Alt.Latino

Alt.Latino

The global Latinx community is evolving and growing fast. Alt.Latino is here to celebrate it and all of its nuances through music. Each episode, NPR Music's Felix Contreras and Anamaria Sayre sit down with a different living legend or rising star to discuss Latinx culture, heritage, and the shared borders of our experiences. Let the chisme begin! Support NPR and get your music exploration sponsor-free with Alt.Latino+. Learn more at plus.npr.org/nprmusic

Episodes

May 20, 2026 36 mins
Two different pioneers - from two different continents - are at the heart of this episode of new music. Since the late 1980s, Gipsy Kings have been infusing Catalan rumba flamenca with a pop sensibility that defies the purists. Their new single "Historia," from an upcoming album of the same name, shows they've still got that punchy danceability forty years on. And across the pond, Mexican rocker and songwriter Julieta Venegas explo...
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Since 2014, we've been hitting bands up to send in their videos for the opportunity to win the Tiny Desk Contest. And almost from the beginning, Alt.Latino has been pulling aside the bands and artists that play Latin music. It’s always been a highlight to see the incredible talent that's out there night after night in bars, clubs, community centers, street parties and backyards, finding new ways to express their Latino identity thr...
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May 6, 2026 30 mins
I've been dying to interview Argentine artist Milo J ever since he came to NPR earlier this year to perform at the Tiny Desk. The 19-year-old started his career as a trap artist, but his latest album, 'La Vida Era Más Corta,' mines Argentine folklore to present a bold vision of his country that resonates deeply with younger generations. That Tiny Desk was just released -- and became one of our fastest-growing shows ever -- so we fi...
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April 29, 2026 27 mins
Fusion is at the heart of so much of the music we cover - especially on this week's episode. Flamenco producers descend on Hermosillo to experiment with regional Mexican music. Young Argentine artists blend trap with folk and rock en Español. A sunny Rio sound is born in Spain. Plus, a New Mexican string band, an Afro-Brazilian collective and an exploration of Latin roots from Cypress Hill.  

Artists and albums featured in...
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This week's new music show spans the breadth of Latin America. Argentine indie artist Paula Prieto goes experimental. Venezuelan reggaeton pioneers Chino y Nacho return to the limelight. Brazilian singer Marina B reminds Felix of The Beatles. Guatemala's Doctor Nativo pays homage to the "caminantes" heading north to find a better life. Plus, Latin punk from San Antonio, and a celebration of Afro-Cuban legend Arsenio Rodriguez.
...
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April 15, 2026 31 mins
Jorge Drexler is one of the most decorated singer-songwriters in Latin America. His albums are always high profile events, and his latest record merits the attention. It's called Taracá, and to make it he returned home to his native Uruguay - after living in Spain for 30 years - to explore the roots of an Afro-Uruguayan tradition known as candombe. On this week's episode we chat with Drexler about the motivation for returning to hi...
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Listen to this episode out in the springtime air. It starts with a bucolic jaunt through Brazilian guitarist Fabiano do Nascimento's latest orchestral project, then finds La Plazuela's fresh Spanish funk and Macha's irreverent side project. Other sounds along the way: Caribbean pop from Venezuela, feel-your-feels indie from northern Mexico and an electronic spin on the indigenous Náhuatl language.

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Two phrases spoken during this week’s episode stand out because they represent how Ana and I approach our searches for new music. The first: “The only limit is the imagination.” In my constant hunt for the sound I have never heard, this thought is my mantra. The new music we’re bringing this week really steps up to that challenge, from young upstarts like Broke Carrey to beloved veterans like Draco Rosa.

The second phrase?...
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From the very beginning of Alt.Latino, female vocalists have captivated us the most -- and New York-based Argentine vocalist Sofia Rei has been high on our list of favorites for a while. She uses the human voice like paint on a canvas, layering voices to create choirs that take flight at the mere suggestion of a melody. On her new album Antónima, she not only creates magic with her own voice but also collaborates with some Alt.Lati...
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This week's new music pairs well with a glass of wine - or, at least, that's what Ana chose while taping this happy hour edition of Alt.Latino at Felix's dining room table. And the music on tap spans a huge breadth of styles. Yahritza y Su Esencia returns with a powerful sophomore album after a spell out of the limelight. Brazilian legend-in-the-making Lucas Santtana collaborates with his mentor Gilberto Gil. Ana Tijoux revisits he...
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International Women's Day is more than a perfunctory holiday in many parts of Latin America. In Mexico City, for example, more than 120,000 people turned out on Sunday to protest femicide and celebrate the ongoing fight for basic rights for women in the country. In honor of the holiday, this week's episode debuts our female power anthems hall of fame, highlighting women in Latin music whose art challenged the status quo of their ti...
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On Feb. 21, the musical world lost a legend and pioneer of salsa: Willie Colón.

The trombonist, songwriter, producer and arranger was a key part of the transition of Afro-Caribbean dance music from regional traditions to worldwide popularity. For an insider’s perspective on that history, this week we speak to trombonist and bandleader Angel “Papo” Vázquez, a Philadelphia-born musician who was not only inspired to play the ...
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This week on Alt.Latino, it's another new music episode with a global panorama: Canary Islands merengue, Chicano soul, Afro-Brazilian roots and more. Plus, a percussion supergroup that Felix could listen to for hours.

Featured artists and albums:

(00:00) Introduction
(00:55) Quevedo, 'NI BORRACHO'
(05:02) Joey Quiñones, 'In a Soul Situation'
(12:24) Carolina Mama, 'Amina'
(15:31) Elipsis, 'Elipsis'
...
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So, I was away for a bit and the new music just piled up during the holidays, and while we were watching Bad Bunny make headlines at the Grammys and the Super Bowl. Our first new music episode of the new year has quite a variety of styles from lots of different countries. We could say that about just about every new music show we produce. But what are we to do when the amount of creativity that comes our way pretty much overwhelms ...
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Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show was many things: a time-traveling journey through the history of Puerto Rico, a statement of pan-American unity, and a masterpiece of cultural expression. This week, co-hosts Felix Contreras and Anamaria Sayre are joined by Isabella Gomez Sarmiento — who brings on-the-ground reporting from San Juan — to unpack the symbolism embedded in Bad Bunny's performance.

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Last Sunday, Bad Bunny's 'DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS' became the first exclusively Spanish language album to win album of the year at the Grammys. This coming Sunday, the Puerto Rican megastar will perform at the Super Bowl halftime show. For this week's episode, Anamaria Sayre and Isabella Gomez Sarmiento chat about what these two moments mean for Bad Bunny, the island of Puerto Rico, and the role of Latin music in America more broadly....
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This month we’ve been looking at the music of Venezuela from a lot of different angles. For this episode, we’ve invited trumpet player and producer Ella Bric to be our guest DJ. She shared what she thinks are the most socially, culturally and politically impactful pieces of music to come out of Venezuela in the last half century.

Ella Bric grew up in a migrant-rich town in Venezuela called San Antonio de los Altos, surroun...
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Sometimes life imitates art - or at least the two can seem eerily connected. On Jan. 1, the Venezuelan band Rawayana released a new album, '¿Dónde Es El After?,' which began with a lyric that many interpreted as a wish for their country's leadership to be gone. A few days later, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was ousted from power and seized by American forces. For this week's episode, we chat with Fofo Story and Beto Monteneg...
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January 14, 2026 28 mins
Over the weekend, we lost a musician who shaped the lives of countless people: the late, great Bob Weir. He was a founding member of the Grateful Dead who played guitar, wrote and sang in the band for 30 years. After Jerry Garcia died and the Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995, Weir kept the spirit of the music alive for three more decades, creating new Deadheads for generations to come — he brought John Mayer, Billy Strings and even ...
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January 8, 2026 26 mins
Venezuela has a deep tradition of reflecting political change through music. This week, as the country reels from the seizure of its president by American forces, we explore the recent history of Venezuelan protest music, and from the Nineties right up until the present. First, we share an excerpt of an episode we made at another moment of political turmoil in Venezuela, in the summer of 2024. Then, we'll walk up to the present and...
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