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…
Bodyguard Grandmother
Human shield in Colombia at 65? A daughter leaves London to find her mother who has decided to be an ‘unarmed bodyguard’ in the Colombian jungle.
LATIN HOTLIST #7 - AUTUMN 2017
Think Latin, Feel Latin, Buy Latin...here's our choice of great Latin products on the market this Autumn
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…
Macho, sexist, leery - lovely...
Flirting with strangers in the street is a way of life in Buenos Aires. One gringa tries very hard to disapprove.
'Casa de mi padre'
“If it sounds Spanish, man, that's what it is; it's a Spanish movie.”
MEDELLIN No.3...The Flower Fair
My girls expect me to spend my last day before leaving for Bogotá with them. It is a question of duty. They have embraced me, showered me with affection, and in return, they expect a certain loyalty. I have had to give back more…
Lula All Stars: Salsa de la Buena (Lulaworld Records)
Canadian based Salsa outfit playing wth passion and flavour
Fresh Blend
Legendary Latin dance-music pioneers Bomba Estéreo are back on tour, bringing their blend of cumbia, rave and rap to top clubs and festivals across Europe and the US. Founder and maestro Simón Mejía talks to Charley Allan about…
This Latino Week
Timochenko Assassination Attempt, Haiti Rule By Decree, Mexico Aztec Gold Bar, Giammattei Guatemala Asylum Dilemma, Venezuela Parra Sanctions, Argentina IMF Renegotiation Date
LATIN LONDONER #68 - Hortensia Celis-Valenzuela, Community Organiser
Mexican-born Hortencia Celis-Valenzuela has been a central figure to London’s Latin American arts for over twenty years, specifically leading the community of wonderful Latin American dance folk groups. With her passion and pride…
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…
How to Start a Festival from Scratch - A Couple’s Story
Jose and Amaranta met in a salsa club in 2001, from that fateful evening, they've been inseparable, in life and in work, building a family together alongside an institution, or let's say, various institutions. Now the…
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)…
Guatemala: Indigenous Women take on Canada’s Mining Industry
Elena Choc Quib, a unilingual Q’eqchi’ speaker from a remote village in rural Guatemala, never imagined travelling outside her country, let alone boarding a plane to Toronto. But everything changed when she and 10 other women…
Colombia – Two Sisters, the FARC and the Peace Process
A tale of two sisters who grew up apart, their past shaped by the FARC, their future hopes for peace and social justice
Brazil: September 7 — A Day of Death
Distinguished Brazilian journalist Eliane Brum writes regularly for the Spanish newspaper El Pais. Her latest article is a cry of grief and rage at what President Bolsonaro and his followers have done to their country. She agues…
The Elegant Hustler
Jemelín Artigas first leapt into the limelight on BBC Apprentice as a glamorous saleswoman back in 2019. But her rise to success was anything but easy. Now a Business mentor, Influencer and Presenter, not least for LatinoLife in…
FOR THE LOVE OF....
Forget logic, it's that time of the decade when the only currency is euphoria and rage. Yes, the World Cup is here again and all human reason disappears. Nobody does passion quite like us Latinos, which is why we’ve…
Indiscretion by Hannah Fielding
Hannah Fielding is an award-winning writer and published her first book, Burning Embers, in 2012. Since then, she has gone on to publish two more works, The Echoes of Love (2014) and Indiscretion (2015). Extensively travelled…
Mexico: AMLO’s first hundred days
The new president claims to have carried out 62 out of 100 campaign promises
The Photos of Debbie Bragg and the Rise of a New UK Club Culture
By chronicling the new generation of Latino-Brits in their party element, this oustanding photographer became THE documentarist of the urban latin movement in the UK and helped put urban latin culture on the map. Exclusively on…
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.
Venezuela Rising
As international artists hail Venezuela as ‘the future of music’ Candela explores why recognition has taken so long to come.
Colombia: the biggest conversation in the world
Gwen Burnyeat reports on the Colombian peace process and the efforts being made to promote conversation among all its actors, at both local and national levels
Adolescence and Obsession in ‘A Trip to the Moon’
The Argentine director Joaquín Cambre talks to Latino Life about his own life and his award-winning opèra prima, A TRIP TO THE MOON, about an adolescent who, feeling out of sync with his family and his world, focuses his…
COVID-19 in Latin America
As Latin America enters its fourth week of tackling Covid-19, where most countries have long implemented total lock down, people have begun to settle into the new normal of quarantines and isolation. However, the impact of the…
LatinoLife Essentials: The Cuarteto Starter Pack
If you’re new to cuarteto, here’s your crash course. Ten tracks that trace the genre’s DNA — from barrio roots to TikTok fame. Unfortunately no videos available for Leonor Marzano or Quarteto Leo, so we start with La Mona Jimenez…
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…
This Latino Week
Spain counts lowest Coronavirus death toll in weeks, Augusto Aras resigns, Mexico's new $26bn virus spending plan, Cuban Medical Aid to Argentina, Chile to introduce 'virus-free' certificates and commercial flight…
This Latino Week
Maduro madness, Indigenous groups don't want a repeat of history, "El Trumpo", Britons on virus-hit ship wait for Panama Canal green light, La Linea reschedules to Autumn, F.C. Barcelona agrees to pay cuts and…
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.…
Evita at The Dominion Theatre
After its successful UK tour, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's weirdly popular journey into the heart of Argentine history returns to the West End. With 55 new performances, the epic bio-musical that dissects the character…
"I wouldn’t mind dying if there were guitars in heaven"
Tiago Pereira talks about his latest documentary on Portuguese regional music: Chamarita - the country rock of the Azores.
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…