously, we've talked about this album already a ton on the show. It's something that we come back to again and again and again because it is brought up again and again and again. For one, the man is a marketing genius. He comes in at the exact right moment, releases at these exact perfect points, and this is no exception. He did this whole music video that was centered around the Puerto Rican experience in New York. And specifically, he did things like showed Puerto Rican occupation of the Statue of Liberty, did, like, an AI version of President Trump apologizing to immigrants. Honestly, Felix, it really took me back to watching him in our office, actually, because it's this brand of satire. And we talk all the time, Felix, about, like, the two truths and the two places to really authentically say what's happening and to speak out about things are in music and in comedy. And to me, like, Bad Bunny very much has a lock on both. Like, he's so clever in his art and how he makes fun and how he plays and how he word plays in his music and in what he does around his music. And to me, this music video was no exception to that.
- [01:46]
Felix Contreras
What really stood out to me was that little section that you mentioned right now about the AI generated image of President Trump and. And the message that came out of that image, because what these artists now have available, and this may be at least it's the first time I've seen AI used in that context of making a political statement within something that's artistic. I made a mistake. I want to apologize to the immigrants in America. I'm in the United States. I know America is the whole continent. I want to say that this country is nothing without the immigrants and the political points he's making. You know, he's made him on the records. Many other people have made him long before him. But having all that tool, that specific tool now, man, it just. That's what really made me watch it, like, three times in a row.
- [02:38]
Ana Maria Sayer
That's so interesting to me that that's what was Striking to you?
- [02:41]
Felix Contreras
Yeah, because all the other stuff has been, you know, been said. I mean, he didn't break any new ground politically.
- [02:46]
Ana Maria Sayer
No, but. But that would be my question to you. Like, that's actually a curiosity point for me because I've had a lot of conversations with people who are close to big American pop artists, let's say, like, who are on their teams. And I've kind of been like, there's an absence to me of more overt political conversation in the music and outside of the music for a lot of American Main street pop artists. That's not to say all of them, and that some of them have spoken up outside of the music, but within the music. Like, what's topping the charts today? I don't hear a lot of it. And so this, to me, this music video was an argument against that. Like to say that you can't be one of the number one. One of the number one. But really, at certain points, he has been a number one artist in the world. And you can't be very overtly and very pointedly political. So that's why I'm actually curious, Felix, if it doesn't feel fresh to you or different to you, can you think of examples where there has been that in the past where, like, top, top, top, top, top pop artists have been very explicitly overtly political in their music?
- [03:50]
Felix Contreras
Bruce Springsteen, he raised that point in his concert, his first tour outside the United States, in Europe, and I think it was Manchester, England. We've talked about this a lot. There's a long tradition of musicians taking on politics. But in this particular moment, I don't see. You're right, I don't see a lot of it in this particular moment, especially as it relates to the Latino community and some of the immigration issues and all. So, yeah, it stood out for that. But it didn't surprise me because, you know, going back to, you know, his involved with politics with the Reynuncia Ricky thing back in Puerto Rico a while back, you know, he's there, he's already there. He's always been there. So it's not surprising. But within the pop music world, I guess it depends on what station you're tuned into, you know what I mean, or what you're listening to. But there are some artists and more and more artists speaking out against what's going on and expressing an opinion about what's going on in the country.
- [04:41]
Ana Maria Sayer
Yeah, it was very artfully done. That was my other point is, I'm like, for anyone who says that political music can't be personal and is gimmicky. That wasn't the case for me. This was like a very thoughtfully done video.
- [04:52]
Felix Contreras
And it wasn't really in a political song. It was a political presentation. Plus, it was like the whole quinceanera theme. And good to see him in his quinceanera tuxedo. That was pretty cool.
- [05:02]
Ana Maria Sayer
We did like that.
- [05:03]
Felix Contreras
I like to think, though, that the quinceanera theme was based on he was actually helping us celebrate the Latino quinceanera, which happened on June 15, where we celebrated 15 years. I like to think that in the back of his head, he's like, hey, all Latinos.
- [05:18]
Ana Maria Sayer
No, that's what he told me, Felix. He called me up and he said, let Felix know.
- [05:24]
Felix Contreras
From NPR Music, this is All Latino. I'm Felix Contreras.
- [05:27]
Ana Maria Sayer
And I'm Ana Maria Sayer. Let the chiefsmate begin. Okay, Felix, do you want to let everyone know about your really amazing, fabulous nights?
- [05:38]
Felix Contreras
Oh, yes, we're gonna do. Okay, so in the jazz magazine Downbeat, they used to do, and I think they still do, this feature called Blindfold Test, where a writer will sit down with the jazz musician and play songs that the musician doesn't know anything about ahead of time. And so then they're supposed to react in real time to the song, to the history of the song, you know, the artist or whatever. It's called a blindfold test. I've done blindfold tests in the past on Alt Latino. Another different. We had different co hosts.
- [06:07]
Ana Maria Sayer
You've done it with me, Felix.
- [06:08]
Felix Contreras
Well, we've done it with you. Okay.
- [06:10]
Ana Maria Sayer
Yes.
- [06:11]
Felix Contreras
So I wanted to do another blindfold test just to change it up a little bit. With that in mind, you can kick it off. Go ahead.
- [06:19]
Ana Maria Sayer
Oh, me? No, you go first.
- [06:21]
Felix Contreras
Okay, I will. I won't turn that one down. I'm gonna play a song. I'm not gonna tell you who it is or the title. Of the song. You react to it, and then I'm gonna fill you in on who it is. Okay?
- [06:29]
Ana Maria Sayer
Okay.
- [06:32]
Felix Contreras
Okay. Here's the first one. I'm home. Happy me.
- [06:59]
Ana Maria Sayer
Help me out.
- [07:32]
Felix Contreras
Reaction, please.
- [07:33]
Ana Maria Sayer
Oh, I love jail Felix. And I also cheated and I saw. But I really do love you guys.
- [07:38]
Felix Contreras
Can you listeners, like, write in to get. Have her get on the same page, man. Just play the game.
- [07:45]
Ana Maria Sayer
If you had, like, just low key done it, then I wouldn't have done anything. But since I knew there was a thing I wasn't supposed to do. Okay. Also lose Pinos, who sings on this album, is absolutely gorgeous. I've been following her forever. I never would have expected them to do a collaboration, and I'm so glad that they did. Chao I originally found, actually, because of the collaboration they did with Ra and Los Amigos and Visibles, like, they're all kind of part of that little network coalition of Venezuelan artists. And so to see Luz and Cheo now come together makes so much sense. They have kind of that, like, very chill, sweet, tropical vibe to them. And loose. It's. It's a perfect compliment to me. Oh, I love it. Great pick, Felix.
- [08:30]
Felix Contreras
Cheo is. Thank you. Cheo is Jose Luis Pardo again. He is the guitarist from the Venezuelan band Los Amigos Invisibles. And what I like about him, he's just looking at some of his back catalog stuff. You know, he's. He dips his toe into all these different styles of music and genres and cultures and stuff. And what I really like about this record, Refresco Volume three, Cheo Goes Brazil, is that the different approaches to Brazilian music, there's basa, there's a little bit of samba. And you listen to this song, you hear that? That's part of samba. They say that part of the tradition is that punpo is actually the heartbeat, right. And that particular beat carries all the way through on this particular track. Amor a Primera Vista from Chao and Los Pinos. That's my first track.
- [09:19]
Ana Maria Sayer
Okay, so I guess it's my turn.
- [09:22]
Felix Contreras
Lay it on me.
- [09:23]
Ana Maria Sayer
Shall I? Are you ready?
- [09:47]
Felix Contreras
Sa.
- [10:19]
Ana Maria Sayer
So, okay, Felix, that's.
- [10:35]
Felix Contreras
That's 70s funk. Could be, like, the Philadelphia sound. Could be average white band, could be Ohio players. I mean, that's what I hear. I hear 70s funk. I'm not sure where the band is from, but that's a complete duplication or homage to a 70s funk.
- [10:52]
Ana Maria Sayer
So this is the debut album of a band from Guadalajara. They started releasing music in 2022. The band is called Babas Tootsie Pop. And effectively, yeah, that's a lot of what the sound of the record is. I picked one of the ones that was like, a little more. They went harder on the live instrumentation, but it's very like their whole thing is kind of doing a lot of little fun, little layering of synths and doing a lot of, like, random, sporadic, different sounds. And they're very playful in. In what they do and how they execute on it. I mean, it's their debut album, so they really have a lot of space to do whatever they want. They're still establishing their sound, but I want to play you one other song by them. It's called Kursi. So that was an example of when they break it down a little more, like, softer, quieter, but, like, there's still, like. You can see the way they even come in with, like, a little bit of the string in a second, like a banjo in a second. It's like the light, little subtle things. They're still doing these sporadic sounds. I loved it. I thought it was really cool. I'd never heard them before, and I thought it was a great debut album.
- [12:57]
Felix Contreras
And the whole record sounds like that. A mix of the. Like a 70s funk thing, kinda.
- [13:02]
Ana Maria Sayer
I can play you one more if you want to know.
- [13:04]
Felix Contreras
Well, you know, what really stood out to me is that first track was just how high in the mix the drums are. And it's one of those situations where with 70s funk, it's usually the bass that's, like, mixed higher in the mix, you know, tons and tons of amazing 70s funk bass players. But on this particular track that you played, the drums were, like, leading the charge, like the front of this. This army of funk, right? Like, it's very. They're mixed very, very high in the mix. And. And that. That's what stood out. That's what makes it different from the stuff that I grew up listening to. But it's still it, you know, it sounds like 70s funk.
- [13:40]
Ana Maria Sayer
You know what my favorite thing is, Felix? Every time I bring you something, then I'm like, oh, this sounds distinct from what I'm hearing generally. Like, I'll hear a lot of the same stuff. And you're like, oh, but this just sounds distinct. Cause it sounds exactly like everything I ever heard 50 years ago.
- [13:55]
Felix Contreras
Well, you know, it's. I mean, I thought about that and it's. You know, that happens a lot on the show here, where we have musicians coming in, doing something that I've heard before. And I have something, my next track's gonna be exactly the same, but it's. You know, I'm not saying that they're copying it or appropriating it. It's. To me, it's an homage. You know, that's what I said when I. It's like an homage to that particular sound and style because it was so influential. And what it reminds me of is how it was influential around the world. 70s funk went everywhere, right? I remember when I first. I think it was Los Amigos, Invisibles. We were talking when I first met them, man, they were all into 70s funk. Like these jazz, Herbie Hancoc funk jazz albums, man. When I had them in the studio, we just had These long conversations about all the stuff that I grew up with that they're fascinated with because it's all new for them, right? So then they hear them reinterpret that and then hear this band from Guadalajara do the same thing. It's like, go ahead, guys, knock yourself out. Because the genre is there.
- [15:00]
Ana Maria Sayer
You know what? I'll never forget Felix, as long as I live. I bring it up all the time. Remember when we interviewed Santana and he was like, everything I come up with comes from within me. Like, I don't. I don't use any references. I don't use any. Anything. It just all. And I was like, that's no. There's no way.
- [15:20]
Felix Contreras
I was surprised to hear him say that because he's such a blues guy. He grew up on. You know, he grew up on the blues.
- [15:26]
Ana Maria Sayer
Maybe he was just having a moment that day.
- [15:28]
Felix Contreras
Yeah, but I'm not mad at it, man. You know, I'm not mad at hearing these guys, these young bands, do things that, you know, sound familiar to me.
- [15:35]
Ana Maria Sayer
That was a couple songs from the new album, Club Mariposa from the band Baba Stutzy Pop. Oh, yeah. I never said the album name, Club Mariposa. I had to be about it.
- [15:46]
Felix Contreras
Okay, so speaking of new stuff, that sounds like something I've heard before, sometimes they just come in on an email. People ask all the time, how do you find music? Sometimes it just shows up in an email.
- [16:00]
Ana Maria Sayer
Okay, well, I have to admit, my last1, someone DMed me that, so totally not. I get no credit.
- [16:08]
Felix Contreras
There is an artist that calls himself Pedazo de carne con ojo.
- [16:13]
Ana Maria Sayer
Excuse me?
- [16:15]
Felix Contreras
Yeah, exactly. Pedazo de carne con ojo. Piece of meat with an I. Okay, here we go. No more cold In a sound, In a crowd, In a crowd, in a.
- [16:48]
Ana Maria Sayer
Crowd, in a crowd.
- [17:01]
Felix Contreras
Noise alive.
- [17:19]
Ana Maria Sayer
Felix, you need to stop being so hip. You're trying to take my job. You're like, it's gonna just be you every week on the show. Like, okay, now I'm doing the auto thing.
- [17:30]
Felix Contreras
It's so funny. You're playing the 70s funk, and I'm playing these new artists. That's so funny. We've reversed roles.
- [17:37]
Ana Maria Sayer
We somehow telepathic communicated across. Wow, that was really cool. Where are they from? I've never heard of that.
- [17:45]
Felix Contreras
Okay, so Pedazo de carne Conoco is a guy named Steven Perez. He's from Philadelphia. He's first generation. His family's from Dominican Republic. His first release was, I think, back in 2021. That album title was Called Pero like Como Tuen. Exactly like that.
- [18:02]
Ana Maria Sayer
With the ta?
- [18:03]
Felix Contreras
Yeah, with the ta, yeah. One of the articles that I read about him and doing research about him says he speaks his own musical language. And I totally agree. It's this mashup of samples and existing sounds and disembodied vocals. And then he drops in that beat, like, toward the end. It's the latest track. It's just another example of these sonic, visionary sonic landscapes, these things. I just love the idea of just all these different sounds. Let me play you the other one. He's got two tracks out right now at the same time. This is the companion piece. It's called. So you get the idea, right?
- [19:17]
Ana Maria Sayer
Totally. Yeah. This is like right in the vein with all those. Like, I would have placed him if you had to make me guess where he was making music. Like Madrid would have been 100%. My first guess. Thousand percent. He would fit right in all the. Like Rusi, idk, that whole producer collective, or if anything, maybe Mexico City, but very specifically. It's also tripping me out how much this is gonna fit with my next pick. But anyways, carry on.
- [19:42]
Felix Contreras
This is from Philadelphia, and these two tracks are actually kind of accessible. Okay. Cause that first album, oh, my God, it's so avant garde. It's so over the edge. It's so challenging. It's so artistic. It's so visionary. There's so many things. And again, it reminds me of something that I've heard before. And I'm going to play something. I did this a while back when we played something from David Byrne and Brian Eno, My Life in the Bush of Ghost, and all this sound collage stuff. Here are two more albums from that same era. So listen to this. This is Ryu Sakamoto, and this is his album from 1985, I believe it is. It's called Esperanto. And this is called Dolphins. Listen to the similarities and the disembodied vocal stuff. So the whole track is just this meditation on all these different sounds. Right. This record was unlike anything else Ryuichi Sakamoto did in that it was again, like a sound collage. All this electronic stuff. It just his own vision. And it also reminded me of a record that came out at the same time, just about the same time. This is the musician Frank Zappa, and he made this record called Jazz From Hell, which is all instrumental. And he did it on a Sinclavier, which is like one of the first MIDI machines where he could actually create music that he heard in his head. And he didn't have to run his musicians through these endless rehearsals. But anyway, this is a thing called While youe were art number two. Check it out. Okay, so this is the 80s. So this, these two albums I had on cassette, right? From these 90 minute cassette. And I had a boombox that the head would switch by itself, right? That would turn so you could play. It would go on an endless loop and you could play these two, two albums, this Esperanto and. And Jazz from Hell and scare people because it was just so avant garde, so scary. So, ah, so different. But that's what this music from Verazo de Carne Conojos reminds me of. These sonic visionaries. He's in that, he's in that tradition, man. He's a number of generations removed. He's this young guy from Philly, but man, he is there. He is so there doing exactly what they did. And I love this stuff so much.
- [22:45]
Ana Maria Sayer
I think in that tradition, definitely Felix. But what you're like, the Frank Zappa thing is so much more avant garde. Like it's so much harder on the ears than what this Pedazo de Carnega is doing. Like what he's doing. That just feels really weird to say. What he's doing is taking that and making it. He's smoothing it out. Like he's making a lot. It's like he'll do a moment where he like gives you a pause or he makes you sit in it for a second. But he's not, he's not trying to make you as uncomfortable as a Frank Zappa is. But that's why it's funny to me. I can't even let you finish and say the name because I'm like, this literally just flows. It like dives straight into who I brought, but. So I have nothing left to say except this next song that I'm playing.
- [23:27]
Felix Contreras
Well, from what I've heard, I mean, like I said, going back to his first record, his first full length album, Pero la Comota, it's more like that. Check him out again. The name of the artist is Pedazo de Carne con Ojo. His real name is Steven Perez. The tracks are called Sirens and Tiralo. And with that I think we need to take a break. We'll be right back.
- [23:49]
Progressive Insurance
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- [24:52]
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- [25:26]
Progressive Insurance
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- [25:52]
Ana Maria Sayer
Okay, I'm really excited.
- [25:53]
Felix Contreras
Okay. And we're back. What are you excited about?
- [25:56]
Ana Maria Sayer
Okay, so if what you the last year, two little example tracks for the actual tracks that you brought, if those are the roots or the stem or the whatever. And that was one branch, the artist you just brought. And my artist that I'm about to show you is Different Branch.
- [26:12]
Felix Contreras
Oh my God, Here we go.
- [26:14]
Ana Maria Sayer
Okay, this is fun. I can't. I'm shook by I just can't believe that that's what you brought and that this is what I brought. Okay, so before you react, I have to play one other one from the same album. Okay.
- [27:47]
Felix Contreras
Disembodied voices.
- [27:48]
Ana Maria Sayer
Okay, so this is Puerto Rican rapper, producer, artist. His name is Pink Pablo. Have you heard of him before?
- [27:55]
Felix Contreras
Never. No.
- [27:56]
Ana Maria Sayer
Okay, so he to me is like one of the most promising new alternative voices on the island. Obviously all we ever talk about is how innovative and how exciting and how much talent per capita exists in Puerto Rico, which is very, very true. But sounds like this specifically are not in, like, impressively high quantities of production to me. Like, that's why I said when I would place your artist in Madrid, I would also place Pink Pablo in Madrid, or at least with contemporaries like Ines Quick or a Latin Mafia in Mexico City. Like, very specifically, these pockets of artists that, to me, actually have their ear to the ground in a lot of ways to the US and its alternative sound, which. That's the Puerto Rican part of it. That makes sense because, like I always say, music culture in Puerto Rico is deeply influenced. Like, they are paying a lot of attention. I mean, PJ says this right when I did an interview with him, which, by the way, he's on this album, which is very cool.
- [28:54]
Felix Contreras
P.J. cinzuela.
- [28:55]
Ana Maria Sayer
P.J. cINZUELA. But when I did an interview with him, he talked about this, right? Like, there is always a meeting point of Latin sound and American sound on the island. And this specifically, it gives a lot of, like, the alternative rock that we heard in, like, early 2010s, a lot of pop, punk, like, all of that kind of stuff. But weirdly enough, kind of adjacent to what you brought and kind of adjacent to my earlier artist a little bit, too.
- [29:19]
Felix Contreras
I remember the first time I went to Puerto Rico and, you know, being Chicano from the California, and I always wanted to go, and I had a chance to go professionally. I was doing some work there, and, God, it was the early 80s maybe, and back then it was the Roqueros versus the Salceros. But there's always been this back and forth between what happens on the mainland and what's particularly unique to the island and how it's coming up.
- [29:45]
Ana Maria Sayer
Do you want one more song? I'm gonna play one more song.
- [29:46]
Felix Contreras
Okay. Go, Horses. The more I listen to it, the more I'm. I'm really enjoying all the. It's like. It's like the background, like, the floor is covered with, like, these sonic. These things that he's. He's found or that he's created, right? All these different sounds, voices, and it sounds almost kind of. I don't know, dirty is the word I'm looking at. You know, it's like. It sounds unfiltered. It sounds kind of messy. Like, the background, the music, the sonic layering of it. But that's what he wants. And that's what I really appreciate. I really like that. That messiness.
- [30:59]
Ana Maria Sayer
And it's not that far off, to me, sonically, from what you'd hear from like an Alvaro Diaz on the island who is absolutely, like, coming into his own. Right? And this has been his whole thing, right? Like, I'm gonna make sounds that aren't straight ahead reggaeton or straight ahead rap or straight ahead hip hop. And I'm gonna get there to where Alejandro is or a Benito is or whatever. And he, to me, is like a messier version of an Alvaro. Like, he's a little bit more offside, He's a little bit more gritty with the sounds he chooses to incorporate, but kind of like parecido. Yeah, that was a few songs from Pink, Pablo's new album, All I Dream.
- [31:36]
Felix Contreras
Okay, so I'm gonna close this show with an artist I've been wanting to play, and I haven't been able to get to him, but I think it's important for a number of reasons. So let me just play a little bit of this latest track, and then I'm gonna dive a. Dive a little bit into what he's about and who he is. O. I'm playing Ana music this week.
- [32:50]
Ana Maria Sayer
Yeah. What the heck? Fine. I quit. Is that what you want?
- [32:55]
Felix Contreras
This is. So this is an artist by the name of Wampy. He goes by Wampy. He is an artist, a young producer, multi instrumentalist, songwriter, vocalist, out of Cuba, out of Havana. He is known for being part of the reparto cubano, which is. I'm gonna explain in a second. It was very rhythmically different than this right here. And this is. He's sharing the vocal with a guy named Leoni Torres, who is the lead vocalist of this very, very big salsa band in Havana called Charanga Banera. Very traditional love song. Very traditional heartbreak song. Right? Yeah. With the guitar and all that. It falls in line with what he's known for. But that whole. Wampy is known for being part of the. Like I said, the reparto cubano. Without getting into. You know, we could do a whole show on that. Maybe we will sometime. But it's another form. Just think about reggaeton and then how it became Cubaton. And now it's sort of evolved into reparto cubano. And it's just. And it's all, like, based on. On rhythm. I want to play a track from 2022. It's called LA Diferencia. And this is more emblematic of what's going on with this music. But I want to. I want to. You got to hear what they do with this thing, man. It just completely blows me away. I'm going to move it into the middle. Middle of the track a little bit. This is more emblematic of what this sound sounds like right now. Watch this. It's the Afro Cuban Clave.
- [34:44]
Ana Maria Sayer
Yep.
- [34:44]
Felix Contreras
They start with something that's hundreds of years old and then create this. Something completely new from it. It just. I'm constantly amazed at what comes out of that island. You know, when we were there in 2024, I had a chance to visit with some friends of mine who lived there and born and raised there and involved in a music production, music promotion, music involved, the music business there. And she told me something interesting because we were talking about Reparto Cubano and how. Where it came from and how it exists right now. Her perspective is that when Cuba is going through difficult times, economically and socially, that's when the music gets intense. That's when they lean into the music. And she made a specific point of going back to the 90s, when this collapse of the Soviet Union happened, and it completely threw the society into disarray. That's when Tingbao developed that really supercharged, funky Afro Cuban salsa thing Timba developed during that time. Right now, they're having a very, very, very difficult time. And it's right during this time that Reparto Cubano's coming out, and these guys are doing stuff like this, which sort of belies when you listen to all the, you know, the intensity and the joy of the music, and it sort of belies the intensity of the experience. But that's what that island does, man. I'm just completely always blown away with how they come up with new things, but it's based on something that's already there.
- [36:10]
Ana Maria Sayer
It's actually really amazing to me, Felix, to hear this, because I hadn't heard the new album. And I would just say that he's also matured a lot as an artist from anything that I've heard from him before. I mean, this is like a much cleaner, thoughtful, melodically solid. Like you said, it's a classic love song, but it's quite well done. I'm actually really just impressed by his growth.
- [36:33]
Felix Contreras
Yeah, it's when you start with talent and you just feed it and you get all the right people in the right room, it's only gonna get better. That was La Ultima. It features Leonie Torres. The artist is called Wampy. And we also heard something called La Diferencia.
- [36:49]
Ana Maria Sayer
Okay, Felix, here's what I'm gonna close us out on.
- [36:52]
Felix Contreras
Okay?
- [36:53]
Ana Maria Sayer
So I almost didn't bring this song because I was like, is it time for me to get annoying? About this yet, and I've decided that, yes, it is. So. Okay, I'm gonna play you a song.
- [37:51]
Felix Contreras
Okay. You can't fool me. I know who it is.
- [37:53]
Ana Maria Sayer
Well, obviously you know who it is, because no one has a more unique voice than Sylvana Estrada. And, Felix, I was trying to decide if now is the time to do this, because obviously, it's like, to me, this is Silvana album year. I'm so excited. And this song in particular, I decided this is the second song she's released, the second single off of her upcoming album. And this is the song that I was like. Like, this really showcases to me a little bit of, like, what is gonna make this record so distinct. She took five years to write this album. Many of the songs she had already written, like, four or five years ago, but the completed version. I can get into the saga of what the making of this album was later. We've already talked a lot about this. I already interviewed her about it, but she ended up producing the entire thing herself. And I told her when I first heard the record, I told her I was like, silvana, this is the first thing you have done that has sounded more like the completeness of who you are. Because so much of her music, so much of her first album, Marcita means withering. She talked about life and death and the mingling of that, and we got into what that means for the Mexican experience and why that is. But this album, it's. It's joyful in the way that she's joyful. Silvana, personally, is a lot more joy than she is sadness. And to me, this is like one of these. I think, Felix, as you would describe it, like, artist maturation moments, when you see more of who they are and the completeness of who they are, become the art that they make. And I'm also. Her performing this live is just absolutely gorgeous. I've seen it with a bunch of strings and a whole lot of things happening, and it's gonna change a lot, I think, of what's possible for Spanish language alternative music in this country.
- [39:35]
Felix Contreras
She can do no wrong. I can't wait to hear the rest of the record.
- [39:38]
Ana Maria Sayer
I know.
- [39:38]
Felix Contreras
I'm really glad I told you about her in the first place. I'm really glad that I'm the one that discovered her and told you about her.
- [39:45]
Ana Maria Sayer
You know what? I still remember the day that I got the email about her song. So you can't even. You can't even pretend for a second. I still remember. And I was like, hey, Felix, have you heard this girl, Silvana Estrada, and I bet I have that somewhere.
- [40:02]
Felix Contreras
Yeah, you better find it because I'm going to claim that discovery. No, you know, all joking aside, she really is one of these artists. Again, I mentioned that we've been doing Elatino 15 years. She's one of these artists and I can name a handful of them that when you hear them the first time, say, okay, you know, I always say, are we going to be listening to this 50 years from now? This is one of those people we're going to. Yeah, people will be listening to this 50 years from now.
- [40:26]
Ana Maria Sayer
That was Lilalai by Silvana Estrangement. Okay, Felix, that's it. How did our blindfold test go?
- [40:37]
Felix Contreras
It went pretty well. Besides the fact that you cheated and looked at my.
- [40:42]
Ana Maria Sayer
Yeah, well, next time you have to cheat me into not cheating.
- [40:45]
Felix Contreras
Okay.
- [40:45]
Ana Maria Sayer
You got to think five steps ahead.
- [40:48]
Felix Contreras
I thought you were going to say I got to think like me, but God, there's no way I could do that. No way I would want to either.
- [40:54]
Ana Maria Sayer
I think you already do kind of think like me. We're so similar, Felix, whether you like.
- [40:57]
Felix Contreras
It or not, you have been listening to All Latino. Our audio is produced by Noah Caldwell.
- [41:03]
Ana Maria Sayer
The woman who keeps us on track is Grace Chung.
- [41:06]
Felix Contreras
Saraya Muhammad is executive producer of NPR Music. I'm Felix Contreras.
- [41:11]
Ana Maria Sayer
And I'm Ana Maria Sayer. Thanks for listening.
- [41:21]
Felix Contreras
Foreign.
- [41:28]
Unknown
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