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Latin Roots
Latin Roots contributor and Music Journalist, Catalina Maria Johnson loves Christmas and joins us for a special Spanish language holiday selection that goes beyond "Feliz Navidad." She also has picked out another great Spotify selection for us! We hear music from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Columbia, and the Dominican Republic. In Latin America, some Christmas parties last for 9 days, from the 16th to the 26th, and they are all about the music.
As we approach the peak of this splendid and cheerful holiday season, this segment of Latin Roots is providing listeners with sizzling renditions of well-known Christmas classics. Most people are familiar with the traditional "Little Drummer Boy" song but most of them have yet to enjoy a very popular Cuban version of the song interpreted by the band Los Papines. The band, commonly known as the "Kings of Rhumba" utilize deeps sounds of the percussion…
In this segment of Latin Roots, Jasmine Garsd discusses how the Brazilian artistic movement of Tropicália, also known as Tropicalismo, emerged and became a prominent force in the Latin American music scene. Garsd provides listeners with insightful information about the oppression and corruption that plagued countries like Brazil during a totalitarian regime. However, during these obscure times in Brazil, a cultural manifestation, identified as antropofagia, was conceived by Brazilian poet Oswald de Andrade and took…
In this 23rd installment of the Latin Roots segment, we diverge from focusing on a specific type of Latin music/ genre and instead talk about an integral and enormously popular instrument in Latin music. NPR's Alt Latino correspondent Felix Contreras is invited to discuss the history and the impact of the conga, or more properly known as the tumbadora, in Cuba and abroad. Originating from Africa, the conga became a critical instrument in Afro-Cuban religious…
Nueva Cancion ("new song") is a style born in the '60s and '70s, when many Latin countries were ruled by repressive dictators. The songs were folk-inspired, with guitar-based song forms, percussive elements and socially charged lyrics. The late Victor Jara is seen as the father of the movement, and he comes up in this conversation. Alt.Latino host Jasmine Garsd says the movement has resonated with a lot of people and brought about change — a…
We are back with another of our popular Latin Roots series. This time Felix Contreras from NPR's Alt-Latino is here to explore the Ranchera. We'll hear old and new examples of this Mexican narrative form. The first song is by Jorge Negrete, one of the most famous Ranchera singers of all time. Ranchera literally translates to "from the ranch," and first began appearing during the Mexican Revolution around 1910. The lyrics were originally written about…
This installment is an encore presentation of Latin Roots #15 of World Cafe's Latin Roots music series is hosted by Chicago-based journalist Catalina Maria Johnson. She writes in Spanish and English for publications such as HOY, Revista Contratiempo, Gozamos and Nat Geo Music. and is a regular radio personality and hosts/producer for the radio program Beat Latino, which airs in Chicago, Mexico City and Berlin. In the late 19th century, Rumba started to emerge in…
In this 19th installment of World Cafe's Latin Roots series, Carlos Alfonso, one of the vocalists and principle songwriters of the Cuban progressive rock band Síntesis, talks with host David Dye about the relationships between Cuban music, Yoruba music (Yoruba are a people in current-day Nigeria) and Arara music (Arara being a culture in present-day Benin). Síntesis is cited as Cuba's first progressive rock band. The band's influences include groups such as Genesis, Pink Floyd…
In this installment of World Cafe's Latin Roots series, Raul Pacheco of the Grammy-winning band Ozomatli talks with host David Dye about how politics influence music. They've certainly affected Pacheco's music, as Ozomatli has been politically driven since its inception. The band's members started playing together 16 years ago, when they were working for the Peace and Justice Center of Los Angeles, and were asked to play for picketers during a strike. Pacheco lets the…
Grammy-winning Latin-music producer Aaron Levinson joins WXPN's David Dye for this, the 17th segment of World Cafe's Latin Roots series. Levinson, a Philadelphia native, started his music career at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. With a background as a musician and composer, he's a former governor of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Levinson has gone on to start his own record label, Range…
San Antonio native Alejandro Escovedo is the co-host of this sixteenth installment of Latin Roots, here to discuss the Latin character of his hometown's music in the 1950's. Escovedo's music has a strong Latin influence as a result of growing up in San Antoinio and listening to his parent's music. His Dad played mariachi, and his parents also to rancheras, country, and big band music - which all seeped into what he does today.
This fifteenth installment of World Cafe's Latin Roots music series is hosted by Chicago-based journalist Catalina Maria Johnson. She writes in Spanish and English for publications such as HOY, Revista Contratiempo, Gozamos and Nat Geo Music. and is a regular radio personality and hosts/producer for the radio program Beat Latino, which airs in Chicago, Mexico City and Berlin. In the late 19th century, Rumba started to emerge in the port city of Matanzas, an hour…
Latin Roots is made possible by a grant from the Wyncote Foundation.
