This week we return to Diaspora Music, and some of the amazing music being produced by Venezuelans around the world due to the country’s current talent exodus.
We listen to the incredible story of Laura Guevara, winner of Venezuela’s Pepsi Award in 2017 (the equivalent to our Mercury Prize) and her gruelling experience as a migrant, including a stint in a Mexican jail, after her protest activity forced her to leave.
We celebrate Astor PIazzolla who turned 100 this week.
And we also interview world-renowned DJ and producer Michel Cleis, whose track ‘La Mezcla’ using a Toto La Momposina sample, became one of the biggest house tracks of the last 15 years and made him a household name. He tells us about his new reworking of Natalia Lafourcade’s ‘Tu Si Sabes Quererme’
And finally we bring you our choice of the latest UK and international releases
Don’t miss our great stories and great music!
Welcome to this week’s podcast!
We kick off celebrating the music of Johnny Pacheco, co-founder of the legendary Fania record label, whose vision and ear for what Latinos wanted to dance to in the 1970s created some of the iconic label best music.
If the Descarga isn’t enough to lift your lockdown blues, Amaranta talks to Dr. Rafael Santandreu, one of the world’s leading psychologists and author of the best-selling book “Shake it Off!’ about how to shake off anxiety, fear and other negative legacies of the pandemic.
Talk of neurosis inspires Jose Luis to find therapy in the world of Latin Rock, indulging in the nostalgia of youth with Argentina’s Gustavo Cerati, Brazil’s Os Palaramas, and Venezuela’s Desorden Publico
We talk to our film editor Corina Poore about this year’s outstanding Latin American films that have made it to this year’s BAFTA long list to finish with our choice of new UK and international music releases.
We kick off with Latin Jazz or, as Chris Washurne, Professor of Music at Columbia University, would say ‘The Real Jazz.’ His latest book ‘Latin Jazz: The Other Jazz’, debunks the myth that Latin Jazz is a sub-genre of Jazz by showing how they developed together from as far back as the 1720s, when enslaved peoples came to New Orleans from the Caribbean. He talks about how the likes of Mario Bauzá and Machito hugely influenced Jazz in 1940s but also played a central role in the civil rights movement.
Chris is one of the world’s leading academics on Latin Music and also a musician who has played with the best Latin bands in New York, including with Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri and Candido Camero. He tells some great Tito Puente stories and of course we play some wonderful music along the way.
Fast forward to 2021, we bring you new music from UK and international artists we love and celebrate Jairo Varela (Grupo Niche). So join us for some fun and music that you won’t forget!
Welcome to our very first LatinoLife podcast, an hour packed full of interviews and great music, in which editor Amaranta Wright discusses some of our great articles and Top 10s with Music editor Jose Luis and some very special guests.
This week featuring our new series on Diaspora Music, with some great music being produced by Venezuelan musicians abroad, including tracks by Apache, one of Venezuela’s most famous rappers, now in Medellin, Betsayda Machado and two very promising up and coming talents based in Europe, Arya and La Chica.
We move on to Mexican boxing and invite Guardian Sports correspondent and boxing expert Kevin Mitchell to discuss why Mexico is the greatest boxing nation, represented by the likes of Canelo Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez.
We bring you music from the legendary late Tito Rojas, discuss the struggle to go Vegan with Britain’s favourite Spanish chef, Omar Allibhoy and finish with our pick of new UK Music. You’ll have to listen to find out who it is!