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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…
New Era Jazz Queen
What is the outstanding quality that westerners find so baffling about Cuba’s bounty of world-class artists? From Carlos Acosta to Chucho Valdez, you’ll find a common combination unique to this idiosyncratic Caribbean island – a…
FUNK FOREVER
Los Amigos Invisibles is arguably the most globally recognized music act from Venezuela since Oscar D'Leon (the Salsa legend on their new album). Breaking onto the international scene on David Byrne’s (Talking Heads)…
The People's Salsero
At first dismissed for his wordy complexity, Rubén Blades - composer, singer, salsero, lyricist, narrator, poet, social conscience and political activist - soon proved to be Fania Record's biggest money spinner and Latin…
Latin American Selection by George Peguero
Hailed as a child prodigy in Cuba, the UK-based artist takes us through the music of his childhood and gives us his selection of the top Latin American tracks ever (with a few honourary Latinos thrown in!)
From Hypnotic Cuba to Stiff British Splendour
From the deep, hypnotic rhythms of Cuba to the stiff splendour of the Royal Albert Hall, composer and conductor Odaline de la Martinez has ridden the waves of a musical adventure. The recipient of this year's LUKAS Lifetime…
Two Beats One Soul, feat. Little Louie Vega
A beautiful tribute to bi-cultural ingenuity as Little Louie Vega heads up this latest gem in a long tradition of Cuban-Nuyorican collaborations
Explosive Alegría
It would seem that anything Gente de Zona touches turns to gold. Whether it’s putting Enrique Iglesias back at the top of the charts, or keeping Marc Anthony relevant, everyone who’se anyone in music goes to this Cuban Reggeatón…
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…
The Reggeatón Evolution – Three Decades of Flow
When quintessentially English band Clean Bandit was recently rocking X Factor with their latest hit ‘Rockabye,’ few watching would have known that the country that invented its catchy beat was banned from playing it for years.…
One Minute in Time
One of the greatest references of Argentine rock drumming, Jorge Araujo played for years with Los Divididos, one of the best and most popular rock bands in Latin America, and later Gran Martell. Now Araujo launches his second…
Cubafonia Dayme Arocena (Brownswood recordings)
Cuba's new Jazz queen comes into her own in her exquisite UK debut album
Rule Colombian Britannia!
This year the BBC Proms pays tribute to a new British-Colombian generation by featuring the London born and bred accordionist Jose Hernando who won the BBC Radio 3 World Routes Academy at only 19. Here the burgeoning star talks…
Capicua - 20 years taking feminist hip-hop to the rappers' boys' club
Ana Matos Fernandes, the rapper known as Capicua, Is one of Portugal’s most well-known hiphop lyricists. Born in Porto in 1982, she has a degree in Sociology and a PhD in Human Geography; her lyrics are as sharp and informed as…
Goodbye to the Buena Vista Era
Sequel to the album, the movie and the shows that took the world by storm in the late 1990s, and tribute to both the musicians who have passed away and those alive and kicking, the Buena Vista show at London’s The O2 likely…
LatinoLife's Christmas Bangers 2018
After a year of reggaetón smashers, the ladies show they rule with hits that are sending the year off with a bang
We Owe Paco So Much
Paco Peña, one of the world's most celebrated flamenco guitarists mourns an irreplaceable Flamenco soul and friend
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 Turbulence of Budding Stardom
Once a mere suburban boy from outside Barcelona, now Spain’s representative at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, via a controversial decision that split the country, Latinolife talks to Manel Navarro, as he prepares for his…
THE OUTSIDER
Few people thought that Reggaetón - the famous “Dembow” beat with the Latino twist that exploded 15 years ago – would stand the test of time. Yet today almost every big artist, from Shakira and Enrique Iglesias to Drake, Sia and…
The Demographics of Music
With a name like Che Sudaka, you can't help but be curious. We talk to the band of Latino immigrants in Spain creating a stir in Europe
....CUMBIA TRACKS by DJ Russ Jones
From the DJ who brings you Britain's favourite Cumbia night "Arriba la Cumbia" gives you his favourite Cumbia tracks.
TOP TEN Recent Latin Albums produced in the UK
Latin music is not an easy thing to produce, let alone promote, in the UK; you need real instruments, great musicians and arrangements to make it sound good, and there is rarely any money to work on. Despite the lack of exposure…
Anarchy’s Enduring Appeal
Santiago Oyarzabal talks to Los Auténticos Decadentes, one of the best, most enduring and probably the most fun, rock bands to ever come out of Argentina. Known for its distinctive anarchic energy, unique mix of rhythms, and…
...Cuban Tracks by DJ Javier La Maquina
This month's dancefloor hits by award winning Cuban DJ, Javier La Rosa, one of the busiest men in the UK latin club scene.
Gerardo Nuñez and Ulf Wakenius ‘Logos’ (Act Music)
Gerardo Nunez is considerd a master of New Flamenco, and this time he partners up with Swedish jazz guitarist Ulf Wakenius in a unique meeting of virtuosos. Much more than just a Flamenco album, Logos is the musical dialogue…
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.
CULTURA CIRCULAR: WHEN THE BEAT SPEAKS PORTUGUESE AND ENGLISH
What happens when a South London artist who raps in Portuguese, English and Spanish with roots in Angola meets one of Brazil’s foremost percussion outfits? “It feels like the circle is closing,” answers Afrocidade, the…
The Noche Fiebre Foundation
A night dancing to the songs of Saturday Night Fever, dubbed in Spanish? Sounds like Latinas on a hen night. Spanish kitch is how you might describe Fundación Tony Manera, Spain’s most successful disco band, but it also happens…
Jose Luis' Top Ten Latin Summer Hits 2017
We’re still recovering from the plethora of Latin hits that dominated the sound waves this summer – with ‘Despacito’ breaking records around the world (if we hear it again, it'll be too soon). To celebrate having four…
Top 10 Hits of March 2020
If you are stuck at home waiting for the sun to come out…I bring you the heat with the best tracks of the month that will make you look forward to sunny days again!
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In Europe, Paraguay is a little-known country: it isn’t on the tourist route, unless you are…
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