NPR Music - Alt.Latino: Tim Bernardes, Mabe Fratti, more

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

Felix shares the music that's helped him recover from a serious illness. Anamaria shares some new exquisite (and, in one case, slightly toxic) love songs.Featured artists and songs:• Blood Orange, "I Can Go" (feat. Mabe Fratti & Mustafa)• Draco Rosa, "Quiero Vivir"• Caetano Veloso, "Voce E Linda" (Remixed Original Album)• Tim Bernardes, "BB (Garupa de Moto Amarela)"• Tim Bernardes, "Última Vez"• Santana, "Goodness and Mercy"• Xavi, "Ojitos de Miel"• Los Lobos, "Bertha" (Live at the Carefree Theatre, 1992)This podcast was produced by Noah Caldwell. The executive producer of NPR Music is Suraya Mohamed.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

Okay, now I'm recording. Oh, you weren't recording. No. That was a nice transition, though, right? It wasn't one of your best, Felix. Was it? It was good. It was great.

I was impressed. I'm in PR music. This is all Latino. I'm Felix Contreras. And I'm Anna Maria Sayer. Let the Chisme begin. Felix, what do you have for me this week? You've been gone, so you've got to have something good.

I've been gone. I was sick for about a week or so, almost two weeks, actually. I was laying low, just trying to get better. So what I wanted to do this week is share my process, my healing process of how I use music for my healing process. Is that officially verified, confirmed, diagnosed by your doctor? Yeah. They said, Felix, here's your playlist for recovery.

Actually, I could be handing out these playlists. But anyway, I have this process of like, okay, I'm going to start listening to stuff that will help me heal. And it's always different. Different genres, different takes, just different personal sides. what I listen to. So that's what I want to play this week. Okay, well, I have a theme too.

Okay, what is your thing? It's a competing theme. What is it? It's really not. It's about love. Well, it's love and also really pretty songs and also peace for the soul. So I think it's actually quite compatible with your theme. Why am I not surprised?

It's very out of character, I know. Let's see. You go first because I want to go last. Okay. I had a completely different theme for today, but then I woke up in tears. Well, okay, I didn't wake up in tears, but almost immediately after waking up, I started to cry because everyone was sending me the new Blood Orange album, but more specifically, there is a song on the album that is featuring Mabefrati and Mustafa, which is like

the level of collaboration that I didn't even know the earth was capable of having. So this is the song, it's called I Can Go. I can go. So for years, the two biggest fans of Mabe Frati on the music team were me and Bob Boylan. Like, truly, she is so prolific. She is so captivating. And, like, the thing about her is that she's not universal because she's making herself palatable. Like, you cannot predict what Mabe is going to do or say in any given moment.

And I have sat in many a hot falling apart, overcrowded room and watched Mabe just improvise. And that is what she does. That is her gift. That is her glory. It's her cello and her voice. And just everything is fair game. She plays with everything. She works with everything.

The way she collaborates with every artist is so distinct because it's never anything else she's done before and I think that that really sticks with people. I mean, she's like as independent as any artist can be. Like she doesn't have management. She doesn't have a label. Like she literally is just her showing up with her cello and blood orange casually calling her and being like, hey, do you want to be on my record? And she goes and she doesn't. And it works because she is so authentically, truly an artist. And I think when people talk about music, being significant, being revolutionary. A lot of that is really just being what Mabe is,

which is just whatever art comes out of her in any given moment, like that's what it is and that's what it sticks. And I think people can feel that and they really, really gravitate towards that. It's interesting that you and I both come to her for basically the same reason, but from different angles. Because I come to her from like the experimental avant-garde jazz, improvised performance, Lori Anderson type stuff that I

heard years and years ago. And she falls within that, perfectly within that timeline for all the reasons that you just said. But I think that's also, it's different places but the same, right? Felix, because an artist like Mabe can make someone like me fall in love with and have a cracked door for everything that you're describing because that was my experience

is, like I said, sitting there witnessing the power of being in the room as Mabe's improvising. And I've been to a ton of her, like, she'll do improvised jam sessions in Mexico. I've sat in her house and she's done, like, this is just the essence of her music. And that was what for me was like, holy, improvised jazz, avant garde, like all of the things that she does, I was like, wow, I want to understand more of what this is because there's just like this intangible chispa to what that is. It's like unbridled passion. It's just, who.

Big fan, big fan here. That was, I can go off of the. the new Blood Orange album featuring Mabefrati and Mustafa. Okay, that was a very rare out-latino crossfeed, just like a regular radio show. For one, snow withlash is insane. Because when you play that track, and again, we have to go back a little bit,

we're coming to the show today, and neither one of us knows what the other is going to, play because this is music that we're listening to. It's not necessarily new stuff, but you brought a new track in. So I brought in this track that we're listening to now by an artist named Dracobrosa. The album's called Sound Healing 1-11 or 1-hour-11 minutes. This is a track called Quiro Vibir, let's hear a little bit, and then I'll tell you all about it. There's so much to say about this. Okay, Dracold Rosa, for those folks who don't know, to me, he's one of the most fascinating personalities in Latin music. He started as the lead singer of

the Puerto Rican boy band Manudo back in the 80s, which also featured Ricky Martin. They were huge back in the day. And he's fascinating to me because of his musical curiosity. He's a musician, producer, composer, and over the years he's been associated with rock, Latin alternative, mainstream pop, and mainstream pop in a big way, man. He was a composer and producer for Ricky Martin's tracks, Living La Vida Loca, the Cup of Life, She Bangs. I mean, big giant stuff, right? The thing to know about him, too, is that he had two bouts with cancer. Non-Hotkin lymphoma in 2011. He was diagnosed and he went through treatments and he beat it.

Then he came back in 2013, more treatments and then he beat it. And as of 2019, it's his fifth year of being in remission. So healing is a big part of his perspective on life. This particular album, Sound Healing 11 or One Hour and 11 minutes because that's how long the album is. He's using these sonic frequencies that are beneficial. for healing the body, the heart, the spirit, you know, some of that sound bath, frequency stuff that people do that I've done,

electronic instruments, acoustic instruments, sounds of nature that were recorded there in Puerto Rico. It's my go-to, this record for healing. When I need to recharge and I need to re-center, we heard just a little snippet of it, but there's so many different layers to it, and I think it's one of his most fascinating records. I had a conversation with him,

just after the pandemic. This record was made during the pandemic. It came out in 2021. And I've listened to all his other stuff in the past, vagabundo, all the other stuff that he did. But this stuff right here really speaks to me. So when I'm coming out of this, you know, my own personal, I've been sick or I've been down or for whatever reason,

this record, man, is on a loop. With some other stuff, I mix it in, it's the perfect, perfect sanation. So, Felix, if I had to have guessed, what you were going to bring on today, I would put Draco Rosa in the ring for sure and with very good reason. Honestly, like, the way I see it, this here, on this plane exists all of the music of Puerto Rico, right? It's like you have your regitone over here, you have some of your pop stuff over here, you have like your Ricky Martin and all that camp over here, and they all like kind of talk to

each other, but also they're all doing their own thing. And then Draco Rosa just exists in this plane that is just on a whole other level. And you can hear everything, right? Like, you can hear his pop influences. You can hear, like, the rock. I'm thinking, like, 666 is coming to mind. Like, all of these people who were part of that movement at that time. And, like, he keeps that very much alive, very much present.

I mean, he's really still innovating in this entirely not completely Puerto Rican way or specifically, like, it has to come from the island kind of way. But when you think about it harder, it makes sense that it does. I mean, everything he does is just very, very Draco Rosa. And I think too many people sleep on him, and I think that that's the way he likes it. He's, you know, it doesn't get any bigger than live in La Vida Loca in terms of pop music. He's proven that. He can do that.

He's into whatever he's going to do and to create a space exactly the way you describe it. That was a track called, Quiro Vivo, I Want to Live Like I've Never Lived. The album's called Sound Healing, 11, or an hour and 11 minutes. The artist is Dracor Rosa. Very spiritual, very metaphysical. Very spiritual, very Felix. Okay, your turn. What are you going to combine with that?

Okay, you would think how am I going to top that? But just wait. Today, on this day, and this is why partially my theme had to be love, I come to you with a track from the great, the amazing, Caitano Veloso. And this track is called Vocei Linda. Cabo and maskara, shock between the blue

and the cache of acacias, the light of acacias, you're m'am, the sun, the suhs is all so certain be the bea'

bea' you, you let's the road desert when it, It's when it's a and not look to look to a musician who is so

fundamental to his or her fundamental to his or her respective culture or background or history. And Caitano Veloso is, like, he is Brazil. He's done so much, right? Like, he's rock, pop, tropicalia. Like, the man was exiled from Brazil for a while for his music. Like, there's so many things to say about him, but the fact that above all else, the love songs are what he is like most, most, most still listen to for. I think that says a lot about both him as an artist and and who he chooses to be and how he chooses to be, and also how powerful and revolutionary love songs can be.

I mean, voce, linda, it's deceptively simple, right? You Are Beautiful is literally the title of the track, but it's anything but that. I mean, the chorus says, beautiful, you know how to live and you make me happy. This song is just to say, and it says. But then he goes on and he has these stunningly beautiful Shakespearean-level poetic lyrics. He's like, you're all the songs I've yet to listen to.

And one of the reasons that I love Brazilian music, which I've been listening to a lot of lately, and that's why I brought him and I have one other person that I'm going to show you, Felix, is because this is a really broad generalization. You can maybe challenge me on this Felix. But I feel as though the way that Brazilians write about love is very distinct from a lot of parts of Latin America, I think especially of like the Mexican classics, which I'm going to play a model of that for you later on. In that there's kind of this more liberated take on it than you see in most of Latin America. Like there's a reverence when they speak about womanliness, especially.

Like he does a lot of that where he's kind of like, it's from this more admiring perspective as opposed to like a lot of Mexican, the most classic are beautiful. But they come from a more like ownership perspective. And Catano does exactly the opposite of that in every way. It's like women as nature almost, like with that same kind of. reverence. And so now I have to play something else. Okay. Which is a cheat. But I have to play it because I've been also listening to a ton of Tim Bernarras. Do you know who that is? No. Tim Bernadis is basically like next generation is what it is. He's actually, he has collaborated

with Cato Noveloso a lot of times. He has been around since his first album was in 2017. And then he made us wait five more years before releasing another album in 2022. The universe breaks every time Tim releases an album because his lyricism, I would argue Felix is like maybe rivaling a Jorge Drexler level of just beautiful. So I'm going to play you a song from him. This track is called BB parentheses Garupa de Motto Amarela. You're absolutely with you're I'm

with you to be for you you're in the sky baby with you You're absolutely right man it's like to be continued It's part two

Right An extension No it's right there Right? Like you listen to the lyrics of that song, and it's very closely parallel to what I just played. And it is this reminder, and I don't know if you would disagree with this, Felix, but it does feel to me as though in this moment, there is maybe like an unprecedented level of pressure on musicians to create at a particular speed. It's very competitive in terms of like staying relevant because things shift so quickly, like the turnover so quick, to always be creating, creating, creating, creating. producing something new, producing something different so that people won't forget about you.

And I think it's an important reminder that the really good things are worth waiting for and you have to wait for. I think there's a couple artists, Tim's an example. Silvana is a great example of this. Like people who are still managing, fighting to take years and years and years to create. And you can feel the difference in the product. Like you can feel the difference in the expression, the slowness even with which he expresses is there, and that would only be possible if he were allowed to take his time. I want to play you one more song from him.

I'm sorry! Oh my gosh, okay, go ahead. I have to. It's called Ultimares. And this, in fact, will be the last time. That was good, Felix. I remember the last time that I see. Yeah, well, before the end up end, other phase.

Yeah, in time of I'm quite I'm sorry You know, liberty Quite at point to me to ask

if I'm was you or was just an image And it It was shocking

and see you again in my front, the impact of not be so different

and that the whole of symbols doids that someone for us

can be it's I am going to be representative of the audience for all the folks who have never heard him before and say thank you for introducing me to have. I need you to go look up the lyrics to that song, Felix, because it's an Odyssey. That was music by Tim Bernadis and Caetano Veloso.

We're going to take a break so I can go look up those lyrics. We'll be right back. And we're back. What do you think, Felix? I'm moved. I'm totally moved. All right. What do you have? Okay, so I'm going to play a track by Santana. And Santana is always like my life reset. Because the band, the music, the guitar, it reminds me of who I am in the most fundamental way.

It's like resetting, reestablishing my DNA. And you know, I love the drums and percussion. And his bands were my main inspiration for playing that percussion, but it always comes back to his guitar, his tone, that unmistakable sound of his guitar. Like Miles Davis, one note, and you know who it is. This is a song called Goodness and Mercy from the album Spirits Dancing in the Flesh, featuring Chester Thompson on the keyboards. Felix, remember the Hermanos Gutierrez interview?

Mm-hmm. The Weeping Guitar. Yeah. This song, I've been listening to it, obviously, since it came out in 1990. And then over the years, I want to say it's like a, for me, it's like a song, rebirth, which is why I listen to it a lot of times when after I've been sick and I want to pull myself together again. But it's also become like the sound of when someone in this plane makes the transition to light, when we transition to the other, to the world of spirits.

And you listen to the whole song, you can hear the journey of going through this existence and then when you actually see the light. And so it's like a song of rebirth. And for me, you know, like I said, there's so much to admire and love about his bands over the years. But it always comes down to his guitar. And it's like a, like you said, the weeping guitar. It's like a voice. It's like a gospel singer, Arranchera singer. It's like a blues singer.

And it always comes back to the blues for Carlos. And that's what this song is. It's just, it's so emotionally powerful. I was talking to a friend recently a couple months ago and she was saying that there's, There's this tiny bar in Oxnard, Oxnard, California, that she loves to go to because basically it's like a free-for-all ranchera night.

You know what I mean? It's where all the guys go, and it's the end of the night, and everyone's drinking their cellas, and everyone's on their own journey, you know, singing these songs. Like, you're all there together, but you're all experiencing it separately,

and I think there's something about a select few types of music, and artists, they're so soaked in grief. Like, the sound is so just absolutely absorbed in grief that I was thinking about what you were saying about the rebirth. And it's like, the only way out of that is to be born again.

I think you're right. Like, that is the signaling of that sound of just to fully embrace Arranchera or to fully embrace the weep of Carlos' guitar is to find new life. And the joy. Absolutely. Amazing.

That track is called Goodness and Mercy. The album's called Spirits Dancing in the Flesh, 1990. Killer era for the band, by the way. And that is Santana.

Well, speaking of Mexican slightly toxic but mostly beautiful Mexican love songs. This is Ohitos de Miel by Javi.

of your labos I'm I'm wearing for a best of and of your eyes are the looenue and to be

to be at the woman that be at the start a loco me has your form to come

to comeenar me has been clavado and clear that for you I've

I'm I'm all to the manner that I'm I'm have to Fomar, oboeuvio was me

Tere a little no more, if a caselo, one than other, to destressar with you to my side,

and I'm doing, all the morning, the amanaceer, the combinations perfecta, reddec,

and you're the can, the can, and I, did that it's a good, and for the

space, and for the So admittedly, it is an example of what I described earlier with those opening lines, which is like, he goes, I die for a kiss from your lips. I want to be the owner of your eyes. Which is in the style, right? Like, it does call back to a chente or, you know, any of the agulars. It reminds me of when, did I tell you this story? Any of them? I asked, no, when I asked my grandma what her favorite song was, and she goes, Ega, by Chente, because I remember my dad singing it,

serenating my mom with it all the time. And I'm like, oh, what's it about? She's like, oh, it's this guy losing his wife and then saying he wants to forget about her, but the mariachi and the tequila won't let him. I was like, oh, that's so romantic. She was like, isn't that beautiful? I was like, oh, and your dad saying that's your mom, okay.

Which there's all kinds of theories from Octavio Paz about why that is and how this all came to be. But the point is, it's beautiful. And the fact that these 19, 20, 21, 23, 25-year-old kids, which is the people that wrote this music are able to capture the essence of that. And I came back to the song, actually, I think, because I played a ha'clock, song on the show recently, and I was talking about how beautiful his voice is and all these things, and I've really always loved what he does. He's always, as in he's been making music for like three years. But there's something about his essence, both the voice and the music, that really does capture quite well, I think, the spirit of this kind of sound. But actually, the song was not written by him.

It was written by this group that called Terse Elemento, and they're signed to Dell Records, which is the same label as like Eslamour Armado, of All of these kind of guys. And they just, I don't know, they know how to write really good songs. Like I listened to this song again because I had found it a while ago and I was like, wait, this is like maybe one of the most beautiful,

clean, amazing contemporary love songs, especially out of this genre. It's simple and it's stunning. This one is just, like you said, it falls into the yeah I want to leave but the tequila and my yatchez one genre he's like I'm gonna quit smoking for you never my mentira but you know that was ohitos de miel by javi okay the theme this week has been music that we're listening to and I explained that I was sick wasn't feeling well and I was coming out of it I was all

in my fields but I know I'm feeling better I'm know I'm on the road to recovery when my body wants to move in the way that my body moves I'm not like doing flesh dance or anything, but I am, my body wants to move. So there's a song I always come to and how much more Felix can you get with Los Lobos playing a Grateful Dead song? This is called Bertha. Check it out. This is the song when I would play it in the car. The boys were always like, okay, this is Daddy's happy song. It's just everything. There's no reason. It's just because this Los Lobos, there was a period of time when they were opening for the dead. And those audiences commingled the dead heads and people We were listening to Los Lobos and...

Felix clones. Yeah, you know. And it just, like, seeing that all together at the same time was pretty magical. And it's just a happy tune. It's a nice little upbeat tune. And even now, when you go see them and they start playing birth, that people get all excited and everything because it's such a gem. It's such a deep track thing.

So, yeah, there's nothing there besides other than it's a great tune. It helps get me moving. I'll see bring me out of where I've been, being sick. Right, mental space. Let's party, man. Let's get it on. Is there an order, Felix? Is there like a, you have to take the Dracorosa song first,

and then you listen to the Santana song, and then you finally come to this song, or is it just... Pretty much. Yeah. It feels that way. Yeah, I have, like I said, I have some healing sanacion that I combine the Dracorosa with the Santana song, as I said, you know, stands alone.

And then you're reborn with Santana. Yeah. And then you party out. Let's just move around. Let's drive down the road with the windows rolled down. That was Bertha from the album, just another band from East L.A. A compilation from 1993.

That was Los Lobos playing The Grateful Dead. You have been listening to Alt Latino from NPR Music. Our audio is produced by Noah Caldwell. The executive producer of NPR Music is Saria Mohamed. I'm Felix Contreras. And I'm Anna Maria Sayre. Thanks for listening.