NPR Music - Alt.Latino's 'El Tiny' takeover is back — and this year it's all about love

Episode Date: September 11, 2024

'El Tiny' season at the Tiny Desk launches next week and this year it's all about love — familial and romantic, with drama fit for a telenovela. Anamaria Sayre and Felix Contreras preview this year's line-up, sharing a sneak peek at what 2024's 'El Tiny' has to offer.Songs featured in this episode:•Juanes, "Mala Gente"•Juanes, "A Dios Le Pido"•Ivan Cornejo, "Ya Te Perdí"•Okan, "La Reina Del Norte"•Eladio Carrión, "Mama's Boy"•Daniel, Me Estás Matando, "Lo Hice, Te Dejé"•Danny Ocean, "Me Rehúso"Audio for this episode of Alt.Latino was edited and mixed by Taylor Haney, with editorial support from Hazel Cills. Our project manager is Grace Chung. NPR Music's executive producer is Suraya Mohamed. Our VP of Music and Visuals is Keith Jenkins.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 Cheez-Me begin. Anna, it's that time of the year, man. Christmas. It is, in a way. It's our Christmas. In particular, our Alt-Latino and Pure Music Christmas. We never get more stressed, but also things never get more exciting than this time of year.

You got that right. There's a lot of work behind this stuff. We're talking about our fourth annual takeover of the Tiny Dust Concert concert, which we call El Taini. Now, we do it up pretty big every year, but I don't know, we might have got ourselves beat this year. We say that every year, actually. No, I have no record of that.

I don't remember saying that last year. Okay. Good thing we both have the memories of a goldfish because I think we can convince ourselves that every single year is a unique and special year. But I swear, this year it really is, because you know what we did, Felix? I do because I was there, but go ahead.

This year we said we're talking about love. I mean, it's what we love to talk about, but we said, let's bring it to the tiny desk. And I think we pretty successfully did that. We're going with this whole telenovela, amor, dramatic love vibe. And I think it's a lot more than that, because it's really about familial love and traditional love and all of these amazing things that we got to see from all these wonderful artists that we brought. So without further ado, Felix, this is like the first mention of what is our tiny desk lineup for this year. It's happening here first right now on Alt Latinos. So do you want to take it away and introduce our first artist?

You know, we want to start with a huge bang. So we're kicking it off with Juana. Here's a sneak peek of him performing Malagente. Ooh. Wow, that just took me back. The energy in the room was amazing that day. Absolutely incredible. I mean, every part of it, right?

Like those instruments, energy, those horns, the background vocalists. Oh my God. But beyond that, I mean, there's a special thing about Tiny Desk, right, Felix, where people from the building get to come from NPR who work here. They get to bring sometimes a guest, a family member. And this was like a show out of the Latinos at NPR. It was like people's abuelos, people's Tias, people's primos. Like, it was literally like a family event.

And it reflected just how popular he is across generations. And I got to add that he is incredibly popular here at NPR. I think he has a big place in his heart for NPR. Ana, he did a tiny desk before. He's done two before, but the first one was back in 2011, if you can imagine. And the story behind that was that he promised to do a tiny desk. The guitars went away after one of his concerts. He couldn't do it.

But then he came back, lived up to a promise to fulfill. our dream of having him behind the tiny desk. And then again, he performed a couple of songs with more in La Feregrin in 2018. And on top of that, Juanis was part of our very, very first ever All Latino podcast. So he is a longtime friend of the podcast, a longtime friend of NPR,

as well as a favorite here at that tiny desk. And this tiny desk, I think, was especially important. One, it being, I think, the biggest band performance he's been able to do for us. He's at the top of his game. Felix, we saw him perform at ACL earlier this year. And it was amazing to see the way that he's performing with the band, how tight it is, how wonderful it is, how he just has this, like, energy and appeal.

And the live performance factor is incredible. But beyond that, he did something really special. And he did an encore for us. It was so organic. It was just like the crowd could not get enough. And my favorite moment ever in history that I think I've seen at the Tiny Death Felix, was the background vocalist face. Did you see that?

Yeah, it did. Yes. Background vocalist Nicole Horbath. She's like this young artist. She actually submitted to our tiny desk contest. She's beautiful vocalist. She's been asked to perform with Juanez, which is incredible. I'm sure, a hallmark moment for her career. And then he pulls out, Adios Le Pido.

And her face was priceless. She was like, oh my God, I love this song. It was like this amazing meeting of generations of the fact that she got to perform on this song with him. And she's obviously been listening to him since she was younger. He's clearly been a part of her life, probably her family's life. So to see that represented was just incredible. Here's a couple seconds of that encore. You can hear her scream. Okay, obviously I'm a big fan of Qantas in having him here again. It's very, very special. What's next? did you bring? Okay, so Felix, I brought my little carino heartthrob in the regional

artist, Ivan Cornejo, and here's a bit of him singing, Yeah Te Perdi. I am not my way your love here and I literally started sobbing on the bike because that is the power of his voice and I've seen him quite a few times at this point.

The first time I ever saw him was over at the Fillmore and Silver Spring, and I could immediately feel like there's all these young people in the crowd, the energy, the screaming, just bringing the house down with that voice, with that raw emotion. But then I saw him again at the Houston Rodeo playing to 74,000 people, and it was like that exact same magic. It doesn't matter. It transcends every single place that I've seen it

because the rawness in his voice, It's like, I don't know how to describe it, Felix, but it's just, it's gripping. And I think that the tiny dusk, that little area, that little spot, the place that Anateeju called a sacred space, is perfect for that kind of intimacy. And it's a testament to the power of him as a performer, even so young in his career, that he could play to 74,000, and then also bring it down that same intimacy, that same intensity before a small little group of us here in the NPR offices. And it also speaks to Felix. We talk about this so much, like these Latino artists getting to be every version of themselves, whether that's part of what was inspired by their American upbringing or their connection to, in his case, his Mexicanness. And he grew up on this side of the border does a regional sound.

But a lot of his music leans a bit more like indie rocker. He speaks about being very influenced by the band Cigarettes After Sex, which you can absolutely. hear that in his sound. And he has this really sweet kind of rocker arrangement moment at the end of this song that I think is really nice. Let me play it for you. He gets to lean into that nice electric guitar and really play it in a way that you don't hear on the track. It's amazing. This is the space where people get to try on all these different versions of themselves. And that's what this month is about too, specifically, is like everyone showing their most authentic selves, which is all of the things that make up what it means to be a Latino in this

country or at large. And speaking about representing, one of the bands I brought in was a group called O'Connor, based in Toronto, it's led by these two women who are originally from Cuba. One of them plays percussion, and the other one plays violin and sings. Just an amazing nod toward folklore, but with a modern twist, and their shows, they get people dancing right away right from the start and we brought them in and this is them performing La Reina del Norte check it out you tell me to my

you tell me no so sufficient but I am a woman valiante to to leave it all for you're gonna to save on this world you created you made of those random rules to punish a fable for cool for so unto I have my mother my god is a shun that protects me from you no matter how we can work you always you Okan is part of a very large Cuban musician community in Toronto because of course Canada has relations with Cuba

so they can travel back and forth they can live in Canada without any kind of diplomatic issues or anything and they have really become part of the scene there locally but also just spreading the word about Cuban music all across at jazz festivals around the world and clubs everywhere and again they're part of this thing that has been there for a long time in Toronto. And it's really exciting for me to see them

absorbing all these influences from some of the older musicians that have been there, but then also supporting and performing with some of the younger musicians coming in as well. And we're glad that they were able to bring it to our tiny desk. Also not the first Canadian living Cubans that we've brought to the tiny desk, Felix. You are correct. Last year we brought Alex Cuba, who is not from Toronto.

In fact, he's way on the western side of, of, Canada, any further you'd be in the ocean in a little town called Smithers, and he's established himself there with his wife and his family, establishes his identity there, but also still maintain a sense of cubanness. You know, Anna, we've talked to so many musicians from other parts of the world who have had to relocate or live in other places away from their home, yet everywhere they go, they always maintain a sense of who they are, where they come from. I think Alex told me one time that he feels more Cuban there being away from Cuba. And that's what's beautiful about us being able to platform these Cuban artists specifically, I think, in this way,

because it's harder to disseminate, I think, some of the music. And so to be able to give them a space to right feel the most Cuban they can feel and represent that. I mean, Okan did exactly that. And we'll be back with more preview of El Taini right after this. And we're back with a preview of this year's El Tainey Takeover. So next up in El Taini, we go from. Cubans via Canada to Puerto Rico.

Okay, so whiplash as per usual for us. You should change the same of this show to Latin music whiplash here. I'm sure our editor loves hearing that. So Puerto Rican Latin hip-hop artist Eladio Carrion, that is a mouthful,

but that is really a lot, all of the things of who he is. Here's a little bit of Mama's boy. I'm sorry, I'm sorry Thank you Thank you Nani Chachi and I

Criacchi and you Criacch and I'm Papa, thank you God for damn my dad I've committed errors peleando with

Dement Tere Trio's time to hear you know you're I'm sure of reunions family to reunions

with doctors yeah the time pass so much that you knower you know you know

you know you know you know you know I'm more than because nobody me has me has mired

You know, I'm I'm a big and it's for how you have created. You know, Anna, I remember

looking past him past him and looking at his mother and father in the audience that day. They were sitting right in front. We made a special place for them and he sang that song to his mom and I was bawling. It was so touching. I was watching her the entire time, Felix.

Did you see her in the corner? She was rapping every single word. She was. It felt to me like full on dance mom, like her in the corner like, yes, yes, yes, yes. Like all of the most raunchy lyrics too, she did not care. just so excited and it was really special that we got to have them there because Eladio grew up moving all around the United States. His dad was in the military. His family ultimately settled in Puerto Rico when he got a little bit older and now his parents are actually back in Baltimore.

So they were local, they were able to come to the show and it was just, I have to imagine that obviously as a family that moves a lot, that moved across borders, there must have been a sense of closeness that developed with them. And you can feel that. Like the level of closeness with his parents. I mean, he literally named the last album Sol Maria after his mom. He dedicates that song, Mama's Boy, to his mom. I mean, this is what this month is all about to me, Felix.

Like, bringing in these artists who not only does Eladio Carrion represent so much of the complicatedness of being Latino, of growing up here, but then living in Puerto Rico, having to learn Spanish, and then doing this hip-hop sound. that also has a reggaeton beat to it. I mean, there's so much special musically about him. And then to see that energy, that familial energy, the love that they have for each other, it just feels, it feels right.

It feels right. And next up, we're going for that very moving moment with Eladi Carrion to glam bolero, or bolero glam, either way. I mean, it does make sense. Like I said, we're doing love. We're talking about heartbreak. Ivan Cornejo is your beautiful teenage love heartbreak. Daniel Me Stas Matando is like dipping into all of the legacy of Bolero love traditions years of talking about love and song.

So they made a lot of sense to bring. This is a little bit of them singing, Loise Te Deje. I was told me, cargamos Tata VIII To have no It was to

Prender But if someone me Preguntas if I'm just

I'm I do I No it No, I interpret to

my Cicatrice My Silencio It as well it I love these guys so much.

They capture it so well. Just like authentic bolero, but in a way that sounds really fresh and really special. And there's nothing wrong. You can never go wrong in my book. I'm making it official. You can never go wrong when you're playing bolettos like that. No matter who's doing it, bring it on. I'm ready for it.

And I love, I mean, everything about it, like the thing that sticks out to me always about them is just that their string arrangements, that gorgeous cello that they brought in just played so well for the space. I mean, we've talked a lot about folks doing revival, but there really is no better way to capture the emotion of it. They have this hilarious moment where they say that one of their tracks is for all the Toxicas. And we love that. We love that energy in our space.

Great harmonies, great musicianship, and funny. Those guys were funny. On stage and off. They're pretty funny. They're pretty nutty. Yeah. Luintente. You are listening to Alt Latino.

We are talking about our fourth annual El Tiny, our takeover of the Tiny Desk and some of the artists that are going to be performing. Anna, who's next? Okay, so this is our last preview artist. We have 11 artists this year, but this is going to be the last one we talk about today. You're going to have to wait for the lineup

to come out to see what the rest are about. But this one's really, really, really. really special, Felix. We've talked about this artist a lot on the show, especially recently because of everything that's happening in Venezuela. The timing worked out beautifully and Danny Ocean was able to come in and perform at the tiny desk. This is a little bit of him singing his biggest hit, Me Reuso. I mean, I'm going to this chemica that's in me. I mean, listening to that I'm our mind of just how amazing these performances were, you know.

We were privileged in that we get to sneak preview, we get to see them as they record them and before we present them to the audience and to the radio before we present them out on our website and on YouTube. And watching the videos afterwards, all of them capture the same magic. You don't have to lament not being there because you get to participate in our camera crew, our sound crew. They do an amazing job of presenting what we saw and sometimes even enhancing it in a little ways, right? You're just not going to be disappointed this year, man.

It's just so powerful all down the line. I think what's really, you know, I was having a conversation with a friend. over the weekend about why it feels so special. And there's just, I mean, this is like capturing Danny and all of these artists, but Danny specifically in a moment, right? Like we are catching him at a time where he's dealing with a lot, grieving a lot of things about his country, writing music about it, releasing music about it.

And then to have him come and as he is, authentically as he is, in a stripped down space, present the music as it feels to him right now. and then for everyone to then be able to watch that and get their own experience from it and feel the way that they're going to feel about it and take that into their own lives. I mean, there's just like this really beautiful breakdown all the barrier,

just artists and audience bring it to them exactly as they are experience that I think is so beautiful about getting to do this. I know I say this every year, Anna, and I have to repeat it. I'm very excited about our rundown for El Tainee this year. And unfortunately, for everyone else, They're going to have to wait to know who the rest of the artists are, but it's coming soon.

Follow NPR Music on Instagram to find the rest of the lineup. We'll be posting all month there, the various artists, as well as some other content. So make sure to follow NPR Music and make sure to follow Tilo Felix C and me, Anna Maria Sayer, for more Latin Music Month content. You have been listening to Alt Latino from NPR Music. Our audio producer for this episode is Taylor Haney with Editorial, support from Hazel Sills. The woman who keeps us on track is Grace Chung. Surreal Mohammed is the executive producer of NPR music. And our hefein chief is Keith Jenkins, VP of

music and visuals. I'm Felix Contreras. And I'm Anna Maria Sayer. Thank you for listening.