Pixinguinha: The Demiurge of Brazilian Music
‘If you have 15 volumes to talk about all of Brazilian popular music, rest assured it’s too little. But if you only have the space for a word, you are saved. Write quickly: Pixinguinha.’ Though this quotation by Ary Vasconcelos,…
LATIN LONDONER #22 Thiago Soares - Principal Dancer
Brazilian dancer Thiago Soares, is a former Principal Dancer of The Royal Ballet. Soares was born in Rio de Janeiro and joined the Royal Ballet in 2002 after receiving many prizes, including silver medal at the 1998 Paris…
Me and my namesake, Vinicius de Moraes
Vinicius de Carvalho, appointed Director of King's Brazil Institute, pays tribute to the man he was named after, Vinicius de Moraes, one of the most important figures in modern Brazilian music. As a poet, he wrote lyrics for…
Diaspora Music: Venezuela
In recent years, there’s been a lot of talk of the global domination of Latin Music. A big contributor to this phenomenon has been the Latin diaspora - artists making music outside their countries. In this first feature of our…
Films to Watch Before You Die #2 - 'El Mismo Amor, la Misma Lluvia' by Juan Jose Campanella
OLIVETTI BLUES – A two-hour journey into the beauty of love, passion and dreams.
Sarmiento: Argentine National Hero or Ideologue of White Settler Racism?
2011's Latin American bi-centenaries saw governments celebrating their national heroes again. In Argentina, a broader process of revising its recent 'Dirty War' history has made many eager to revisit their more…
‘RITA MORENO: JUST A GIRL WHO DECIDED TO GO FOR IT’ (2021)
“What a Journey! In the end it’s [about] who you really are!” This lively documentary biopic of Rita Moreno directed by award-winning Mariem Pérez Riera, entertains and fascinates at every turn.
Spotlight on...Fuego!
The Dominican star has been in the game for over 10 years, and has gained even more popularity over the last couple of years.
Top 10 Central American Pop and Rock and Bands
Have you ever heard of the phrase by famous Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío, "Si la patria es pequeña, uno grande la sueña." This describes the beauty and the talent of the Central America region. A region that may be small…
LA SINGLA (2023) by Spanish writer/ director Paloma Zapata
“She understood music because she was born with it within her.” This drama documentary, part-fiction, part reality, reveals the astounding story of a young girl, who despite being profoundly deaf, became one of Flamenco’s most…
HOLA London @ The 02
Summer Showers Couldn’t Rain on Hola! London’s Parade of Latin Stars including Juan Luis Guerra, Juanes, David Bisbal and Sebastián Yatra
‘BABY’ Dir. Marcelo Caetano
“I did not run away from home; they ran away from me”. After two years and barely 18, Wellington emerges from a youth detention centre to find his family have disappeared. Lost and homeless in the streets of São Paulo, he meets…
Between Land and Sea - an interview with Cuban artist Armando Mariño
One of Cuba’s most well-known contemporary artists, Armando Mariño studied in Havana, now lives and works in New York and exhibits all over the world. Now in London showing his large scale works rooted within the stories of…
Spotlight on... Gigolo & La Exce
Ronald Rafael Tejeda Santos and Jean Carlos Ferreira Suero, artistically known as Gigolo and La Exce formed the reggaeton, trap and urban music duo from San Juan, Puerto Rico, famous for the singles such as "Nasty,"…
Reggaeton Legend: Julio Voltio
Born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, Julio Ramos (Julio Voltio), became of the most well-known reggaeton artists of the mid-2000s, Voltio worked his way up the ranks for many years, expanding his reach with his successful releases.
REMEMBERING SELENA
I'm willing to bet that you've seen a few Jennifer Lopez films. But have you seen her best one? The one where she plays another musical star - who was even bigger than ‘Jenny from the Block’ would go on to be.…
"Critics in Chile Did Not Consider Me a Writer"
Isabel Allende is one of the Spanish-speaking world’s most widely read authors. The award-winning Chilean novelist has written over twenty books, which have gone on to sell over 74 million copies worldwide and be translated into…
SALSA IS BACK! (But it Never Went Away)
Over the past few months, the world has seen its biggest reggaetón artists, Bad Bunny and Rauw Alejandro, go back to their roots with salsa releases, in a nod to the Puerto Rican legends that made them. Despite the rise of…
...Spanish Tennis Greats
It's hard to look beyond Rafa Nadal, but Spain's current tennis titan didn't come from nowhere, he was inspired by the many that came before him. We tell you who...
Peru 1982: A Six-month Photo Odyssey in South America
An exhibition at the Peruvian Embassy by photographer Tony Hutchings showcases the country's stunning landscapes and rich cultural diversity, captured during a six-month trip to South America.
Remembering Luiz Melodia
A Carioca God of music, Brazil's black Orpheus, a master of Música Popular Brasileira (MPB); Luiz Melodia was like a rhapsode, always absorbing what was happening in the universe of music at that moment condensing rock,…
“…And Some Have Greatness Thrust Upon Them.”
‘Argentina 85’ directed by Santiago Mitre and starring Ricardo Darín and Peter Lanzani, is a taut, fact-based courtroom drama that is as suspenseful as it is intense. It tells the story of how Julio César Strassera and his…
SURVIVING BAHIA'S CARNIVAL
Sweaty grabbing men, cheesy electric guitar music, trance-enducing drumming and plenty of piss: how our girl in Salvador de Bahia got lost in the frenzy that was Brazilian Carnival 2010 and managed to come out to tell the tale.
Iphigenia: Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell that was once her Heart (A Rave Fable)
A challenging multi-media and a multi-layered play by Caridad Svich, an Argentine- American playwright, with a richness of references that are not entirely lost even to those who never read the Greek Myth. It debued at The Clumsy…
Things That Matter to...Nestor García Gonzalez
32 year old Mexican Nestor Garcia Gonzalez has been working as a professional break-dancer for the last 9 years. In Mexico he was flexing his amazing talent in international touring shows, such as the Michael Jackson tribute and…
Top 10 Best Guacamoles in London
The world seems to have gone avocado mad. This delicious, healthy fast-food is no longer Latin America’s best kept secret. In the UK alone avocado sales have soared to an astounding £142 million in past year. Petitions have…
Between Poetry and Politics - an interview with Gael García Bernal
GAEL GARCÍA BERNAL gets on a roll about poetry, fascism, idealism and power as he talks to Latinolife about the times we live in…oh, and his latest film, NERUDA.
‘FOGARÉU’ (2022) directed by Flávia Neves
“When a baby is born it is thrown into the air, if it flies it is a bat, if it falls it is a fool”. ‘Fogaréu,’ is the story of a wealthy Brazilian family that interweaves overt class struggles with intimate family strife in wild…
Pele & Maradona: Contrasting Greatness
Among the claims to football greatness, those of Pele and Maradona, who died within just over two years of each other, will endure as a contrast in character and iconography, defining between them the developing story of modern…
In Praise of Jairo Varela
A tribute to the founder and band leader of Grupo Niche, who put Colombian salsa on the global music map and helped make Cali the renowned capital of Salsa that it is known as today.
JORGE SPITERI - Musician (1951 - 2020)
The Venezuelan composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, producer, vocalist and much- loved friend, died on Sunday May 24th 2020, from cancer in North Carolina, USA. Jorge was a pioneer of Latin rock and funk mixed…
Bad Bunny surprises fans on Instagram Live
Last Saturday, the Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny gave an entertaining mini-concert, where he streamed his entire album and revealed some tracks that had never been published and may not be.
Brazil: Pixacao Sao Paulo’s Urban Calligraphy
Although present in many different Brazilian cities, pixação (often spelt ‘pichação in official accounts) is most closely identified with São Paulo. In this ‘city of walls’, pixação is everywhere. No building or wall is…
Miguel Herrera, The Real Star of the World Cup
Forget James Rodríguez, Arjen Robben or Thomas Müller. Miguel Herrera was by far the most entertaining character of this summer’s FIFA World Cup. Here we profile the mad Mexico manager.
Cause and Effect in Bolivian Art
In the first ever show of Bolivian Contemporary Art in London featuring four Bolivian artists - painters Ivan Benítez and Marcelo Rodríguez and photographers Javier Molina and Fabiola Retamozo - ‘Analogue Intercourse‘ refers to…