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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!

  • The weather's heating up and so are the music releases. The hosts of Alt.Latino share their most quintessentially them picks, with Latin jazz across the board from Felix and indie pop-rock bops from Ana. The two sit down to ping-pong favorite picks back and forth from different parts of the country — plus, Felix puts Ana's picks to an impromptu test.Featured tracks:Lara Project, "Extraños"Julieta Eugenio, "Breath I"Esteman, Villano Antillano, "Noches de Verano"Rodrigo Recabarren, Pablo Menares, Yago Vazquez, "Santiago"Elsa y Elmar, "entre las piernas"Hurray for the Riff Raff, "Hawkmoon"Audio for this episode of Alt.Latino was edited and mixed by Joaquin Cotler. Hazel Cills is the podcast editor and digital editor for Alt.Latino, and our project manager is Grace Chung. NPR Music's executive producer is Suraya Mohamed. Our VP of Music and Visuals is Keith Jenkins.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
  • Is it really a good idea to take a vacation with your coworkers? If you're part of the Alt.Latino team, it is. Last month Alt.Latino co-host Anamaria Sayre decided to join Felix Contreras on a planned trip to attend the 39th annual Havana Jazz Festival, an international event that attracts fans of both Cuban music and jazz from around the world. Spread out among several historic venues around the Cuban capital city, the team spent eight days taking in the sights and sounds of one of the oldest cities in Latin America. Hours before they returned home, Felix and Ana recorded this episode reflecting on everything they heard and the legacy of Cuba's musical diversity.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
  • As the chill remains in the air for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere and the heat of summer warms up the South, we take time to listen to new music from both parts of the world.Felix Contreras and Anamaria Sayre round up their favorite new music, including Southern Cone rock and cumbia, atmospheric vocals from the U.S. and even some delicate yet emotionally powerful music from the Catalan region of Spain.Audio for this episode of Alt.Latino was edited and mixed by Joaquin Cotler. Hazel Cills is the podcast editor and digital editor for Alt.Latino and our project manager is Grace Chung. NPR Music's executive producer is Suraya Mohamed. Our VP of Music and Visuals is Keith Jenkins.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
  • Nothing captures the agony of love, loss, hope and redemption like the song form known across all of Latin America: the bolero.Last December, UNESCO declared the bolero "an intangible cultural heritage of humanity" and "an indispensable part of the Latin American sentimental song." And given that Valentine's Day is coming up, Felix Contreras and Anamaria Sayre did something special this week, in honor of this news: they asked some of their favorite artists and show listeners to share their most-loved boleros, and break down exactly what makes them so special. Join Felix and Ana as they laugh, cry and sing a little to the love songs of the ages.And be sure to check out the playlists we made for this episode, feature Ana and Felix's picks, as well as the selections from featured artists and listeners, on Spotify and Apple Music.Audio for this episode of Alt.Latino was edited and mixed by Joaquin Cotler. Hazel Cills is the podcast editor and digital editor for Alt.Latino and our project manager is Grace Chung. NPR Music's executive producer is Suraya Mohamed. Our VP of Music and Visuals is Keith Jenkins.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
  • Vocalist Ana Tijoux has been a frequent guest on Alt.Latino. That's because ever since her US debut, 1977, was released in 2010, Tijoux had been at the forefront of Latin music that celebrates creative innovation, themes of social justice and fierce independence.In this week's episode the Chilean musician talks to Felix Contreras and Anamaria Sayre about why that spirit of innovation has been more or less silent for the last 10 years, and how her new album, Vida, is not only a chance to catch up, but also a deeply moving look back. Audio for this episode of Alt.Latino was edited and mixed by Joaquin Cotler, with production support from Suraya Mohamed and Isabella Gomez Sarmiento. Hazel Cills is the podcast editor and digital editor for Alt.Latino and our project manager is Grace Chung. Our VP of Music and Visuals is Keith Jenkins.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
  • In the earliest days of the show, Alt.Latino's mailbox was usually piled high with CDs of new music from both emerging and well-known artists.Now, Felix Contreras and Anamaria Sayre's email and social media accounts continue to open up new musical worlds at Alt.Latino and — in turn — all of you. The show starts 2024 with some great tracks from names you may know and a couple of bands that Felix and Ana think deserve wider recognition.Audio for this episode of Alt.Latino was edited and mixed by Joaquin Cotler, with production support from Suraya Mohamed. Hazel Cills is the podcast editor and digital editor for Alt.Latino. Our VP of Music and Visuals is Keith Jenkins.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
  • While 2022 may have been a year completely dominated by a certain sad summer reggaeton album, 2023 drew its power from a set of familiar sounds that took on new prominence: tubas, accordions and a whole lot of lively, sneakily danceable beats. As we've been talking about on Alt.Latino for some time, Mexican Regional music broke through in a big way this year, and we found it incredible to witness the most boisterous and uncompromising sounds from that long tradition make their way across the world and to the top of the charts. A strong feeling of authenticity to place and experience was palpable across the spectrum of Latin albums released in 2023, from the most popular to those deserving of more attention. To review all there was to love about Spanish-language music this year, hosts Felix Contreras and Anamaria Syare sat down with producer Isabella Gomez Sarmiento to discuss the ways musicians danced fearlessly across genre lines while showing up as their complete selves more than ever before.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
  • You know all those tubas and brass instruments you hear behind your favorite regional Mexican hits? That's banda sinaloense and this week Alt.Latino wraps up the Regional Goes Global series with a visit to Sinaloa, Mexico, the birthplace of the genre.Anamaria Sayre and Felix Contreras visit the picturesque town Mocorito, a pueblo magico where tradition and pride in the musical heritage runs deep. That's the case even among members of the drug cartels, which are responsible for some of the country's societal ills. It's a complex story as passionate and heartfelt as the music that stretches from the hills of Sinaloa to this side of the U.S.-Mexico border.Audio for this episode of Alt.Latino was edited and mixed by Joaquin Cotler, with production support from Lilly Quiroz, Suraya Mohamed, Josephine Nyounai and Natalia Fidelholtz. The editor for this episode is Jacob Ganz, and our project manager is Grace Chung. Hazel Cills is the podcast editor and digital editor for Alt.Latino. Our VP of Music and Visuals is Keith Jenkins.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
  • For the second episode of Alt.Latino's regional Mexican music series, hosts Anamaria Sayre and Felix Contreras interview the rising family band Yahritza y Su Esencia in its hometown of Yakima, Wash. The two discover that the U.S.-Mexico border looms large in this regional Mexican moment, especially for Yahritza y Su Esencia — not strictly because of the music's obvious Mexican roots, but also the ways in which the border can create an "us" and "them" dynamic. The band's struggles with musical and personal identity also reflect the real struggles that millions of U.S.-born folks with Mexican heritage face. And what started as a musical journey for Ana and Felix has now become a personal journey.Audio for this episode of Alt.Latino was edited and mixed by Joaquin Cotler, with production support from Janice Llamoca, Shelby Hawkins, Suraya Mohamed and Natalia Fidelholtz. The editor for this episode is Jacob Ganz and, our project manager is Grace Chung. Hazel Cills is the podcast editor and digital editor for Alt.Latino. Our VP of Music and Visuals is Keith Jenkins.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
  • Earlier this year, Peso Pluma — a 24-year-old who grew up in between Guadalajara, Jalisco, and San Antonio — became the first regional Mexican artist to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 chart. Something in the music industry was changing. Streaming numbers for regional Mexican shot up astronomically, as the musical stylings of banda and norteño made their way onto the Coachella main stage and burgeoning stars like Peso Pluma began to book their first U.S. tours in major markets. But what accounted for regional Mexican's rise? And what does the genre's continued popularity say about not just changing trends in the Latin music industry, but the changing shape of America? For the next three episodes of Alt.Latino, Anamaria Sayre and Felix Contreras dive into the regional Mexican explosion, revealing the complex relationships both Mexicans and Mexican Americans have with identity from either side of the border. In this first episode, Felix and Anamaria travel to Nashville, Tenn., to witness Peso Pluma's performance and to try to understand the root of the phenomenon, through their own personal experiences and the people they meet along the way.Audio for this episode of Alt.Latino was edited and mixed by Janice Llamoca and Joaquin Cotler, with production support from Shelby Hawkins, Suraya Mohamed, Natalia Fidelholtz and Lauren Migaki. The editor for this episode is Jacob Ganz and our project manager is Grace Chung. Our VP of Music and Visuals is Keith Jenkins.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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