Super Bueno! Latin Music For Everybody, Part 2

 

If you missed the first Alt.Latino edition of All Songs Considered last fall, fear not. Jasmine Garsd and Felix Contreras, hosts of NPR's Latin Alternative music show and blog, are back this week to school the ASC crew about what's going on in Latin America and beyond.

A few of this week's artists provide a testament to the global reach of hip-hop, from the Panama-born, Oakland-based rap crew Los Rakas to the Argentine DJ Lagartijeando, who transforms a traditional cumbia rhythm into a driving, club-ready beat in the song "El Alto De La Paz." Elsewhere, artists reach beyond the Americas for inspiration — like Brooklyn's Geko Jones, who incorporates African call-and-response vocals into "Pa La Escuela Nene." Across the Atlantic Ocean, Spanish punk outfit Pegasvs (pronounced like the winged horse) demonstrates that even an airy folk instrument like the pan flute can rock pretty hard.