I think I am ready. Are you ready? I'm back. You're back. I had to take some time off. I don't mind saying I had a hip replacement and had to take some time off. It was, I asked the doctor to insert a hip bone that would make me a better dancer. Have you tested it yet? I'm still limping around with a cane. Felix, new hip, new you. It's it, man. Felix, I miss you most. I miss doing this, mostly. I miss doing this. I miss you too. Yeah, okay, I'll say. Good, thank you. From in for your music, this is Latino. I'm Felix Contreras. And I'm Anamaria Sayer. Let the cheese mate begin. Oh my God, it's so nice not to have to be the one to lead that off. Thank you, Felix. For a hard job. Well, it's been, it's been forever. So we got a lot of new music. That's what we're doing this week. I gave you the first toy. So go ahead. Take it away. It's, it's my turn. I'm going to introduce you to my today's theme. Ooh, it's summer in Brazil. Ooh. Oh my gosh. That sounds fun. Carnaval is happening. I'm not there. You're not there, but we can pretend we're there. I brought all Brazilian artists today, Felix. And I'm so excited because I think you don't know any of them. And that makes me even more excited. Okay, to start us off, this is an album. I'm not even going to give you the name yet. But it's three absolute giants in the Brazilian and Portuguese language alternative scene that came together. I'm going to tell you the story. But first, I'll play you a little bit of music. Show me these. Batuzos de novo. Simorran, batera fluta. Champonia, cabeza, baseu. Que el tempo simia ya pasa. Simo, que el chuva que caí. Chuma, que caí. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. N'atém poris seca. Okay, ready? So here's the story time. So I'm going to introduce you to each of these three artists, the first being Amaro Freitas. Amaro is basically this prodigy of a jazz pianist. He's someone who's been absolutely conquering the country. He's doing this new, fresh style Felix that you'll hear throughout the album. I actually spoke with him at the Latin Grammys and he put into context the overwhelming size and by extension the diversity of Brazil. Porém, você pode encontrar vários prazis. He told me Brazil is an incredible country but you can find several Brazils. This is something that he's known since he started his career, Felix. And so he began with this curiosity about the diversity of his country and it led him to starting to explore different parts. He went to the Amazon first. When I went to the Amazon for the first time, the question I asked myself when I went was there are more than 300 languages, but why do I only speak Portuguese? He told me. He had this theory about why that cultural reduction happened in Brazil. This explains the plan of colonization in our country. So that explains a little bit about the colonization plan in our country. He told me when I was studying at school I didn't learn about the Amazon and the indigenous people who lived there today. I didn't learn about their language. I didn't see it as important. It's important for us to understand indigenous culture. It's important for us to understand African culture. So Felix, that's when a motto decided to develop this plan. So for me today, with my work and musical. He told me today in my musical work it has been very important to connect my work with indigenous culture and African culture and somehow represent that. Okay, so Felix, this is where a motto left off starting his career. Fast forward to two years ago and he's touring Portugal with Grio Lowe, who's this other major giant featured on the album. He's an absolute legend in the hip hop and MVP space, completely distinct from where a motto comes from. He got his start in freestyle work around the country in the 90s and has made a name for himself mixing hip hop with MVP, Samba, and Brega. So, Criolo, he tells a motto, you have to know about this guy. His name is Dino di Santiago. He's a Portuguese artist from Cabo Verde. This is giant number three. He's a leader of the Afro-electronics scene in Lisbon blending. Mordana, Batucu, and Funana. All basically traditional sounds from Cabo Verde with electronic sounds. He also feel like it happens to collaborate with Madonna a lot. So, it's rare in general that you see Brazilian and Portuguese artists collaborating in big ways. So, they set out to make this album. It's simply called Criolo Amaro E Dino. This is more from that first song I played you. Sick. Now! I love that backstory. You know, when you think about Brazil, I don't know that people think about it often. It's so big. And there's so many different musical cultures there. You could spend your whole life just exploring each little small cultural tradition there. It's just so fascinating, so big. And I love when they bring all this other stuff together. Man, okay, you got my attention. And that's the beauty of it, right? Feel like you're talking about three of the greatest minds in the world of Portuguese language music coming together and taking all the seemingly disparate roots of a past Brazil, of a present Brazil, and making them not only coexist in this record, but really make beautiful musical sounds. I do want to play you another track. It's called Novento de Not. Just for a song next to the album. It's not just that I'm here. I bring the weight of the past. I don't want to be disappointed. The road doesn't have the beginning, it's not that I can reach it, but I can reach it in the silence. I don't want to go to the countryside. Ah, Novento de Not. The voices of the land call. Ah, Novento de Not. The voices of the land call. The sound of the soul. The world with the shadow, the light that I want to fill. Every joy that I have, is the river that I want to fill. You know that the acoustic piano and the acoustic guitar on that track is the country of Brazilian artist, Esberto Gismonte, who built his whole musical career and style on, drawing from those cultures, those musical cultures, and mixing them with jazz and classical. I get a little hint of that on this, and just as much sense of discovery from these guys. Really, man, this is what a great record. It's such a natural blend, and that chorus there, I feel like they say, ah, the wind of us, the voices in the earth call out, ah, the skin in the voice, the dreams of the soul dance. I mean, there's beautiful writing here too, which is fundamental to Brazil. I have to have a score on one last track that I think you're going to absolutely love Felix. It's called menina de coco de carité. That was Creolo, Amaro Edino the Record by Creolo Amaro Fritas, and I'm going to have a record by Edino de Santiago. Very nice. Okay, you're turned. Okay, so speaking of indigenous music and indigenous references again, boy, it takes some time off and we're still connected that way. We didn't even discuss this. I've got a record by a musician by the name of Javier Jara, and he's a Latin American folk singer from Ecuador based in Austin, Texas, and he had a very cool project. I think it's a series of profiles of people from Latin America set to song. I almost brought this record. Oh, my God. So you know, then let me tell the rest of the listeners, the music is from various Latin American folk traditions. The album's called Arrhythms, our voices. This is a track called A Juan or two Juan. This is Javier Jara. The town of Potosi, Bolivia, that land, Bolino of the river, without a Bolivar dream. The mountain company, Charanguitos y Quimeras, El Ovo de Buralumbre, El Hombre nobuce sueñan, El Ambre explotando al hombre, Sin hombre queda suella. This is one of those multi-platform projects that I'm really fond of. I think they did a great job with this. If you go to his website, you'll see photos of people and brief explanation of their lives, which represent each track on the album. You click on a photo, you see a short bio, and a link to a live performance of the song that he did in Austin. This track called A Juan or two Juan. It's a story about a guy named Juan, who is from Iaya Gua, Potosi, and Bolivia. You can hear him in the lyric. He comes from a very, very rural mining family. His last quote really got my attention. He says, I like the norms, the laws of the United States, the cleanliness that exists in the rivers. When I saw for the first time the clear water of the river, it was impressive. I was impressed by the streets, the grass, the education bug, taking care of the environment, the cleanliness that everyone cared so much about. That impressed me a lot. And even though you might not believe me, I like to pay taxes to feel part of this society. Right? And the whole record is like, if you click on it, I listen to the whole thing, I click on each picture, I listen to the songs. The whole thing, it's an important album and message in this moment when our immigrant neighbors and friends are being hunted down and kidnapped. It's a reminder of the human lives that are being threatened right now and this music and the stories bring all of that together and remind us about that. The album is called Arrhythms, our voices, great photography, great lyrics, the music by Javier Hara. And the website is ArrhythmsArvoisis.com. It's worth checking out. I feel like I'm laughing because I listen to all of your songs except that one. And I was like, oh, I guess I didn't hear this one. And I heard the whole record. I listened to the whole thing, and I loved the concept. And I loved this idea of like him collecting. So I'm this way, and it doesn't always work, right? Like I've heard some people do this more, kind of almost like anthropological research oriented. One could say it's type of record. And it doesn't sound as authentic. And I think there's something about him and how he approaches it. That it really fits into the spirit of all of the things he's trying to embody. Yeah, it's a really, it's a great record. I'm glad we found it. Okay. We found it. Wow, you really have been away a while. You're not even trying to fight for full credit on this one. Well, you heard it too. So. Okay, you're true. Okay, okay, my turn. Okay, so we're going back to Brazil. We're now going to Brazil's countryside. This place called the Valle. And by the way, this is a disclaimer. I'm probably butchering every single Portuguese word. I now have it in my head that I'm going to take a Portuguese intensive after this. Okay? So just bear with me. Valle de Parayba region, which is in the São Paulo States. This is a super, super new baby band. It's called infinito latente. And I'm going to play you a little bit of this song first. It's called Amanas as Whis. Very different from the first track. Very different from the first track. As we establish, Brazil is very diverse. That chorus feel like. So beautiful. It says, despite missing you so much, you make your presence felt so strongly. I know how many days there are in a month, which gives me maybe reasons to believe again. And the world you promised me from the depth of your eyes, a thousand blue tomorrow. Oh, my gosh. I know. So one of the things that Amano told me that I found fascinating is he's like, I actually have trouble as someone who does improvisation sometimes, finding an audience in Brazil, because there's this absolutely incredible songwriting culture in Brazil. And the things that really people love is a simple, straight, beautiful melody that people can just lay these absolutely decadent, gorgeous poetic lyrics over. And that's this band, really. I mean, it was formed by the singer, songwriter, Maida Bastos, and this musician, Jalusam. They came together in the countryside in the region. I described Valer de Paráioa. And what they did is they just came together as a voice in a guitar. And the project is really rooted in the region's really strong, independent songwriting culture. So then, you know, they formed this band, they put together a full thing. I'm going to play you one more track off this album. It's called Gota por Gota. I'm going to play you one more track off this album. I'm going to play you one more track off this album. I'm going to play you one more track off this album. I'm going to play you one more track off this album. I'm going to play you one more track off this album. I'm going to play you one more track off this album. I'm going to play you one more track off this album. And that's this songwriting culture. And what they did is they just came together as a voice in a guitar. And what they did is they just came together as a voice in a guitar. And what they did is they just came together as a voice in a guitar. And what they did is they just came together as a voice in a guitar. And what they did is they just came together as a voice in a guitar. And what they did is they just came together as a voice in a guitar. And what they did is they just came together as a voice in a guitar. And what they did is they just came together as a voice in a guitar. And what they did is they just came together as a voice in a guitar. And what they did is they just came together as a voice in a guitar. And what they did is they just came together as a voice in a guitar. And what they did is they just came together as a voice in a guitar. And what they did is they just came together as a voice in a guitar. And what they did is they just came together as a voice in a guitar. part of the country, I've discussed this with a lot of people. And then the music you hear coming out of the cities. And so what they actually did is they recorded this record between São Paulo City and then São Luis de Bataringo, which is a kind of historic town. It's known for kind of having a lot of rich culture and music. And they really do do this, but they don't lose that kind of rural songwriting rice that they have. But then they blend it with kind of like indie pop and low-fi texture and all of these things. And also, you know, MPB, Brazilian popular music, which I mentioned earlier. And you get this really interesting contemporary sound, but it's still so rich with so much of what makes the rural parts of Brazil shine. And I hope they describe it as translating existential restlessness and everyday reflections into music, which you can feel, I think, actually. So that was the record. Sem inicio nemfim by the very brand new band, infinito latente. And I think it's time for break, Felix. Do you remember those? OK, if we have to, because I had some really cool stuff, even more cool stuff coming up. We'll be right back. OK, Felix, we're back from break. How does it feel? You're still here. You made it. I'm still here. My hip's feeling good. The music feeling great. So let's just keep going. You're going to dance for us at the end of this. You realize that, right? Not yet, man. That's too I'm OK. OK, I get something pretty special. It's all special. But this next record is a re-release of something that was never really released. And it's an ideal time capsule of rock music in Latin America from back in 1971. There's lots to talk about, but first, the music. This is a track called Life of Love by Hernán Rocco and Las Bosses Frescas from Mexico. Check it out. OK, where does it start? All right. Because it's from your motion, Felix. It's really a fascinating backstory. This album was released in 1971, like I said. Hernán Roc, that's ROCH, is from Mexico. His name is Hernando Rocha from Monterey. As a teenager, he lived in the US in the late 60s. And he was heavily influenced by the music scene back there. Now think about it. In 1970, alone, the releases were let it be, bridge over troubled waters, the doors morsel and hotel. How? Grateful dead, working lands, dead, American beauty. It's fascinating to hear the impact of all that music on this young guy from Mexico, who, in addition to all that, decides to sing in English. It's just a mix of stuff. And it really reflects what was going on in Mexican rock at that time. A lot of it was in English. The whole Spanish-language thing was still in development. I brought another track. Check this out. This is called Sitting On the Side of the Ocean. What's your time? What's your time? I'm not about to cry, wait, I'm not gonna cry. I keep on crying. I gotta keep the tears from the moon, when the flow lies. Never knew what I'm the sweetest. And I'm about to cry, I'm awake, and I'm dying. I'm dying away, and I'm dying away. Can I die? Yeah. It has a sitting on the dock of the bank kind of feel, in a way. Uh-huh. Right? Oh my god, yeah. Okay, so now let's talk about the album release and why we never heard of this record. 1971 was a pivotal year for the burgeoning Mexican rock scene. There was a Woodstock-styled festival called Avandaro. And this drew over 300,000 kids showed up. Lots of bands, also lots of drugs, and other stuff the young people were doing back then. It was just like Woodstock. What do you feel like? I mean, never. Except the Mexican government at that time wasn't as permissible what was going on here in the United States. And they really started this crackdown on the Mexican rock scene. A lot of people were thrown in jail. The government called the music cultural imperialism. So this album was released, but it had a limited release, and then it completely disappeared into the vaults. It's re-released now by one of my favorite record labels. I gotta give them a shout out. I always do monster records, vape, soil, out of mid-dread. And I mentioned her name because they're experts at finding these significant archival albums and bands, and releasing them with exhaustive liner notes and background info. You'll hear that a lot of these Mexican rock bands, and if you look online some of the streaming services you can find these bands, heavily influenced the rock in the Spaniard movement about 20 years later in the 1990s. Again, this is Hernán Rock con las voces fresas, the album's called La Onda Pesada. Ooh, Felix, we're really in story mode today. I know. Well, the back stories of the music is always the stuff that fascinates me. The music's great. And then when you know the back story, like all the Brazilian stuff you're talking about, you know. 100%. Okay, take it away. Oh my god, we're already in my last track. Okay, so we're gonna fly again, because as you know, Felix, Brazil is so big. You really, like, you have to fly ever. I've actually been told by some Brazilian artists it is easier to fly to the US and Europe to tour than it is to fly around Brazil touring sometimes. Like that is how large it is. Wow. Yeah. So we're gonna fly to Alagóas, which is in the northeast part of Brazil, because I'm gonna talk about an album that's a collaboration between Jal Menesis, who's an amazing composer from that region, with another amazing artist, Paulo Novas. This album is called Coisa Ibrida, literally hybrid thing, and this song is called Uma Canção. A song. Uma canção pra você cantar Outra canção pra você me olhar assim Uma canção pra você lembrar Outra canção pra você gostar de mim Uma canção pra você cantar Outra canção pra você me olhar assim Uma canção pra você lembrar Outra canção pra você gostar de mim Uma canção buscar você Outra canção pra lhe dizer Uma canção de dar pra quem souber me falar Quem pode ir ali dizer Se for amor demais Uma canção se cantar Pra viver pode matar Uma canção pra você dizer Que tudo vai bem Emca diado Uma mensagem som que mande o recar Tudo de bom pra nós Tôs toda vida em paz Que duro, Ana? Yes. I'm thinking about all the people who complain and not to bring them up again But all the people who complain about bad bunny half-time show Because they can't understand the lyrics Neither you or I speak Portuguese Exactly But I think we always appreciate the beauty of the music It's self and the sound of the language And the flow and all that So not understanding something is just an excuse for A lot of other things But there's also like Just there's a lot of beauty And being able to hear something new And learning to appreciate it I feel like I honestly couldn't agree more That's one of the things that I love about listening to Brazilian And Portuguese music in general Is it kind of does take you back in that position Of maybe other people who don't understand A lot of the music that we bring in The sense of understanding Spanish And it takes you back to the purpose of music Music speaks music And I've learned that music The thing right, the collection of sounds Speaks Beyond lyrics And I think that so much of yeah Exactly what I brought today you can hear that And not to bring it back to a motto But man that he's so wise And I was spending time with that interview And he did tell me he was like Part of what I love about instrumental music Is that I can be thinking of a sunset or an ocean And someone else you know A sunrise or a mountain And all of those things are valid All of those things are an honest interpretation of my music And so I think that too is if the core of the sounds Is there if the core of the sound is beautiful Enough to invoke something, anything It's doing its job Even if it's not taking you to the original idea of the composer And what's beautiful about this project Felix is You once again have this marriage Of multiple parts of a Brazilian identity And the composer Jao he's from the north The other artist Paolo he's from São Paulo So they actually described it as a super position of different universes Without effort Because they met the two of them Jao had only ever released one EP in 2018 He's mostly just a composer And Paolo he's a more prolific artist He's won a Latin Grammy So he has a little bit more of a presence And they just came together And they filmed this beautiful friendship And they ended to an album that wasn't the intention But they just came together And we're like let's make things together Paolo having this city sensibility And Jao this kind of northern coastal sensibility And what you get is this beautiful project That is supposed to be yes Evoking summer and sunshine And coast And all of these beautiful things I think you can hear But also it's really just whatever you want it to be And I think that when you bring to distinct and different Disprute things together, it's easier to imagine a lot of possibilities We have the best jobs man Dude, literally I walked around listening to like five albums for like three hours yesterday It was incredible Someone's got to do it man Someone's got to do the work That was the album Goi se ibrita By Jao Meneses and Paolo Novix Okay, Felix take his home Okay, I've got another Mexican artist, a contemporary Mexican artist A guy named Libertaran It's Mexican folk, North American folk He's been around for a while And he's collaborated with a bunch of people Including members of Cafe Tacuba He's got an upcoming album called Canciones del Cierto This is a single called Deja el Lair Felix never not on his country kick Deja el Lair This album leans a little bit more country, it's more intentional than some of his past work, but what this track in particular, what really struck me is just how perfectly Spanish fits into a banjo riff. It really does. The phonetics of Spanish fit into the whole banjo thing. Fans of Mexican rock might recognize his name as a formerly singer of a band called Loste de la Abajo, a Skaban. He's also known as Western Guitano. I don't know why, but that's what he's called. He's got a series of albums exploring the folk traditions from both sides of the border. And I'm really very interested to know what the rest of the album sounds like. Again, the artist is Lieberterran, Deja Elayeras, the name of the track, and the album is going to be called Conteones de Desierto. It's coming out in a couple weeks. That's all I got. That's all you got, Felix. A new hip, and that's all you got. So I could carry what my new hip. You have been listening to El Latino. Our audio editor is Noah Caldwell. The executive producer of NPR Music is Sarayama Hamid. Executive director is Sonali Meta. I'm Felix Contreiras. And I'm Ana Maria Sayer. Thank you for listening.
