NPR Music - Alt.Latino: Sofia Kourtesis, Lucrecia Dalt, more

Episode Date: August 6, 2025

Some might call it whiplash, the way we sometimes zip from one genre of Latin music to another in our New Music shows. But I like to think of it as an expression of the richness and vitality of all music made under what is known as Latin music. This week's selections reinforce the idea that trying to identify this music under one heading is impossible. Let's just call it Good Music. Featured artists and songs: Harold Lopez-Nussa, “Niña Con Violin” Sofia Kourtesis, "Canela Pura” and "Ballumbrosio" Lucrecia Dalt, “caes” and “cosa rara” goodtoknow (paula prieto, benjamin walker, sir hope), "Mareas,” "October," and "I’ll stay" Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Sextet, “Panabe” Natanael Cano, “Presidente” and “El Juez” Gabito Ballesteros and Carin Leon, “Regalo de Dios” The audio for this episode was produced by Noah Caldwell. Suraya Mohamed is the Executive Producer of NPR Music and the madrina of Alt.Latino. 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 NPR music, this is Alt Latino and Felix Contreras. And I'm Anna Maria Sayer. Let the Chisemay begin. Okay, the Chisema this week is new music. Got a ton of stuff. And as usual, it's from all over the place. And I, since I wrote the script, I wrote myself going first. So there. Wow.

I actually like this better. I like to be the closer. You can start. Okay. I wrote some jazz. Surprise, surprise. I don't even react anymore. Felix.

Well, I'm glad because then you're being... I'm being indoctrinated. Yeah, you're being introduced. Jazz, jazz, jazz, jazz, jazz, jazz, jazz, jazz. Not indoctrinated. That makes it sound like a punishment. This is another chapter in the adventure of pianist, Harold Lopez Nusa. He is originally from Havana.

He's based here in the United States now with his brother, Rui Lopez Nusa on drums and Luce Curtis on bass. This is Nina con violin. And there's a very, very cool story behind this track. But let's hear the music first. So Harold Lopez-Musa comes from two traditions. The Cuban piano, which goes back to really to the turn of the 20th century when piano is used to interpret and define Cuban music

with classical music and Afro-Cuban traditions and from the Lopez-Nusa tradition or legacy, because their family has generations of amazingly talented and respected musicians from Havana. This track was written by his uncle, Ernan, very, very famous pianist in his own right. He wrote it for a first person. into the family in Havana, who was a young violinist.

Harold heard it often throughout his childhood and as he studied music. But he never played it until he decided to do it on this album. And then Harold played it with his daughter, who was also a young violinist, in front of his uncle. And now Harold says the song now is part of the family legacy. And then there's another family connection because the cover of the album is a painting by Harold's grandfather, a painter. And a material released with the single, he says,

I realized once again the power that art has to endure beyond time. And having his art on the cover of the album brings me closer to my family, to those childhood memories, and makes me feel more accompanied. So again, it's the power of jazz to cut through all these different things and become so personal and such a reflection of who he is and who his family is in this case. And very quickly a reminder that Harold Lupes-Nusa played

a tiny desk concert in December of 2018 with his brother Rui on drums. The track is called Niña con violin. The artist is Harold Lopez Nusa. Okay, so only a slight shift from everything that you just said. I'm going to play you a song off of Sophia Cortez's new EP Volver. This track is called Canella Pura. Whiplash time.

Very abnormal for us here. We're usually quite consistent. If you'll remember Felix or maybe you will, won't remember and I will remind you. I covered her debut album in 2023 called Madres. We had it on our favorite music of 2023 episode. Do you remember that? Yes, of course I do. And one of the things I love about her, she's a Peruvian artist who moved to Germany when she was still a teenager is that she really does this incredible job of representing not only sonically both places, because you can really hear it all over. She more so represents like the dichotomy of the two places that she's from.

She often has said in interviews that her heart is Peruvian, loud, passionate all over the place, but that her motor is German. This is funnily enough something I've actually heard from a lot of Latinos who have immigrated. I don't know why. I have a ton of friends who have lived in Germany, who are Latinos, a lot of them from Venezuela. And they say similar things. There's like something about the way that spending time in Germany, spending time with the music in Germany, specifically kind of shapes and forms their own identities, their chaos into something different, especially with the dance scene there.

So this last album that she did, Madres, was focused on her mom. It was kind of a dedication to a surgeon who actually saved her life. And there's so much brightness and color to her sound always. And a lot of that I think is based in this idea that she's been through these hard things with her mom, with this illness. And she tries to seek joy in these darker times. So she kind of leverages both of her homes and her roots to allow her to do that. I want to play you another track that I think you're really going to like, Felix.

It's called Bayoum Broseo. But I really like the way that they dropped in the traditional music and the singing over that. And it didn't really lose the cadence of the tradition because of the way that it's mixed. And the speed, it was effective. I liked it. That vocal that you're hearing, his name is Miguel Bayumbrosio, which he's a percussionist and Zapateo dancer, which is basically a type of foot percussion from Chincha, Peru. Much of his music and his career has been dedicated to the preservation and promoting.

motion of Afro-Peruvian and Afro-Andian music. So to me, Sophia, in many ways, it's like the thoughtfulness around how she composes her music that has always consistently across the board, since I first started listening to her a few years ago, really been the key to what makes her music work so well. And that, to me, like this song in the middle of the EP was just such a clean, cut, clear example of how she does that so well. That was Canalapura and Bayoombrosio from Sophia Cortez's new EP Volver. Okay, Felix, now top that.

Okay, we're going to move from Peru to Colombia. And this is an artist that was featured on our 2022 best albums of the year. That show featured you and Stephanie Fernandez and Julissa Lopez. I wasn't in that show, but somebody brought this artist named Lucretia Dalt. I've been a fan ever since. She's a fascinating vocalist. She really stretches the genre boundaries in ways that you and I both enjoy a lot. This is a single from an album that's coming out in September.

The album's called A Danger to Ourselves, and this track is called Gaius. Okay, so we always say, you know, the voices is another instrument. And when you're talking about somebody doing an elite vocal, And in the grand tradition of somebody like Ella Fitzgerald or, you know, people like that, or even pop singers where they're using it as an elite vocal. It's an instrument, but there are certain vocalists that we've discovered over the years here that when they start layering the vocals in multiple tracks and then manipulating the sound of the voice with reverb or whatever electronic device, then it becomes more like, to me, like an instrument. And Lucretia Dahl falls into that category with people like Lido Pimenta does that a lot. I was about to bring up Lido. Yeah, she does that a lot.

Honestly, though, vocally kind of more in the like the percussion to me, even though it's different because Lido's a lot more. Sparse. Yeah, and also grandiose at the same time. But there's something about the intensity. I was going to say vocally, it's almost a slight Rita Indiana not to me or like a rubio. Yes, yes. Is what it really felt like. I mean, there's so many, because we've been able to cover them over the years,

so many vocalists like that. She has collaborated with Juanamolina from Argentina. She's like the madrina of doing that, right? On this album, she's also working with an artist I didn't know, Mexican sound artist Camille Mandoki, who's basically doing a lot of the same work because I went down a rabbit hole of listening to her music as well. So, like, yeah, I'm just super, super excited, as you can tell,

about the way that these artists use their voice and manipulate it and double track it and triple track it and make it just sound like a whole choir to create just this incredible instrument. Well, and it's also really cool because that's such a common practice now. Like a lot of the artists that you'll see topping the charts, like they're hypothetically using tuning, using vocal effects as an instrument. Like look at Bele, who I've brought on a couple of times, who's now one of the top Latin artists in the world. He's been training with autotune since he was like a teenager, like a young teenager, I think like 13, 14, something like that. And he has actually mastered the art of manipulating his vocals to like create a whole other instrumental effect. But I think these women who stay one so close to the percussion of where they're from to kind of like fortify or like create this basis like what we're talking about with Alito or even like a Rubio or a. Rita or all these people, Juanamolina.

Like, they take that, like the intensity, and then they use very artfully and very specifically the voice as, like, in conjunction with those sounds as opposed to, like, its own independent instrument that exists in this other sphere. It's really fascinating to me. And it's within the structure of a non-pop tradition. The stuff that I've heard from Laquisha Dahl's upcoming record that she has out so far as singles, oh my God.

It's just so, I don't know. avant-garde, spacey, different, experimental, improvisational. I want to play a little bit more. You always play more

than what I want to sneak one into this time. I'm playing like 20 today, I feel like, so get your songs in. This is a thing called Cosa Rara, and this is with the English

musician David Sylvia. Check it out. A day bien, boom man. The color is descarrand

the soil a 150 So I wanted to play that one because it has a little bit more structure, a little more beat. The other one was a lot more floaty, spacey, which has its own beauty and charm. Again, the artist is called Lucretia Dalt. Her album coming out September 5 is called A Danger to Ourselves. We heard the tracks Kayas and Cosa Rada. I think it's time to take a break.

We should take a break. We should take a break. Center ourselves. Let's start taking a break right now. Oh, I'm sorry. I was still taking a break. I'm sorry. I was like centering myself.

We're back. You are too focused on meditating, feelings. All right. Your turn. Okay. Oh, this one's fun. I forgot I had this. Okay, so remember when I dragged you to see that Argentine singer Paola Prieto?

Yes. And I was obsessed with her. I was like, I'm dying to see this girl. We went to that bar. Yeah, and we were in Spain. What city was... In Bilbao. Bilbao, that's right.

Importantly. So I'm obsessed with her. Before I get into this new project, I want to play you just as a reminder for you and for everyone and also because I love this song. This is Paola Prieta's song, Marayas. They're still in Eternities that That's

In an instant vacillar There are There's maryas that are And they're For lunas That even

We'll We don't We can't To do To do, to To do, a time, to that's it

The life still, but no It's in and it takes, Okay, so that's an old single that I just needed an excuse to play. She's only released a lot of singles.

She has one compilation album and she went to Mexico to work on some more music back in November and she texted Benjamin Walker, which if you'll remember, I also have brought on music from him, beautiful Chilean artist. And she was like, hey, Benja, it's Saturday. On Monday, I have one slot at this kind of very well-known studio. What if you just come? I have nothing figured out. I have nothing that I really need to work on.

Let's just go and play and jam for the day. 48 hours later, they left the studio. Benka invited Sir Hope to come to the studio as well, and they had this entire EP, five-song EP that they're now going to tour in Europe with. The group that they have now formed, quote-unquote, for this EP is called Good to Know, and I want to play one of their tracks.

It's called October. I love their combo vocally. He kind of sneaks in on some of the harmonies. They're production-wise, stylistically. It's very Benka, but melody, very faula. I love when two artists like this come together. But the most fascinating thing to me, honestly, Felix, is the way, and I've talked about this before, the way that people really vocally transform when they switch languages.

I'm a huge fan of her in Spain. Like, I think I love this, and I do think I prefer the Spanish vocal. I just, there's something about the richness to what she has in Spanish. And yet, like, there's a different part of her represented in. in the English. That is also unique. That's also special. That's also different. And I want to play one other song. It's my favorite on the EP because it's like slow and sad. But it's called I'll stay. And to me, her English vocal is about as close to her Spanish vocal as she gets. There's something in your eyes. Something in the way you're right to me. It makes me feel

I'm sick It makes me feel like pain It's creeping around your corner Trying to make Don't you worry Pretty amazing what they could come up with Just like on the fly Let's get together

And see what we come up with Forty eight hours You can't recreate it You know? Yeah Sometimes it just works That was Marias by Paola Prieto

And October And I'll stay by Good to Know Okay We aligned again And once again. Telepathy, Felix. Because the last track I have is from trumpeter Gabriel Aligria. And since 2005, he has been spreading the world of Afro-Peruvian music.

In this case, mixed with jazz and much more. There's a new album coming out on August 15th. It's called El Mookie. This is the Gabriel Aligria Afro-Peruvian sextet. This track is called Panabe. You know, he has seven albums. And I've been a fan of his almost from the beginning. I think it was 2005 or so.

And you can chart the progress that he's had in starting with a basic idea, like wanting to feature Peruvian folk music as we talked about earlier on the show. And then, like, just expanding the concept in a completely different way. I just love the fact that you brought in this artist

who was doing something for the club, da club, right? And this band is like taking it out to jazz clubs and festivals and stuff all around the world, but all coming from the same spot. And after 20 years here in the United States, he's relocated back to Lima, and in a statement he came with the record,

he says, being back in Peru has allowed me to tap into the country's musical pulse in a way that he couldn't be for. Like I said, I've been a big fan of his from the beginning, and I love what he's been doing. And I'm going to say that this is a high watermark for him because I think that this album is the most crystallized version of what that musical vision is

for the entire band. And it's important to note the contribution of Laura Andrea Legia, who's a saxophonist composer. She has a very big role on this record, and she recently became a mom, and so her compositions or meditations on birth and artistic rebirth.

So all of that together makes for this really, really fascinating, great album. The album's called El Mookie, and it's by the Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian sextet. Go. Take us home. Take us home. Okay. Are you ready for the update, the dissertation, Felix? Here we go. I see.

I haven't talked. I haven't given an update in a minute on musica Mexica Mexicana, regional Mexican music. And I figured now is as good a time as ever because Nathan Elcano dropped an album earlier this month. I did not get a chance to listen to it till recently, and I was beyond shocked. To remind everyone, before I get into it, this man is the father of Corridos Tumbados. Like, he is hypothetically the person that people credit with creating the genre, specifically quite famous, honestly, for his narco Corridos. I want to play you a little bit of a single he released last year called Presidente. So that's a filthes dearest

On the private So that song, which like I said was released last year in 24 was an homage to Juan Carlos Valencia Gonzalez, the leader of one of the most powerful cartels in Mexico, Nueva Generation, which is from Halisco. It has come to be one of his biggest songs ever approaching half a billion listens, Felix. Like, this man is really known for his narco Corridos.

Now, I want you to hear a song off of his new album. It's called, Porke La Demora, and this song is called El Jace. The morrita's so in a story, a vestige of defend and the sporty, FN, Draco and the 40s Mets in the kilos of the COVID If you're decouled,

sorry, passing me a navvy I'm a bough in Rolly I'm a boyita Flujoni The favorite of the shori Monta-in-the-capoenaed Always fumanded The Ys

The Moresitsch Andes I said, I think, Puss 60 million Al-Mess Here the thing Like is,

my radio and my Cellular Obviously, I'm-ccripted I'm trying I'm a mirror to the quest Now, Felix, I listen to this album multiple times through, there is trap, rap, hip hop, regiton.

What there is none of is Narco Corridos or even Corridos, Ponto. Now, in a lot of interviews, he's talked about the fact that he just wanted to expand as an art. artist. He was feeling uninspired, all of these types of things. But what we can't forget about the backdrop of what's happening in this moment, which we've talked about a little bit, is the fact that there is a crackdown on Narco Corridos from all sides right now, from the U.S. government, from the Mexican government, from the Narcos themselves. And I don't know that it's a coincidence, Felix. Like, I'm not totally convinced because earlier this year, Gabito Bayesteros, who was also on the track president with Nata, released his own new album.

which had full love songs. Check out this song from his album, Yeah No Se Gievan Serenatas called Regalo de Dios. So you're saying that these are not homages to Cartel. Not narco Corrillo's. Wow. No. Full, like Serenata. His claim when he released the record was like, ah, yeah no can'tamos serenatas, whatever.

I want to do all these really slow, beautiful love songs. Maybe true. A lot of people speculated at the time when he released his album. They were like, he's been having issues getting visas. The Mexican government is cracking down on people singing these songs. Maybe he just didn't want to deal with it and went a different route. Not that specifically has come under a lot of heat recently because just just a couple weeks ago, his U.S. visa was actually revoked.

And it's alleged that that was because he was pretending to be singing religious music in order to get the visa. The point is Nata is literally the founder of the genre. And if his latest album, like many others now, who are stepping in line with this, is not Nautical Corridos, it does beg the question of whether there's more at play here than just, oh, I'm tired of singing this music

and I want to do something else. What has been said to me again and again and again by a lot of people in the music industry is above anything else, what makes artist money is getting butts in seats. And if you can't get visas, and if the Mexican government isn't letting you play, You just can't do that.

It's interesting because Nata is one of these people who has also been extremely outspoken about not backing down, continuing to play this type of music. In a show in Aguas Calientes recently, he said, with all due respect, we came here to Aguas Calientes to sing for you, my friend. And with all due respect to the people who are prohibiting us from singing and showcasing our art, we don't give a damn. I don't know if that's true. So complicated, man.

You know, there's so many layers, so many different things about it. And ultimately, I mean, I like the music that I heard. I like the reimagining of the traditional sound and the way that the music has progressed. And still maintaining some of the essence, but sonically, the production, everything, is just so different. And, you know, me personally, it's a break not to hear the song's glorifying the narcos. Yeah. Don't come after me, Narcos. But it's...

It's complicated. It's complicated. It's, it's, it's, hearing something different lyrically is a relief. I think that it's, it's an interesting thing to me because everyone's question when this music started to explode was, oh, is it going to last? This is kind of a niche sound. Is this really going to work for people? The subject matter obviously is intense and different. Is that going to work for people?

But it might just be that actually governments and Natikos as well, cracking down or applying pressure to these artists who are young and have made it and have gotten. to a point where they want to keep being successful and then making music and singing in places, maybe it's just going to be that that's the thing that changes the music itself, which is an interesting place to see the change be coming from. That begs the question, and then what happens to the art? Exactly. That was Presidente and El Juez by Nathan El Cano, and Regal of Dios by Gavito Ballesteros and Karin Leon.

You have been listening to Alt-Latino from NPR Music. Our audio producer is Noah Caldwell. The executive producer of NPR Music, music is Saria Mohammed. I'm Felix Contreras and I'm Ana Maria Sayer. Thanks for listening.