London's Unlikely Latin Hero
When they arrived at Tottenham Hotspurs in 1979, hot off their World Cup victory, Ricardo Villa and fellow Argentine Ossie Ardiles, were the first Latin Americans to play in English Football. Honoured at the 25th anniversary of…
Lenacay: A New Chapter
Ramón Giménez El Brujo talks to Latino Life about the transition from Ojos de Brujo to Lenacay.
Flamenco's Poetry in Motion?
Inspired by the purist Flamenco that he learnt from his teachers, Rafael Amargo, Spain’s most eclectic dancer and choreographer, was influenced by US contemporary dance schools such as the Martha Graham, while living in New York…
The Victory of Simplicty
In the UK as a guest of the Instituto Cervantes, Vicente del Bosque, Spain's World-Cup winning football coach, talks to Latinolife about why his team, or 'family' as he calls, it works (and perhaps an inkling as to…
Things That Matter to ...Aleida Guevara
Aleida Guevara was the first born of Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s seven children. The Argentine-born revolutionary fought in Cuba and the Congo before dying in Bolivia in 1967 at the age of 39. Aleida has grown up with an iconic…
Keeping Cumbia Real
Whilst global explosion has taken cumbia on a wonderful, if sometimes weird, journey, pioneering producer, composer and bandleader Mario Galeano has found himself in the unlikely role of guardian of the cumbia truth. We speak to…
Paco Peña's Fantasy Island Tracks
If you were stranded on a desert Island, which tracks would you absolutely need to have to get you through those times of loneliness and despair? Man cannot live on sun and fish alone right? Our castaway, Flamenco guitar legend…
Gilberto Gil: “I’ve always felt I was in the best place I could be”
Thirty years after first seeing him in concert at the age of eight, Amaranta Wright comes face to face with the Brazilian music legend Gilberto Gil on his recent visit to London, and gets an insight into the man that inspired her…
Larry Harlow's Fantasy Island Tracks
If you were stranded on a desert Island, which tracks would you absolutely need to have to get you through those times of loneliness and despair? Our castaway this week is Fania legend Larry Harlow, known affectionately by his…
The Greatest Sonero Ever?
Well that’s a debate that will never end. In this interview with Oscar D’Leon, we explain why he has proved, atleast, to be the most important singer to salsa music, ever. And at his age, JOSE LUIS SEIJAS found him as we expected…
The Restless Spirit
Sevillian bailadora Rafaela Carrasco is one of the most outstanding representatives of avant-garde flamenco dancing. After being a member of the Andalusian based Mario Maya Company and completing her training in Madrid as a…
Producing the Image of Spain
Executive producer Gervasio Iglesias, Director of Zanfoña Producciones, one of Spain’s most exciting film production outfits, talks to Latinolife about making films in the current crisis and their latest release Unit 7.
Bad Education
Eduardo Chapero-Jackson has been dubbed by critics as the latest ‘one to watch’ in new Spanish cinema. Here at London'sThe Spanish Film Festival, supported by the Cervantes Institute, the writer and director talks to…
Fire in the Argentine Belly
German Cornejo, the lead dancer, and choreographer of 'Tango Fire’ and 'Immortal Tango' talks to Latinolife about his life in tango and tango's future.
The Iraq Inquiry Needs this Brazilian!
Few people know that José Bustani was one of the single biggest obstacles to Tony Blair and George Bush’s plans for regime change in Iraq. He had to be got rid of. For the first time the recent Brazilian Ambassador to Britain…
Evo Morales, President of Bolivia
Ana Caistor-Arendar falls under the Aymaran charm of Bolivia’s first indigenous president.
Tego Calderón's Fantasy Island Tracks
If you were stranded on a desert island, which tracks would you absolutely need to have to get you through those times of loneliness and despair? Man cannot live on sun and fish alone right? Our castaway this week is Tego…
Sergio Mendes' Fantasy Island Tracks
If you were stranded on a desert Island, which tracks would you absolutely need to have to get you through those times of loneliness and despair? Man cannot live on sun and fish alone right? Our castaway, Brazilian music legend,…
David Bisbal's Fantasy Island Tracks
If you were stranded on a desert Island, which tracks would you absolutely need to have to get you through those times of loneliness and despair? Man cannot live on sun and fish alone right? Our castaway, Spain's biggest…
Surrogate Latino #1 Ian Mursell – Founder of Mexicolore with Graciela Sanchez
LAYING DOWN THE LORE – For 30 years Ian Mursell, development education specialist and his wife Graciela Sánchez, a dancer with the world famous Ballet Folklórico de México, and have worked with 2,000 primary schools and a wealth…
LATIN LONDONER #1 Angela Alonso - Flamenco Dancer
Angela Alonso from Almeria in Andalucia, arrived in London 13 years ago, and set up the UK's most popular Flamenco Dance School.
The Future of Latin Music?
While Venezuela has always been the land of opportunity for Colombians, one of Venezuela’s most successful new musicians and innovative producers, has gone the other way and is coming back with some sounds that are rocking the…
Things That Matter to...Al Roc
Al Roc (pictured left) is a member of Asilo 38, one of the biggest names on the burgeoning Colombian hip-hop scene, featured in the soundtrack to the film ‘Maria Full of Grace’. They come from "Aguas Blancas", one of…
Things That Matter to...Anderson, lead singer of Afro-Reggae
Anderson, 29, was born and raised in Vigário Geral, one of Rio de Janeiro’s most violent favelas. His mum is a dinner lady and his dad, a tax-driver. Anderson’s first jobs involved doing small favours for criminals like wrapping…
The Kid is Back
Kid Creole & The Coconuts created a generation of Latin music lovers in London in the early 1980s when he jetted in with a string of outstanding live shows and great albums. Now he's back. Due to perform at the Barbican…
Dutchman in da Latin House
We caught up with the Dutch Latin House Super DJ behind tracks such as "Step by Step", "Vem Rebola" & "Canoa."
New York's Ultimate Latin Diva
The muse of Masters at Work's Little Lou Vega and Kenny Dope, India became the dance floor icon of the 90s when House and Garage ruled clubland. Latinolife caught up with the ultimate Latin diva.
The Phenomenon of Latin Music in the US
Back in the late seventies an outstanding documentary was made about Salsa in New York and its social significance. It became a seminal work. Thirty years later its director Jeremy Marre, commissioned by the BBC, went back to…
THE FABULOUS QUINTEROS
In most families, being a world class musician would be the pride of the family, but if you belong to the Quinteros of San Agustín, Caracas, it is merely fulfilling the duty of a long line of stellar musicians. Amaranta Wright…
We say Dance. They Say C-C-C-C-C-Cumbia!
Cumbia meets the Happy Mondays? Candela catches up with the Mexican Institute of Sound's eccentric frontman, Camilo Lara, at his home in Mexico City before he leaps over the Atlantic to play in London's La Linea…
New Spanish Cinema - Daniel Monzon and Film Philosophy at its best
On the DVD release of Cell 211, Latinolife interviews Daniel Monzón, one of the new great directors of Spanish Cinema, Daniel Monzón reveals his passions and fears during the making of his film, which ended in some unexpected,…
Presumed Guilty: Victim of Mexico's legal system gets rare break to tell story
Over the net the controversial film about a street vendor stitched up by the Mexican legal system is spreading like wildfire and in England it is about to go on general release. Back in Mexico, judges are seeking to ban…
Travelling the Veins of Caracas
Tanya Yusti interviews Chris Anderson, the acclaimed photo-journalist whose latest book of photographs Capitolio, takes us on a disturbing and exuberant journey through Caracas.