Alt.Latino: Venezuelan producer Ella Bric spins songs with a 'teardrop of optimism'

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Alt.Latino: Venezuelan producer Ella Bric spins songs with a 'teardrop of optimism'

All Songs Considered | NPR | January 28, 2026
Host: Ana Maria Sayer
Guest: Ella Brick (a.k.a. Linda Briseño)

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Episode Overview

This episode of Alt.Latino features Venezuelan trumpet player, producer, and Latin Grammy winner Ella Brick. Together with host Ana Maria Sayer, Ella explores some of the most socially, culturally, and politically impactful songs from Venezuela across decades. With deep insights and personal experiences, Ella discusses how Venezuelan music reflects the nation’s struggles and hopes, always containing, as she puts it, “a teardrop of optimism.”

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Power of Venezuelan Music and Optimism

• Ella’s Background: Grew up in San Antonio de los Altos, Venezuela, in a culturally and socially aware community.
• Theme: Venezuelan music often reflects hardship and political unrest, but always blends in humor, resilience, and optimism.
  • “There’s like a little teardrop of optimism for a better future.” (Ella Brick, 06:38)

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2. Song Picks and Deep Dives

A. "Hornos de Cal" by La Vida Bohem (from 'Será', 2013)

• [02:06 - 06:49]
• Venezuelan alternative rock blending Latin roots with futuristic sounds.
• Context: Written about life in "Los Barrios" (working-class neighborhoods).
  • “It talks about a neighborhood that is both refuge and a prison.” (Ella, 02:50)
• “We will keep each other awake, even though it’s nighttime... It talks about the poverty of having to go to bed with an empty stomach. It's a phrase that really sticks with me.” (Ella, 04:33)
• Optimism: Despite stark realities, the song maintains hope for the future.

B. "Sentimiento" by Betsayda Machado y La Parranda El Clavo (2017)

• [07:21 - 11:41]
• Performed by an iconic Afro Venezuelan group; protest song addressing violence and insecurity.
• “Her presence is important because…our roots are not optional… she has become a major reference…reminder that our routes are not optional.” (Ella, 07:49)
• “It makes me want to cry how they kill people in this beautiful country.” (Ana, 09:18)
• Uncompromising directness and emotional depth.

C. "Los Dos Titanes" by María Rodríguez (‘La Sirena de Cumaná’, 1970s)

• [11:59 - 15:21]
• Traditional song referencing Venezuelan independence heroes; reflects sovereignty and collective identity.
• “It’s a song about sovereignty, but not in a partisan way. It feels more like a reminder of collective identity—what a country imagines itself to be, what it wants to protect and what it refuses to surrender.” (Ella, 12:29)
• Spotlights the often-overlooked eastern regional styles of Venezuela.

D. "Techos de Carton" by Alí Primera (1970s-80s)

• [15:36 - 18:47]
• Legendary protest singer, voice of the people.
• “He wasn’t describing hardship from a distance. He knew it, he lived it. And he wrote from inside that reality.” (Ella, 15:53)
• The “cardboard roofs” are both metaphor and literal, symbolizing persistent social inequality.
  • “It feels like a hug to the heart, right?” (Ella, 18:05)

E. Ella’s Own: "Unfinished Song" feat. Orlando Watson

• [22:04 - 26:49]
• Written as Linda Briseño, reflecting the pain of the 2019 Venezuelan national blackout.
• “I was not able to go back to my country for 11 years… That song confronts the cruelty of inequality when entire neighborhoods were in darkness, people in power still had electricity.” (Ella, 22:41)
• Features documentary samples and spoken word.
• Most moving reaction: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s praise for its emotional impact.

F. "Políticos Paralíticos" by Desorden Público (1988)

• [26:49 - 29:40]
• Venezuelan ska legends mixing humor and biting political commentary.
  • “I wish politicians were paralyzed...Behind the joke, there’s a sharp drill, and it calls out corruption, impunity, and the feeling that leaders can still disappear and laugh in people’s faces.” (Ella, 27:14)
• Energizing, hopeful—turns frustration into collective movement.

G. "Subió El Maldito Dólar" by Bucle Lunar (2025)

• [29:59 - 33:20]
• Discovered via Instagram, this track by a young band from Mérida bluntly addresses ongoing economic crisis and emigration.
  • “The dollar went up and my friends are leaving the country.” (Ella, 30:47)
• Gorgeous, raw vocals recorded under humble circumstances; represents youthful resistance.
  • “It doesn't matter how bad it is...we are going to keep resisting.” (Ella, 32:37)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------|-------| | 06:38 | Ella Brick | “Most of this music reflects social issues… but at the same time, there’s like a little teardrop of optimism for a better future. Yeah.” | | 09:18 | Ana Maria Sayer | “She’s so direct and really uncompromising...There’s that beautiful line: It makes me want to cry how they kill people in this beautiful country.” | | 15:53 | Ella Brick | “He wasn’t describing hardship from a distance. He knew it, he lived it. And he wrote from inside that reality.” (on Alí Primera) | | 18:05 | Ella Brick | “It feels like a hug to the heart, right?” | | 22:41 | Ella Brick | “That song confronts the cruelty of inequality when entire neighborhoods were in darkness…” | | 27:19 | Ella Brick | “Behind the joke, there’s a sharp drill. It calls out corruption, impunity, and the feeling that leaders can still disappear and laugh in people’s faces.” | | 32:37 | Ella Brick | “It doesn't matter how bad it is...we are going to keep resisting.” |

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Ella’s background – 00:39
• La Vida Bohem, “Hornos de Cal” – 02:06
• Betsayda Machado, “Sentimiento” – 07:21
• María Rodríguez, “Los Dos Titanes” – 11:59
• Alí Primera, “Techos de Cartón” – 15:36
• Ella’s “Unfinished Song” – 22:04
• Desorden Público, “Políticos Paralíticos” – 26:49
• Bucle Lunar, “Subió El Maldito Dólar” – 29:59
• Sign-off and closing thoughts – 33:20

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Overall Tone and Takeaways

The conversation is warm, insightful, and rooted in both musical analysis and lived experience. Ella Brick and Ana Maria Sayer navigate Venezuela’s turbulent history through sound, highlighting how music chronicles struggle but always carries forward a current of resistance, humor, and hope. The tone is personal, a mix of nostalgia, grief, and fierce optimism—mirroring the music itself.

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Recommended for listeners interested in:

• Latin American music, protest songs, cultural identity, Latinx migration, intergenerational artistic traditions, and real-life connections between music and social change.

Transcript

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[Ana Maria Sayer]

From NPR Music. This is Alt Latino. I'm Ana Maria Sayer. Felix is out this week, and I'm once again on the mic solo, but not quite. I've invited a very special guest to share the host chair with me.

[Ella Brick]

Hello. Hello.

[Commercial Announcer]

Hello.

[Ella Brick]

I think it's good. Yeah.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

Ella Brick is an amazing Venezuelan trumpet player living in New York. In recent years, she's positioned herself as a prolific producer on the rise in the Latin music space. In fact, in 2018, she won a Latin Grammy for producer of the year. And she says her art comes from a place of her curiosity about the state of the world and a desire to reflect that. This month we've been looking at the music of Venezuela from a lot of different angles, so I invited Ella on to walk us through her personal playlist. Ella grew up in a migrant rich town in Venezuela called San Antonio de los Altos, and she grew up surrounded by culturally minded, socially conscious community, a city known for rappers and resistance. Most of her friends were curious about sharing social commentary in their music. It's something she still focuses on a lot in her collaborations today. The collection of songs she'll share with us are ones she's identified as some of the most socially, culturally, politically impactful pieces of art to come out of Venezuela, really, in the last half century. So we'll jump around in time a little bit, but we're starting in 2013.

[Ella Brick]

The first one I wanted to start was the album Sera by Lavanda. La Vida Bohem is a Venezuelan rock band. To say that it's a rock band is very small because they do whatever they want to do. But this album, Sera, is one of those albums that mark a time where Venezuela was going through a political transition, very complex one, and there was not many hopes for the young people to stay in the country. Many of them had been forced to flee the country. I was one of them, although that I left because I got a full scholarship and all of that. But what about this album is that it talks about the reality of people who were living in Los Barrios? Los Barrios in Venezuela is something pretty much similar to Las Favelas. And Hornos de Cal has the name of one of Los Barrios in Venezuela, which is in San Agustin. And David Aboem wrote this song about what it means to be someone who lives in the barrio and knowing what is your reality. And I like the theme of the song because it talks about a neighborhood that is both refuge and a prison. Because people stay awake even as the sun goes down, because safety is never guaranteed. So this is the reason why I chose this album to start with.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

Sa. This song, to me, it's so energetic, it's so alive and visual. Is there anything in particular about the music or the lyricism that you feel like really captures the essence of what La Vie de Wem was trying to do here?

[Ella Brick]

Yeah, the song is very symbolic in the way that we will keep each other awake, even though it's the nighttime. Because many of the people who lives in the barrios experience that, you know, armed groups and all those kind of things that people, you know, experience while living in Los barrios, But also it talks about the poverty of deciding to think or having to go to bed with an empty stomach. It's a phrase that really sticks with me because it's a reality of many of the people who lives in Los barrios. And it's still. Although this song stars with pretty similar to a song by Bon Iver, I guess that there was some influence in there. It's very alternative. It doesn't lose the sound of Latin American rock. I know there's some parts where there are sounds of tambores Afro, Venezuelan tambores. And it's what I love about La Vida Bom that although that has this very particular rock Latin song, they still can go back to their roots at the same time of being, you know, sound like a futuristic sound. And still lyrically they remain positive about the future, although that they're still reflecting in the inequality of being in El barrio.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

Does that positivity feel unique to some of the sounds that you brought today? Or is that pretty consistent and in a lot of the impactful music that you've found from Venezuela.

[Ella Brick]

I feel like the nature of the Venezuelan has that not only we have a lot of comedy in the way that we socialize with people, in the way that we interact with people. And this comes from our history of how we, you know, take the day to day life, but the optimism is also part, I feel of what it shaped us as Venezuelan, even though that we've been having a very complex history in the last 26 years. So I will say yes, most of this music reflects social issues and political issues, but at the same time, there's like a little teardrop of optimism for a better Future. Yeah.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

That was Hornos de Cal by La Vida Bohem from their 2013 album Sera. Okay, Soella, moving on to the next song that you selected. This is something that I think really brings in an important part of the Venezuelan tradition that is sometimes overlooked, forgotten. Tell me about this next song that you have and who sings it and why it's so important to you.

[Ella Brick]

This song, it means so much for me. Not only I've had the opportunity to work with Besidea Machado. Well, the next artist is Bexay da Machado in La Parranda El Clavo. They have been doing an amazing job, not only in Venezuela and internationally, but the way they represent the most contemporary Afro Venezuelan woman, tradition and bearers. And at the same time, she has become a major reference both inside and outside Venezuela is something that is really worth to mention. Her presence is important because even so, many artists are moving into more mainstream, mainstream spaces. Beside that, it's also a reminder that our routes are not optional. And I say this because we're seeing a wave of new artists, Venezuelan artists, who are doing an amazing job in sharing our culture. But at the same time, all those bands are using some reference from Afro Venezuelan ideas. I feel like Beth Saida has been one of the most contemporary and pioneer figures that not only live in Barlovento, which is predominantly habited by Afro Venezuelan people, but they also keep the same traditions that has to do so much in common with all the regions in Latin America and the states of call and response, the drumming, the way that we dance, the way that the black people in Venezuela, they. You know, they live their own culture. So this song in particularly talks about. It's a protest song because it talks about insecurity in Venezuela, the way that many people were killed in the hands of whether police or by insecurity or by being robbed by someone. Venezuela has been experiencing that violence in regards of just the society itself. And this song talks about that in a very deep way, in a way that it feels moving and it breaks me apart. But it's just what Betsaida and La Parranda El Clavo has been doing. They are simply raw in the way that they present this song.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

Let's hear a little bit of that. This is Sentimento by Betsaya Machado y la Paranda El Clavo. She's so direct and really uncompromising in what she's trying to say here. There's that beautiful line. It makes me want to cry how they kill people in this beautiful country. I mean, where does that sit?

[Ella Brick]

It sits from a different place because many people don't understand the differences of what is a protest song and what is a song that is promoting a specific reality that has like a political, you know, connotation. Bexay damachado y la paranda El Clavo has been living this reality firsthand, not only because they're based in Venezuela, but they have seen their friends, you know, experience violence. You know, many people, many artists also in Venezuela has been, you know, under threats of incarceration just because, saying I don't have a food in my table. And I believe Vexaida in La Parranda El Clavo, which is a tremendous band, a cultural band that I know that they're gonna transcend in time with this song, keeping alive the traditions of our Afro descendant Venezuelan in that region.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

That was Betsaida Machado and La parranda. El Clavo's 2017 song Sentimento. Okay, Ella, your third track today by Maria Rodriguez. Explain to me a little bit about the importance this plays. We're going back in time a little bit in Venezuela's tradition.

[Ella Brick]

Well, the next ride I chose is Los Hostitanes by Maria Rodriguez, written by Felix Calderon. She was known as La Sirena de Comana, one of the Venezuelan great tradition bearers. These songs carries a deep sense of national feeling. Almost like a conversation between two historic figures of liberation. Antonio Jose de Sucre, which is like one of the Abraham Lincoln and Simon Bolivar. They are two. One of the biggest history and figures in Venezuela. It's a song about sovereignty, but not in a partisan way. It feels more like a reminder of collective identity. What a country imagines itself to be, what it wants to protect and what it refuses to surrender. When people think of Venezuelan traditional sound, they often think of Joropo from the plains. But Venezuela has many regional roots and Maria comes from the eastern coast from Comana. She's a major voice of musical tradicional oriental styles like the Polo Sucrense Fulias and other Afro indigenous coastal traditions that carry history through rhythm, storytelling and collective memory.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

It's interesting, Ella, because you mentioned and people knowing Venezuela for that. And there is like an interesting reemergence right now of, you know, Neo Xoropo people kind of reimagining some of these traditional sounds on the side of Cubana and the eastern coast. Have you heard anything new new lately that that's been inspired by that?

[Ella Brick]

Well, I've been doing Jopo lately in a more contemporary way without having necessarily to do like A tradition for. But I know for sure that there is like a. Like a neo folk coming from different regions. El Tuyero Ilustrado, which is new artists doing joropo at the hands of Edward Ramirez. And it's beautiful seeing people doing this form of music because the lyric and the form that is written is not very simple. So there is a new wave of Neo xoropo coming up, and I'm excited for that. And Maria Rodriguez is one of the first strong women, you know, singing Jo Ropo Cumanes. But there are many, many, many women doing that since she started. So it's huge.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

That was Maria Rodriguez's song from the 70s, Los Dos Titanes. Okay, so we're gonna keep it in the past a little bit. You brought on a song from the artist Ali Primera. Now, who was Ali Primera? Ella.

[Ella Brick]

Well, Ali Primera was often called El cantor del pueblo. And he was part of a wave of Latin American songwriters. He was part of Latin American's Nuevo acancion movement, writing songs rooted in working class life, inequality and dignity. This song in particular, Techos de Carton, stands out very similar to what La Vida Bohem's son was just from a different time. He wasn't describing hardship from a distance. He knew it, he lived it. And he wrote from inside that reality. I feel like what makes the Zone so powerful is that the symbol is also literal. Cardboard roofs are only poetic. They point to real informant housing that grew around Venezuela cities, hillside communities built through self contructions where families created shelter from whatever materials they could find. Also immigrants from Colombia who were part of that wave. So then the song evokes rain falling on cardboards, and it's one of. It comes to the phrase of Nina Simone, how can you be an artist? And that reflects the times that we're living. I bet Ali Primera was familiar with that inequality. And he wrote this song that has been, you know, amazing within generations.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

Let's hear a little bit of that. This is Techos de Carton by Ali Primera.

[Ella Brick]

It feels like a hug to the heart, right?

[Ana Maria Sayer]

I was gonna say, does it feel different listening to that today?

[Ella Brick]

Not really. I feel like a good song can travel in time and still I don't feel like it feels different. To me, it feels relevant, even though that it was written many years ago. That's how will I feel it. And obviously he has a great voice and it's very traditional, but at the same time it's moving to me. That's how I will describe it. Moving.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

Does it feel like the expression of resistance of some of these feelings has evolved a lot with time in Venezuela. Musically.

[Ella Brick]

Yeah, definitely. Obviously we had a big influence of the pop culture from the States, you know, inspiring all these artists like La Vida Bohem, using different influences from abroad. But the theme about the stories is not hasn't changed much. We are repeating history. We've been repeating it for a long time. So it's, it's kind of like amazing to see how Ornoz de Cal has an amazing similarity to Techos de Carton by Ali Primera because it keeps talking about the same inequality that people is experiencing over and over through generations.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

Okay, we're gonna take a break and come right back to these songs from Venezuela with Ella Brick.

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[Ana Maria Sayer]

And we're back with Ella, Brick and Ella. I actually want to start with a more contemporary song that you actually wrote. The song is called Unfinished Song and it's under your name, Linda Briseno featuring Orlando Watson.

[Ella Brick]

Well, I used to go by Linda Briseno. That's how people know me in Venezuela when I was a jazz musician. And I remember when I moved to New York City, I was not able to go back to my country for 11 years. And it was a political reason why I was not able to go back. However, every single thing that I will do in college or after graduation, it will have a social theme. And I remember pretty well. 2019 was marked by a horrible event that took in Venezuela where Venezuela ran out of electricity for at least four to five days. There was no refrigeration, no water system, no way to preserve food. And I was not able to even to speak to my family for many days. And I never forget the image of a mother who was carrying her child almost malnourished because during that time also there was a lot of like people were not able to have access to food because of inflation and all of the things that were happening back then. But that song confronts the cruelty of inequality when entire neighborhoods where in darkness, people in power still had electricity. And there were even stories of parties. So I decided to make a song about that. It is part of a short film that I released. And although that it starts very. You don't know what the song is about, it start becoming into a nightmare, which is how I experience it as an artist living in New York City and not being able to be back home.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

And so it was written by journalists who sketch our scars and pick apart our plight between political party lines. No wonder we're defined as marginalized. But we make do, don't we? Exhibiting unity under duress Protesters under arrest Artists afraid to express. But I digress. See, there's been a blackout around town for some time now. Six days with only daylight to rely on 144 hours without power to the people just dis ease just discomfort and cyclical dysfunction on the fairest wheel of misfortune but there ain't much amusement in this maze of illusions where mirrors reflect a distorted revolution fueled by greed and destitution but we the people possess the necessary solutions for a brighter day so rest assured we won't always be lost in the dark.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

What was the reaction when you released this song?

[Ella Brick]

Well, I feel like it has been one of the the most kept secret of the music that I've released, many people don't know this song exists. I've been always an independent artist, and the reach that I can get is what I can post on Instagram. And sometimes the algorithm doesn't make any, you know, justice to the music. But this song was also, by the way, when I was hearing it, I remember that this song was also co produced with Henri d', Artanay, which is the lead vocalist of La Vie da Boheme. And I feel like the reaction was people were moved by it, but the reaction that I take with me in the heart was Lin Manuel Miranda. I remember I was one of the finalists of the Rolex Mentor Protege program. And when we talk about it, he was very moved by the way that the song was created and all the different scenarios that took us to the spoken word part, because it's unexpected. And the Voice of Orlando is very dramatic. At the same time that we were using, he asked me about the songs in the background while he's speaking, we sample original sounds of people protesting. And it's one of the things that makes the song different and special for us when we produced it.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

Okay, so we're going again back in time a little bit, to the 80s. I love that you brought this in. One of Venezuela's most iconic SO Scott groups, the Sorden Publico. Talk to me about why you picked them. And this song.

[Ella Brick]

The Sorden Publico has been the most fun and special bands. So legendary. We will say that the Sord in Publico is like Argentinians. Soda Stereo is to them. That's how important that bandit is for us. I decided to chose them because they always bring projects through humor, which is also a part of who we are as Venezuelans and what is shaped in our culture. The hook is very funny and absurd, is I wish politicians were paralyzed. But behind the joke, behind the joke, there's a sharp drill, and it calls out corruption, impunity, and the feeling that leaders can still disappear and laugh in people's faces. What I love about it is that it turns anger into movement. And if you see the Sordin Publico's old videos back then, there's a lot of, like, what people call pogo, which is when, you know, they do this rock dance and people will just go crazy. And this band has been playing for generations, and they still had that energized performance live, which is so powerful about them. And I feel like this song is. It talks for itself. It's fun, it energizes you, and it gives you hope, and at the same time, brings some humor. So that's why I chose it.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

Okay, let's hear it. Politicos Paralyticos by the Sordin Publico. It has, like, the best of that rocking espanol energy to it. It just moves you.

[Ella Brick]

Yes, absolutely. And if you ever had the chance to see them performing live, you will experience if you feel. I felt energized after all the dark themes and all of that, but it's just an amazing band, and I really. They're very dear to me, and I'm happy that I grew up in that time where De Sordin, you know, was a band.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

That was de Zorden Publico's 1988 track Politicos Paralyticos. Okay, you have one more song for us, Ella, and it's very contemporary from 2025. How did you pick this song? What is it about? Tell me everything.

[Ella Brick]

Well, I couldn't leave this song behind. I'm very passionate about new generations of musicians, specifically musicians who are based in Venezuela, because many of them don't have the platform to be able to have certain opportunities to just exist. And Venezuela is very limited in the support that they give to artists at the moment, for reasons that we already know. Bucle Lunar is a band that I discovered on Instagram because they released this song. The name of the song is Subio El Maldido Dolar. Like the dollar came up again. And it's such a current song that is not only current for them, but it was current to us because our economy has been. It has fluctuated so much. The song captures something very specific and very real, how the raise of the dollar isn't just an economic fad. It reshapes friendships, families, and entire towns. The lyrics said plainly, the dollar went up and my friends are leaving the country. It's a band that is not from Caracas. They're from Merida, which is the Venezuelan Andes. And it's just amazing to see how people still resist by doing music and be encouraged in talk about these social problems that affect them in the present.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

What was so striking to me, Ella, listening to this track, is that, I mean, thematically, in 2025, this is a concept that we heard in a lot of art from all different parts of Latin America. I mean, most notably, obviously, it was something we heard in the Bad Bunny record. But to hear that same sentiment coming from a rural corner of Venezuela feels really important.

[Ella Brick]

And her voice, the lead vocalist, it's a girl, and you can hear how young she is. And her tone and the way that she's even how the track is mixed, it sounds like they did it from their bedroom, you know, and it's heartbreaking. But at the same time, I like the phrase that they leave this and it's a beautiful phrase to end this interview is like it doesn't matter how bad it is. The name of Que Charle Holas, which is a very Venezuelan phrase. It doesn't matter how hot it gets, we are going to keep resisting. Illegamojas Aguirre Chandobola. So the fact that a 17, 18, 19 year old girl and boy, they're a duet, they're saying this to me. It gives me hopes, although, that I'm very far away from them and I haven't met them or seen them at all in my life to keep going. And it's the message for everybody in Latin America. We have to keep going. It doesn't matter how hard it gets. We're gonna keep continuing. We're gonna keep resisting. So.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

Ella Brick, thank you so much for joining us today on the show. This has been really, really exciting to have you and for walking us through all of this beautiful art.

[Ella Brick]

Thank you so much for the space and everybody involved.

[Ana Maria Sayer]

You have been listening to Alt Latino. Our audio producer is Noah Caldwell. Soraya Mohamed is the executive producer of NPR Music and Sonali Mehta is the executive director. I'm Ana Maria Sayer. Thank you so much for listening.

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