This Week On Alt.Latino: Nothing Is What It Seems
Maria. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Maria.
Courtesy of the artistIdentity is a tricky thing: How do we label ourselves, and what exactly does it mean? And to whom?
This week's show explores the same dilemma through a musical prism: a Chilean band with a thing for Bollywood, an Argentine paying homage to a city in Peru, a bunch of Spanish indie rockers paying tribute to a Mexican mariachi legend. Call it what you will: genre-busting, musical diplomacy, musical self-exploration. It's all exciting and utterly satisfying to us here at Alt.Latino.
This week's show also features La Santa Cecilia's unabashed throwback to Mexican cumbia, which to me has always screamed genre-bending.
As a Mexican-American kid growing up in California, I heard cumbia from my aunts, who learned the two-step groove at dance halls featuring Mexican-American bands. Cumbia had become part of the Mexican musical soundscape by way of sailors in port Mexican port cities like Veracruz who introduced music they heard in place like Colombia. It made its way across the border and into the consciousness of the Mexican-American Southwest.
It wasn't until I was an adult that I learned cumbia was a Colombian form and not Mexican. It was one of my first lessons in how musicians ignore boundaries to create something that reflects a little of who they are as well as a bit of the world around them.
As with the rest of the music on this week's show, it's a lesson we'd all be wise to pay attention to if we want to learn more about the world around us, as well as ourselves.
This Week On Alt.Latino: Nothing Is What It Seems
Jauja
Jauja
- from Jauja
- by Kali Mutsa
Coming At You From: Chile
Sounds Like: Bollywood en Español
Ma Do Nar
Ma Do Nar
- from Roots Of Life
- by Los Chicharrons
Coming At You From: Dominican Republic/Denmark
Sounds Like: A Danish guy and a Dominican walk into a West African nightclub…
La Flor De Canela
Flor De Canela
- from 9 Vidas
- by Maria Volonte
Coming At You From: Peru by way of Argentina
Sounds Like: A gorgeous ode to Peru and Afro-Peruvians by a brilliant Argentine singer.
Lock In
Lock In
- from Sabor Tropical
- by Empresarios
Coming At You From: Washington, D.C.
Sounds Like: A sound based on '70s mixes of funk and salsa, but with a contemporary sense of exploration.
Cuando los Sapos Mueren Aplastados
Cuando los Sapos Mueren Aplastados
- from Cuando Los Sapos Mueren Aplastados
- by Bambarabanda
Coming At You From: Colombia
Sounds Like: An experimental ode to enduring the crushing routine of everyday life.
La Negra
La Negra
- from Noches Y Citas
- by La Santa Cecilia
Coming At You From: Los Angeles
Sounds Like: A self-conscious throwback to the Mexican version of traditional cumbia.
Refree Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Cuando Vivas Conmigo
Cuando Vivas Conmigo
- from Brindando a José Alfredo Jiménez
- by Refree
Coming At You From: Mexico by way of Spain.
Sounds Like: A tribute to a mariachi songwriting legend.
Espina
Espina
- from Para Armar
- by Tremor
Coming At You From: Argentina
Sounds Like: Nine Inch Nails in the Andes.