NPR Music - Alt.Latino: Gipsy Kings are back, Julieta Venegas' norteña roots and more

Episode Date: May 20, 2026

Two different pioneers - from two different continents - are at the heart of this episode of new music. Since the late 80s, 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 explores the musical roots of her norteña heritage on a new album, playing with the biculturalism that defines so much of life along the border.Plus, Las Añez brings twin harmonies to Andean folk-pop, Helado Negro teams up with Reyna Tropical, Mexican upstart Esteesgarcia confounds Ana and Felix, and more!Artists & songs featured in this episode:(00:22) Las Añez - "Cebolla", "Libéralo"(05:21) Helado Tropical - "Tocando"(09:44) Esteesgarcia - "south kids", "Okupa"(14:35) Gipsy Kings - "Historia"(23:23) Julieta Venegas ft. Yahritza y Su Esencia - "La Línea"(25:53) bpuntito - "colitaderana", "después"(31:29) Ana Moura & MARO -  "Era de Aquário/Deixa o Sol Entrar"This podcast episode was produced by Noah Caldwell. Suraya Mohamed is the executive producer of NPR Music.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

From MPR music, this is all Latino. I'm Felix Contreras. And I'm Anna Maria Sayer. Let the Chisme begin. The chisema is, Felix, you've been away and now you're back. So did you bring me something good? Because if not, it was a waste to send you on vacation. I brought you a lot of good music.

Okay. But you get to go first this week. Really? Yeah. Oh, well, I brought something that you're going to be quite very extremely excited about. Las Ayesis have a new album out. Everyone get excited. It's called Dualism.

Magico, and I'm going to play you a track, the first track off the album, which is called Ceboa. I am fascinated by this I am fascinated by this group. They never miss. Felix, it's the harmonies, but there's also just something about their tones. Like the way they mix together is so perfect and magical and like everything you would want

from one of these kind of like decadent albums that makes you actually sit with it and like wait for the voices to come in and wait for the percussionists. Everything is really slow, but in this way that, like, is really gratified. I like that really slow, groovy cumbia thing that they have on this one. Yeah. And that's what's so cool about, you know, they obviously lean always into these really Andean sounds.

And the cool thing about doing that is it's so country indiscriminate. It's like to lean into the Andes, much like to make an album that's really Caribbean, let's say, it's Chile. and it's Colombian, it's, it's Argentine, it's all of these things at the same time. They themselves are from Colombia. They're twins from Colombia, but they really represent so much. So I want to play you another track, Felix.

It's called Liberalo. Liberate, mya, of the false illusions. Because a carouson that's faia also has its reasons. You went to without accepter. No, import is no pass anything. There's a lot to be said about

There's a lot to be said about siblings who harmonize, let alone twins. Whether with voices or instruments. There's just always this unspoken, it always makes me think Felix back to our Admanos Gutierrez interview, actually. Mm-hmm. Which maybe I don't think they're been twins. They're brothers. But the point is that there's this like really powerful and spoken blending, I think,

that very naturally happens between siblings and even another level with twins where it's, it's this connection that you just kind of can tap into and it elevates the music to me. This specifically, I brought this track in because they brought in Colombian singer La Muchacha. I'm obsessed with everything she does. I saw her perform Felix actually last year, just her and her guitar, the way she uses that guitar and that voice, it's like you feel like you're watching a full band. And it's just her because she's so versatile with it. And so to bring her into this duo as well is really exciting, the idea behind this record, obviously, to explore magical dualism and all of this kind of like surreal, magical Andean whatever. But they also brought in some Caribbean sounds.

The idea was to explore motherhood. and you can hear a little bit of that in this track too, but I'm just forever fans of them, honestly. I'm looking at the list of songs, and I see that they did a track with a guy who calls himself Chancho Villa Sercu. And he's one of the very first artists from Argentina that we brought in to do a tiny desk, actually,

and then also to play on the podcast. Ho-ho. Can't wait to hear the rest of this record. I knew you'd love it. That was a couple of songs from the new Lasagna's album, dualism magical.

Okay. Speaking of dualism. Okay, this is such a cheat, Felix, what you're about to do. You know what I'm going to play. I know.

I saw this and I was like, this is, we were going to have to fight to the death to play this record when it comes out in July and you're cheating and playing the single. I'm playing single. This is a group called

Elado Tropical and it is a collaboration between two of my favorites, two of your favorites, Anna, Elado Negro, and Reina Tropical. track is called Tocando, just let yourself fall into the midst of the magic that they create. Check it out.

So that is a really big tease on our part because, I mean, when Elado Negro comes in and his vocals, man, it's just, you can hear the magic of all that. And we're going to get to that in a second. But I just, we've got to point out that, you know, for those people who don't know, Elado Negro is a guy named Roberto Carlos Lane. He first started making music as Elado Negro in 2006. I found his record, Cantu Lechusa, in 2011. It was like one of the first artists we really featured in Alt Latino.

In fact, he did a tiny desk way back in 2017. I'm a huge fan of his, what I call the atmospheric dreamscapes. It just sort of floats. And when I read about this collaboration, in fact, Fabi told me about it a while back. And like, oh my God, I couldn't wait because it just, it makes sense. It's so perfect. Fabi Reina is Reina Tropical. She's been making music since 2016

with her musical partner, Sumo Hare, who unfortunately passed in 2022, and she's still moving this music forward, very much inspired by Mexican folk. This combination, man, like you can hear it, just floating. It's just such a great idea. I think you put it super well, Felix,

when you think independently, both of these artists as people who world-built. And not only world-build, but world-build in this very kind of like spiritual, sometimes, especially on the Fabi side, more psychedelic sense. I mean, it's really like two people who are really brilliant and capable at like invoking a lot and very simple sound. Like neither of them have, you know, obviously Renat Tropical is a project that is a lot based a lot in Fabi's guitar because that's what she does, but was also based a lot in Sumo's

beats and they kind of brought a lot of exploration of like the Afro-Mexican identity and a lot of these different things and the spirituality behind all of that. But still in a simplistic way. When I think of Roberto and I think of his project, La Lozado Negro, I think of the most soft, light touch beauty. Like he uses these simple elements and just creates the most magical landscapes. It's like literally existing in his brain, which is like the most beautiful place to ever exist or live ever because it's elado negro. So to bring these two together, I mean, I've been hearing about this collaboration for a long time now since its inception.

And it was exactly what I hoped it would be. And we can't show everyone the album yet, but it's also exactly what I hope to it would be. This album is a match made in Sonic Heaven, man. Literary for generations. The album is going to be called Elado Tropical. It comes out in July. This track is called Tocando. Okay, Fee, the next thing I have is another one.

one of my weird dudes that I found. I don't know how else to describe it. Weird dudes. This is Mexican artist. Estees Garcia. I want to play you a track called South Kids. Oh, what I did. I'm thinking,

a man to flyer. The putto rio, that much me raya. I don't expect with my medallias. Me pegia my project with super clue. No, my crew, I get my crew,

I'm a little in the pier, like a tattoo. Manu cao, if you're more the deliveries, they're gonna'ra'n' for other la'o and you're not invited'n'h, per'er. Uh, G, uh, microphone, check, uh, this is sound, Skull. Come, Hopi.

It's you boy, Esty Garcia. That's for my mind. South King, T, size, he's all the star cream, for the Cena, Bocene's Reeflo's T, in me a text, I'maddo bigante, as I did. Wanted in Paris, we-wee,

Saccoe, I saw the car for the dream. Felix, this is his second album. It's called The Enviio Mensue Messages. I don't even know what I would call this record. It's like a hip-hop-based thing, but he also does some reggaeton, R&B, funk. It's really one of the more all-over-the-place records that I've heard in a while,

and I say that, saying that I bring in all kinds of, like, records that have influences and genre-bending and whatever all the time. But this one truly is eclectic in a very, kind of like not organized way, I would say. Like I really wouldn't say it's organized, and yet I think it really works. He just has this kind of natural flow to him. I'm going to play another track off the album. It's called Ocupa.

Again, When you're Don't You'd Asked If I'm down for you I'd

Come back To make To make I'm For your For if you To sing Pune

Spotify If I'm in Spotify If I'm down for you Down for you We're We're Gatos onarang

I'm I'm Again, man Where do you even put that? And that's the beauty of all this stuff, Anna, is that you don't need to put it anywhere. It doesn't belong in a slot in the record store. It's like that starts out slow little jazz, ride symbol thing.

You know, it's just... Totally. And this one, you know, leans a little bit more, I would say, like, American R&B to and sound for sure, which I'm hearing more and more a lot from Mexican artists. And I'll talk about this in a bit, too. Like, the influence of American sound in a lot of the music, made of Mexico can be like a little bit debilitating at times, but I'm hearing like elements of

it being incorporated in really fascinating ways. I mean, I'm saying this all the time that Latin America right now has some of the most like innovation to an extent that is really a lot more exciting to me than what I'm hearing out of the U.S. And this artist in particular, I mean, you look at his top listeners and it's like, Bogota, Mexico City, Santiago, Chile, Lima, Peru, me like truly quote pan latin but without trying to be like it's not that the sound is created to be a pan latin sound it's just pan latin received it's enjoyed by a lot of people in a lot of different parts of latin america and when you say that he's creating like a new way to express himself you know it's what's curious is that i you know while on vacation i was in seattle and i found this

really cool little pop-up vinyl store at a place we were having lunch. And I saw Cafe Takuba's album, second album, Re, for sale. And I love that record. And when I got home and I put it on again, it's very similar. What, 25

years later? Like, they were creating, they were redefining Mexican music when this record came out in the late 90s. Just incredible stuff. That's what a lot of this music that we listen to when you bring in, it's the same thing. Like you're creating something completely new

out of whole cloth, out of whatever was there before. It's all mashed up together. It's amazing. That was a couple of songs off of the new Estes Garcia album. You Envio Mensagius. It's time for a break. Look. Does it say break on your watch?

Yes, it does. We'll be right back. Okay, we're back. And while we were talking about the newer artists that are doing amazing things, I'm going to feature what's known as a legacy artist. Actually, they're pioneers, okay? Iconic pioneers from Spain, the group The Gypsy Kings.

They have a new record coming out at the end of May. This is a track called Historia. Check it out. And then we'll talk about it. The Gypsy Kings! Right? Okay, we play a lot of music from Spain, all these contemporary musicians who are doing very creative things

exploring the traditions of flamenco. But flamenco for the longest time was just a Stand alone for Purists, just like these hardcore fans, Gypsy Kings in the late 1980s just blew that up. They brought their thing, which is specifically Catalan Rumba Flamenco. It's a very, very specific part of Spain. They brought it into the pop world. Anna, this was before you were born, man, they blew up.

I can't even begin to tell you how what it was like to live through that experience of having these guys. All of a sudden, people who don't even speak Spanish, people who were like not part of the tradition, and all of a sudden they were huge fans of flamenco and of what they were doing, millions of albums, world tours, and it was based on, in particular, this song right here, check it out. This is their hit Bamboleo. You know, they got a lot of the right time with the sound that's kind of hear more. And what they did is, like, very smartly, they matched up this sound, this thing, right?

And then, like, pop music that people in this country would be familiar with. they had a song called Volare, which was a very popular song from 1958. That was one of their hits. But one of the ones I really, really liked that. It just blew me away was their song Ami Manera, which was a cover of a song made popular by Frank Sinatra. Here's the Frank Sinatra version, and then you heard their version. Check it out.

And now the end is near. And so I face the first. the final curtain my friend I'll say it clear I'll state my case of which I'm certain I've lived

a life that's full I traveled each and every highway I always Much more than this I did it my I always thought that was a really moving their part to combine those two

Having talked about all that history of Gypsy King Their new record is really good man And you know when you've been a band like that since 1989 or so like how do you keep things fresh? We talk about this all the time and I think they really did a good job of not straying too far away from what they do

but then adding some new elements we heard some keyboards, we heard some other stuff. There's one track that has a little bit of a reggae feel to it. I don't know if it will have the same commercial impact that they've had in the past

but it's definitely an artistic statement of like this is who we are now and this is what we do. I do want to go back and break down that term use because it's very specific Catalan rumba flamenco For anyone who doesn't know

Because we've talked I think a lot more actually About like the origins of flamenco And who has a right to play I think especially because of Rosalia Honestly it's come up a lot And like more larger pop conversations In a way that I don't think it necessarily

Would have if it weren't for her And using that sound so predominantly in her music But flamenco Not native to Catalonia Rumba also being something distinct I mean, what is that term for people who don't know? Like, what varietal flamenco is that? I think that the percussion of strumming,

like a lot of the flamenco has that percussion of strumming. But it's counted in a different way. Bulidia's like in three. It's in six almost, right? It's got a different feel. But that thing that makes people dance, that don't know how to dance flamenco and just going to dance anyway,

that was their secret sauce. That's what made it. Chung, chung, chagin chaggach chagong. Right? That's the thing. that got everybody involved. And it is derivative of the tradition, and they never promised that they were tradition.

They never said that we're pure. It's just what we're doing. They just used that and used it very, very effectively. I mean, but it is important to make that distinction, right? Because that is, like, a closer relationship to pop, as well as, like, an undeniable, unavoidable danceability. I mean, that's what makes a lot of these genres cross into, like you said, a mainstream so wide that even people who knew.

nothing about Spanish language music we're dancing it. That's what happened in the present, right? With reggaeton or certain genres that it's like, this is just undeniably, I cannot be a human being and not dance this. That's what they did. And look at Super Bowl. I mean, look how many people are like, oh, my God, who is this guy? Listen to that music.

It's all Afro-Caribbean music. You know, so, yeah, that's the thing, man, whether it's a bad buddy show, a Grateful Dead show, a flamenco shows like you get up and dance. All of a sudden, your community. Yeah, throw in the dead, but then all of a sudden, all of a sudden you're in a community. 100%. The name of the track is Historia from the Gypsy Kings.

Their album, Estoria, is coming out in the end of May. Okay. That was our deep dive for the week. Okay, well, I have another kind of deep dive. Okay. Okay, so this one's kind of random. But it got me thinking this week because, well, very importantly, because Julietta Venegas, released her 11th studio album, which is called simply Nortena.

The idea of it is to literally explore her Norteño roots in Tijuana, her childhood stories about it. Sonically, it's very much an homage to not only Tijuana, but the region in general. So I wanted to play you a little bit of this track. It's called La Linea. One linea never separates since a time time.

A line that me impede to get to you. That line capricousa that divide our world So I specifically brought in this track in your which is like whole other side of the spectrum. But when you think right about what the border of the U.S. Mexico is to me, an artist like Yerita and Suisencia, even though they're from Washington State, from a family that's from Michoacan,

they are, to me, like a very, like, all of that community in the U.S. is very much a grand extension to me of the border. Like, in a lot of ways, this biculturalism that we talk about, that is the Mexican-American experience, in a different way, is the Norteno experience. And so to me, to have them on this track is, like, oh, it all kind of fits in a way. And, of course, that beautiful voice and everything. But then what it really got me thinking about Felix is like what is the biculturalism of the Norteño?

Because obviously Julietta Venegas doing this is perfectly fit in with this whole thing that we keep talking about of like the return to roots, the kind of homage to where you're from, to the origins, because very much sonically that's what this is. But it really opens the question of like what that is in the north. And so a couple weeks back, I had gone to the listening of the debut album with this really sweet. singer from Chihuahua. Her name is B. Punitito. And I want to play you a little bit of this song off of her album. It's called Colita Derana. These songs may feel like they're completely unrelated, which They're not related, right? Like, sonically, no tinae nada to be one from the other. But when I heard this song from her,

I started to think, like, wow, this song really feels to me, like it came from someone who grew up listening to, like, a Taylor Swift's white horse, like a very kind of like early 2000s country pop, which obviously has its whole extended roots in, like, Americana from the United States. And I started to think about this. And I was like, there's not really any difference for someone from the north.

And we talk about Chiwawa. a lot, especially I think on the show, because you have like a Kevin Carl and you have a Ed Maverick who do kind of almost like these more indie or country American stylings, but that feel equally as honest or equally as authentic to where they're from. And that's really what being from the north of Mexico is. It's like an actual authentic bicultural existence, which I referenced as earlier, Felix, this idea that like in Mexico, one of the greatest impediments sometimes, and I've talked about this a lot with people, is like the proximity to United States, right? Because, you know, because there's this desire to recreate or to look towards some of the styles or the popular things in the U.S. But when you look at the north, it's like it's so proximate that it's just you can play with whatever you want because both are equally accurate. When you do it right, I think it sounds really, really beautiful and authentic. And there's this one other song on the album called Despoise that really struck me in this listening that I think does that really perfectly. all of the all of the

all of the lyrical texture of the most desperate heartbreak songs and I don't know if you heard something maybe I'm tripping Felix but you are es da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da right? I did hear that a reference to guanga you know it's oh my gosh like where do you even start

where do you stop? I mean I used to teach a class of Fresnel State about the music of Mexico and the Southwest and it was all about everything that we're talking about and we got really into it for a whole semester because there's so many layers and this was back in the 90s when the musical output was so much different than what's going on right now

And I think of immediately of De Manis Beaujeure, the other singer from Northern Mexico, that we like. It's the same thing. It's like this interaction where one ends and the other begins. You can't even tell. It's so honest. Like both of these albums are explorations of where you're from, of what you grew up listening to.

And in the same region from the same place, but just this kind of like very specific place. It's like a little bit like if you look at Miami as what it is and it's this very specific kind of place, that's this mix of all these things. That is really this region as well. And to bring it back to Julietta Venegas, she's been doing that from the beginning.

Even when she started in the punk band, Tijuana, way back when, and, you know, with playing her accordion, she stood out. She's a female accordion player. Like, she's always done that, and it just gets more refined. I think this record is,

like, her high watermark. This is a part where she expresses that biculturalism in a really profound way. And if you look, listen to the record feel like she doesn't abandon the rock at all. Like it's there, it's present, but it's just, it's kind of like been put a little bit to the side so she can really let the Nortena of it all shine. Whatever that means, as it can be defined in so many different ways. It's really fascinating. That was a couple of songs off of the B-Puntito

album, Me Da Mio Ser Feliz, and the Julietta Venegas record that's called Nortena. Okay. I'm going to close it out with two of our favorite vocalist from Portugal. We're going to jump across the ocean real quick. I saw that and I was like, you're stealing all my freaking stuff. You introduced me to these artists today. I know, and then you steal them. Well, this one, I don't know, it just somehow this single popped up. These are the vocalist Maro and Anna Maura. They have a new track. It's a single. It's called Ere de Aquario and also Deso Sol Netrad that I'm butchering the Portuguese. It gives me so much joy to listen to you have to say Portuguese on this show because I feel like it's always me.

We've got to take a quick lesson. Two of our favorite vocalists, interesting mix of generations and a fascinating choice of songs. Check it out because there's history behind the cover. We've played both artists on. the show before. And for those that don't know, Mado was kind of a pop vocal. She went to Berkeley School of Music. She lived in L.A. for a while, but her music is a mix of a lot of different things. And I think it's safe to say she leans more in the pop world. On Amara is like pretty much a straight ahead Fado singer from Portugal, like the Portuguese blues they call it. And also mixed in with a little

bit of her Angola heritage. The song is from 1969 by a group called the Fifth Dimension. and it came from a controversial play back then, a play called Hair from the late 1960s, and it's the epitome of when mainstream culture tries to be hip and cool, right? It never changes it. It sort of comes out in this really kind of weird way. At the time, they sort of were discounted,

like, the fifth dimension, they're neither black because they're all African-American musicians. It's not black music, it's like it's in between. But listening back, they get the last word, man, because this song is really well-produced. Check it out. This is the original Age of Aquarius from the Fifth Dimension from 1969. It's definitely a timepiece, right? And I got a chance to do a really deep dive on the fifth dimension music. It's so well crafted. I don't think that they got the props that they should have been given for the music.

But it's a perfect introduction to this great, great single from Maro and Anna Maura. The track is called Era of Aquario And Desh Osolar Netran. Sorry for butchering that. Do that ten more times. You have been listening to Alt Latino from NPR Music. Our audio editor is Noah Caldwell. The executive producer of NPR Music is Seraa Muhammad. And the executive director is Sonali Metta.

I'm Felix Contreras. And I'm Anna Maria Ser. Thank you for listening. Thanks for listening.