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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
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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

Most Recent Episodes

If the singer falls silent, life falls silent: The female power anthem hall of fame

Chilean-Mexican musician Mon Laferte Mayra Ortiz/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Mayra Ortiz/Courtesy of the artist

If the singer falls silent, life falls silent: The female power anthem hall of fame

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 time. Plus, some on-the-ground reporting from Anamaria Sayre at the march in Mexico City.

If the singer falls silent, life falls silent: The female power anthem hall of fame

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From church basement to salsa immortality: Remembering Willie Colón

Salsa pioneer Willie Colón passed away on Feb. 21. Courtesy of Craft Latino records hide caption

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Courtesy of Craft Latino records

From church basement to salsa immortality: Remembering Willie Colón

On Feb. 21, the musical world lost a legend and pioneer of salsa: Willie Colón.

From church basement to salsa immortality: Remembering Willie Colón

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Chicano soul, Canary Islands merengue and a percussion supergroup

Argentine singer and composer Carolina Mama Benjamin Baccetti/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Benjamin Baccetti/Courtesy of the artist

Chicano soul, Canary Islands merengue and a percussion supergroup

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.

Chicano soul, Canary Islands merengue and a percussion supergroup

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A Brazilian summer and a lost Mexican masterpiece

The new album from João Menezes and Paulo Novaes is called Coisa Híbrida. Bruno Mamede/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Bruno Mamede/Courtesy of the artist

A Brazilian summer and a lost Mexican masterpiece

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 us? Jump in for a summertime journey through the many sounds of Brazil, a fusion of indigenous and contemporary styles, and a lost relic of Mexican rock from the 1970s. 

A Brazilian summer and a lost Mexican masterpiece

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Puerto Rico takes the field at the Bad Bunny Super Bowl

Bad Bunny performing at the Super Bowl LX halftime show Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images hide caption

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Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

Puerto Rico takes the field at the Bad Bunny Super Bowl

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.

Puerto Rico takes the field at the Bad Bunny Super Bowl

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Bad Bunny makes history at the Grammys. Up next, the Super BBowl

Puerto Rican megastar Bad Bunny's DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS won album of the year at the 68th Grammy Awards. Kevin Winter/Getty Images hide caption

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Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Bad Bunny makes history at the Grammys. Up next, the Super BBowl

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.

Bad Bunny on top of the world

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Venezuela speaks: Producer Ella Bric spins songs with a 'teardrop of optimism'

Venezuelan artist, producer and trumpet player Ella Bric Maco Diaz/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Maco Diaz/Courtesy of the artist

Venezuela speaks: Producer Ella Bric spins songs with a 'teardrop of optimism'

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.

Venezuela speaks: Producer Ella Bric spins songs with a 'teardrop of optimism'

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Rawayana on their new album and a changing Venezuela

Venezuelan band Rawayana's new album is called ¿Dónde Es El After? Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Rawayana on their new album and a changing Venezuela

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 Montenegro of Rawayana to hear how the album came together, where its sonic influences lie, and how they're reflecting on the seismic changes underway in their home country.

Rawayana on their new album and a changing Venezuela

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Our Love Letter to Bob Weir

Grateful Dead founding member Bob Weir passed away in early January at 78. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images hide caption

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Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

Our Love Letter to Bob Weir

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 the National Symphony Orchestra into the Grateful Dead universe. The Deadhead slogan proved to be true: Weir everywhere.

Our Love Letter to Bob Weir

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Music as protest in Venezuela

Danny Ocean has become one of the most outspoken Venezuelan musicians against President Nicolás Maduro in recent years. Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images hide caption

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Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images

Music as protest in Venezuela

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 see how some musicians across Latin America are responding to this moment. And a big thanks to NPR Music's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento for being our guide.

Music as protest in Venezuela

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