World Cafe celebrates Latino Heritage Month : World Cafe : NPR

World Cafe celebrates Nationwide Latino Heritage Month

Illustration by Miguel Perez/WXPN

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Illustration by Miguel Perez/WXPN

Nationwide Latino Heritage Month kicked off this week, so World Cafe is having a look again by the archives to spotlight a number of the unbelievable Latinx musicians who’ve joined us on the present in latest reminiscence.

Helado Negro

For a time period in 2020 and 2021, “exterior” was a loaded phrase — “We will not go exterior!”; “I miss the skin!” “Exterior” felt like a world that we might solely skilled in our desires. Roberto Carlos Lange, who performs as Helado Negro, crafted Far In, an album that spoke to that longing by discovering solace deep inside ourselves.

Lange grew up in South Florida earlier than attending faculty on the Savannah School of Artwork and Design. A two-week journey to Marfa, Texas, to work on an artwork set up changed into a six-month keep that shifted his perspective in the course of the pandemic and led to the work on Far In.

Hurray for the Riff Raff

Hurray for the Riff Raff’s 2017 album, The Navigator, was a daring idea album that established band founder Alynda Segarra as a musical power. It centered on the character of Navita Milagros Negron, a stand-in for Segarra, as they depart residence searching for themselves.

As a substitute of looking, the follow-up document, Life on Earth, was decidedly extra private and extra fast. Segarra says it is a memoir, written within the isolation of the pandemic from their residence in New Orleans. At its coronary heart, when so many issues are terribly irritating, Life on Earth is an affirmation of humanity and of how we will discover pleasure in troublesome instances.

Natalia Lafourcade

Natalia Lafourcade holds the document for many Latin Grammys gained by a feminine artist: She’s gained 15 over her 20+-year profession. The 38-year-old Mexican singer is beloved, not just for her personal compositions, but additionally for her initiatives which have paid homage to the people music of her native Mexico and Latin America.

Plus, you additionally may know her from her efficiency of the Oscar-winning music “Keep in mind Me,” from Pixar’s Coco. On this session, Lafourcade talks about her tenth studio album, known as De Todas las Flores. It was her first album of fully new materials in seven years, and she or he premiered it stay in late 2022 at Carnegie Corridor to a sold-out viewers.

Café Tacvba

Café Tacvba’s 4 core members have been making music collectively for the reason that early Nineteen Nineties. Their 1994 album, Re, is persistently ranked among the many biggest Latin rock albums ever. It is thought of a groundbreaking contribution to “Rock en Espanol.”

Up till then, Latin rock music usually seemed like rock music sung in Spanish, generally even in English by Latin bands. However Re was completely different: It was a kitchen sink of musical influences, from digital sounds to ballads to funk and, in fact, Mexican and Latin sounds. The musical variety on Re is a trademark of Café Tacvba‘s method, and you may nonetheless hear it a long time in a while their 2017 launch, Jei BeiBi. The band spoke to former World Cafe Talia Schlanger in regards to the document, plus they carry out stay.

Gustavo Santaolalla

He was by no means formally skilled to learn or write music, but Gustavo Santaolalla has a present for capturing moments and, extra importantly, emotions which are exhausting to place into phrases.

That musical intuition has helped Santaolalla attain some unbelievable heights. He is gained heaps of awards for his movie scores, together with Brokeback Mountain and Babel, plus he is produced dozens of information within the Latin rock world.

Santaolalla offered the rating for The Final of Us online game, and final 12 months, he was nominated for an Emmy for scoring the HBO adaptation of that sport. On this dialog with World Cafe‘s Raina Douris, Santaolalla charts the course of his profession, from his humble beginnings in Argentina to the silver display screen.