NPR Music - Alt.Latino's best new music round-up: Jessie Reyez, Arturo O'Farrill and Astropical

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

This week, we hear from a Colombian-Venezuelan super group, a new Afro-Brazilian band, and Ana gets another jazz lesson from a Latin jazz orchestra.Songs featured in this episode:• XIXA, "Xolo de Galáxia"• Meme del Real, "Princesa"• Jessie Reyez, "GOLIATH"• Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, "Dia de los Muertos III Mambo Cadaverous"• Trinka, "Grego"• Astropical, "Me Pasa (Piscis)"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. I'm Felix Contreras. And I'm Anna Maria Sayer. Let the Chisme begin. And Felix... Oh, my God. Here we go. There has been a lot of Chisbe this week.

Have you been seeing the conversation around Selena Gomez? Like, third hand. Selena Gomez shared a video on Instagram of her crying, talking about deportations, and basically saying that her people are being attacked. This has been a huge conversation, I think, within the Latino media space. But not for the reasons you'd expect. A lot of what I've been seeing is people voicing concerns about it being insensitive, her speaking from a position as a third generation Mexican-American saying,

this isn't the issue for her to be talking on, that she needs to sit back for this one and let people who have lived experiences being fearful of deportation or who have had family members who have been fearful of that. So that's kind of been the online discourse. I don't have a problem with whether or not she is a recent immigrant or a third generation. The experiences of the recently arrived can be felt by people even outside of the community. Both good things and bad. Okay?

That is just a natural reaction and she felt like she had a platform. But I honestly think that when someone like that has a reaction, it is a reaction as just a human. I hear what you're saying. We love empathy. We welcome empathy. I think in this particular scenario, what people took issue with is that she was using this moment to platform her emotions. There are lots of ways she has a massive platform. She has one of the biggest followings on Instagram.

She can use that to raise the issue, raise concerns, direct people to resources, you name it. And instead, she kind of centered her emotional experience with it as someone who isn't as directly impacted as a lot of other people are. she could have, you know, platformed other people who are experiencing this issue right now, who are concerned about it right now in more direct ways, and instead chose to make her the focal point of what is going on right now. I really wonder, though, if it is generational, because obviously, because I have a different perspective on it, I don't know. I really wonder if it's just age-related, if it's generational.

From my perspective, like, as a young person, I am so familiar with, we all have the opportunity to put as much or as little of ourselves online as we want to. I'm very conscientious of like what my impact is and what space I'm allowed to take up online. Maybe that's the nut of this issue is the impact of social media and the different approaches to it and the different perspectives based on someone like you who's raised with it, someone like me who had to learn it. And then I'm still awkward with it. Right. It's like I learned it like you learned your manners. You know?

I'm like, be nice to people and don't over post about yourself. I'm going to sit with that for a while. We're here to talk about new music. You get the first shot. What do you have? I think you know this band, maybe, Felix, Chicha. This is going to be off of their new album, Cholo, spelled with an X, and the track is called Cholo de Galaxia.

Did you know this band, Felix? You know, I'm not sure. Chicha is obviously, it's a... reference to the Peruvian style of Cumbia in the 1960s, the kind of psychedelic, cumbia, with guitars, electric guitars, with lots of reverb, twangy, but

they spell it XI, X-X-A, which has a Mexican reference. Exactly. That's so perfectly emblematic of who they are. They're from Tucson, Arizona. They build themselves as a rock band, which is, like, hilarious to me, because they do so many different things. But I think

that's exactly why that name works so well for them, because it's kind of like, sin kere, you know, like what exactly they are. It's more just like they do follow that very open, imaginative kind of wild, wild west vibe. This is a single coming off of what will be their third studio album called Cholo. I mean, to begin with, Cholo de Galaxia is just a hilarious and very aptly named track. To me, the Cholo with an X. These guys are truly what I would call

the astrophysicists of Southwestern Latin sound. They're like, Hermannos Gutierrez somehow kind of meets Son Rompepera. Like, they have this really cool guitar thing, but also like this psychedelic cumbia thing. The way they describe themselves, Felix, which I also love, like a jam band getting high on Dia de los Mordos.

This band was made for you, Felix. There is something about the spirit of Tucson specifically. And these guys are so emblematic of that to me. See, the radio listeners can't see us on Zoom and see me shaking my head. You're like giving me the yes nod. Everyone needs to know that Felix is like, yeah, he's snapping for me right now. And you know, two other artists that we're familiar with and are big fans of come from Tucson. First of all, Linda Rothstand, let's just get that out in the open, everything about her Mexicanness and her transborderness.

but also the great musician, arranger, composer, producer, Sergio Mendoza. This sounds so much like what he's doing. And just presenting this version of the Southwest Sound in a way that's distinct. All of them have worked in conjunction with each other like Sergio, Chicha, Camilo Lara, randomly has worked with them. They've all come together to do these border benefit concerts as well. So the community there is like this small, and I think that that creates for something really unique. The name of the song is Cholo de Galaxia, and it's off of an album that comes March 21st called Cholo.

Cholo, by the way, is, God, how do you even describe that for people outside of the Southwest? That's why, I don't know. I tried to stick you with the task of describing it because I don't... It's like a homeboy. It's like friend. It's like a certain style of talking and dressing that's specific to, like, California, I guess. You know, the Bolivian ladies that wear the little derbies, right?

Those are Chola. Because it can mean so many things of different people and different cultures in different countries. You and I, being from California, Cholos are like, what's up, hey? How you doing, man? Oralee, right? That's a cholo, right?

That's Cholo, that's Cholo. That's spot on, Felix. But that's what we're talking about right now, eh? We're talking about Cholos, right? I think that's definitely what the Chichai guys mean, for sure, if I had to guess. Okay, so now we're going from a band that's fairly new, three records, to basically a Latin music

institution. There's a guy named Meme de Real. He's one of the core four members of Cafetta Cuba. And he has a new single out. It's his first solo project. And as I did a little bit of research on this, it's really hard for me to believe that they put out their first self-titled album in 1989. That's 36 years ago. So if you recognize that voice, it's because one of their biggest hits is a song called Eres. It's from their 2003 album Quatro Caminos, and everybody knows that song. They were my introduction to rock in Spanish. My friend Elena Rodrigo introduced me to them when we were in Fresno,

and she's the one who introduced me to all the rock in Spanish. Caifanes, Maldita, Cafetta Cuba, fabulous Cadillac. They all come from that era. And so to have him go this long and not release a solo album, so this song is called Princessa. The album doesn't have a name yet. They still don't have a release date.

This is Mehme de Rea. Wow, it's so cinematic what he's so cinematic what he's doing. And the song changes shape over the course of the entire piece. But it reminds me of like when the Beatles were together and the songwriting team of Lennon McCartney. And as George Harrison started writing, started writing this stuff and making like one of their most enduring songs of all time, here comes the sun, right? It's like this artist coming out and doing his own thing when you're in the midst of this larger creative joggernaut. I'm so looking forward to the rest

of this record because he is really one of the most creative aspects of that band. The name of the track is Princessa. The artist is Memo de Real. No album name, no date yet. But check out that single. You're not going to be disappointed. Be on the lookout. Yep.

Okay. My turn. I wasn't sure if I wanted to bring this one because we have covered Jesse Reyes a lot. She came and did a tiny desk. We covered her last album. But it's been a minute. That was in 2022. And now she's coming back with an album.

And I just really loved this single. The album's coming. Later this year, the single is called Goli. Would I be wrong in saying that this reminds me of the track I played last week from the Alton's, the whole Chicano soul, Southern California soul thing? Hold up, let me think about this. No, I don't think you're wrong. I don't think you're wrong. She is so rooted in R&B and soul.

There's that overlap. I think that voice is just so undeniably sweet and great. gritty. I'm so accustomed to hearing her being kind of like a little bit scathing and heartbroken and kind of going in on people in her music, but she can do love really sweetly. I texted her publicist. I was like, after I heard this track, I was like, is she like in a happy, healthy, loving relationship right now? Because this is sounding really sweet. She's Colombia and you can't really hear Colombia. and rhythms for the most part on what she does, save when she came for her tiny dust, but that was a special arrangement. But I always said she sings about heartbreak like she's Latina.

The poetry of how she strings things together, like pull any star from the sky, moonwalk into any fire. Like it's so beautifully poetic. I just love it. I love it. That was Goliath by Jesse Ritz. Okay, we're talking new music this week. We're going to take a break and then we'll come right back because we've got a few things to talk about still. Okay, Anna, it's time for another little bit of a jazz lesson, all right? And this time, an Afro-Cuban jazz lesson.

What I've been waiting for. Yes, yes. Okay, the name of the album is Mundo Agua. And the band and the artist is art. Arturo O'Farrell and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. Over the years, you know, we've become good friends, mostly through the several times that I've interviewed him for all Latino. And only because I know him the way I do,

I can appreciate the depth of his creativity from conversations, from music, and how he lives his life, all right? This track is called Di'a de los Mueros 3, Mamba Cadaverous. It's the humorous side of Arturo, all right? So let's just start. Let's start the track, and then we'll walk through it. The first thing you're going to hear are those little sticks that they click together called clavis. It's a certain specific African-Cuban rhythm pattern, but then listen to that and then listen to the way the horns are built on that.

Okay, this is the other side of me that just gives me chills just listening to this stuff. That's like the equivalent of when you get the beat drop. Exactly. Right there. You drop. Those horns. You drop. Anna, it goes back pretty much 100 years to big band jazz.

Duke Ellington had his first big band in 1924. That is the bar. That's the ground level. That's everything of big band jazz. The record, really expansive work that deals with philosophy, deals with world events, deals with the environment. He can do no wrong. Arturo Ferrell and this orchestra, that's his instrument.

He plays piano, but his instrument is the orchestra. And you will not be disappointed from the record. It's called Mundo Awa Celebrating Carla Blay. That's the full title. Okay, I'm going to pull producers prerogative here, Anna, and go two in a row. Okay? Is that all right? You know what, Felix?

This means you owe me, and I will take that. So sure. Okay. I came across this great record by a group called Trinka. It's a brand new band. They're from Lisbon. They're based in Lisbon. But there's someone from Switzerland.

There's someone from Portugal. There's someone from Brazil. And they're playing this Afro-Portuguese, Afro-Brazilian stuff. I pulled a track from their self-titled album called Grego. Number one, because I really liked the song. Number two, because I did not want to butcher the other Portuguese titles. Because my Portuguese is, like, totally non-existent. And I know I just don't want to be insulting to them when I mispronounce the names.

But anyway, the track is really good. It's called Grego. Check it out. And then I'll tell you a little bit more about the band. Lisbon has become the center of Portuguese and Afro-Brasilian culture and music. The lead singer, she's actually a practitioner of what's called Candomblay, which is like the Brazilian spiritual equivalent of Santaia or Ife. I'm always blown away.

By the way, those traditions are interpreted, reinterpreted, or presented by younger musicians. I was in Lisbon, and I got stuck in a deep, deep hole of a conversation with this guy who owns a vinyl store, who was Brazilian, who was purely focused on basically distributing music from Africa that was an exploration. The reclamation of those sounds that had influenced Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Portuguese music. It's something that's happening more, I think, in Europe via that channel of Portugal for that. exploration to happen for Brazil as well. The name of the band is Trinka, the name of that cut was Grego. I gotta take a deep breath.

Buckle up. This is from the band Astropical, and the track is called Mepasa. Felix, do you recognize those voices? That's Lisa Omet from Mombasterio. Exactly. And Beto Montenegro from Rahuayana. Now, okay, there's so much historical and cultural context that led to this exact moment. A few months ago, Rahuayana was banned by the president of Venezuela, President Maduro,

from playing in Venezuela. The reason he cited was that they used the term Veneco and Veneca and their music, which historically was considered a slur that has now been reclaimed by members of the Venezuelan diaspora. This slur specifically was popularized in Colombia originally when people sought refuge from Venezuela. A few months later, Maduro gets on the mic

a couple weeks ago, and he says, we've decided we're going to liberate Puerto Rico. Jennifer Gonzalez, the newly appointed governor of Puerto Rico, fights that back and says, we don't want your liberation. Politicians are fighting, right? Meanwhile, a few days after Maduro says this about liberating Puerto Rico, Rahuayana and Bomba Estereo come out together at the biggest festival in Puerto Rico, the Fiestasas de las Casillas, San Sebastian, over 100,000 people in attendance,

and they play their joint record, this record that I just played for, you, a single off of that record for the first time together, and the crowd goes insane. I happen to be in that crowd, witnessing these people come together. This Colombian band, this Venezuelan band playing in Puerto Rico, which there's all this discourse about this unification of the Caribbean, right? because a lot of people even say, anthropologists, historians say, Puerto Ricans come from Venezuela because the Taino people went from Venezuela to Puerto Rico. So there's this push for this movement of the unification of the Caribbean,

two of the most emblematically Colombian band, Venezuelan band, playing in Puerto Rico, talking about issues that unify all three countries. I mean, there's just like mind exploding for me. Well, the politicians argued the musicians jam. That sounds familiar. The musicians are the ones that are making the connections, connecting the dots. Exactly. And they called it Astro Tropical.

We were chit-chat chatter boxes this week, Felix. That's okay. That's allowed. It's a good thing people want to hear us because I think we would do it either way. Right. You have been listening to Alt Latino from NPR Music. Our audio editor is Simon Retner. The woman who keeps us on track is Grace Chung.

Sarajeo Muhammad is our friend, our inspiration, and the executive producer of NPR music. And our Heffin-Chief is Keith Jenkins. I'm Felix Contreras. And I'm Ana Maria Sayer. Thanks for listening. Thank you for listening. Thank you for listening. Thank you. No, thank you.

I could just say it.