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Tino Contreras' Fantasy Island Tracks
Our castaway this month is Tino Contreras the master Mexican jazz drummer who for more than six decades has melded Latin influences with free jazz, psychedelia, avant-garde experimentation, and global sounds. Born in 1924, Tino…
Swiss Sampling: An Interview with Michel Cleis
His track ‘La Mezcla’, using a Toto La Momposina sample, became one of the biggest house tracks of the century, and it made him a household name in that market. Now the World-renowned Swiss DJ and producer just reworked Natalia…
Smoulder Smoulder: My Secret Love of Luis Miguel
If you’ve never heard of Luis Miguel, you’ve been living an empty life. The Netflix series on the Mexican crooner, who is widely regarded as the most successful artist in Latin American history, literally bigger than Jesus,…
Pioneering Black Latina Artists
Recently we published a list of Black Heroines of Latin American History, Afro-Latinas who put their lives at risk, and in some cases gave their lives, in order to shape our history. This week we bring you the brave women who…
Latino Short films at BFI FUTURE FILM FESTIVAL
This festival, despite being relatively modest, is sponsored by Netflix and has attracted 45 short films submitted to screen online on BFI Player (UK only). The Festival is highlighting an interesting selection of budding…
Cochinita Pibil
This Yucatan dish is eaten throughout Mexico and makes for an ideal taco filling. Traditionally, the Mayans wrapped the meat in banana leaves and cooked it in a pit in the ground. However, if you don’t have access to banana…
Top 10 Mexican Boxers
Globally, Mexico is known as a boxing powerhouse, boasting some of the greatest champions in the sport’s history, something which continues today. Here we present 10 of the greatest Mexican boxers of all time
Vegan Tres Leches Cake
The Tres Leches Cake is a Latin American Classic, one of those where every country thinks they invented it. A full on butter cake—soaked in three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream its very difficult…
ARMANDO MANZANERO : LIGHTS GO OUT FOR MEXICO'S SMOOCHIE COOCHIE MAN
Armando Manzanero was one of Mexico’s greatest romantic composers, whose ballads were performed by the likes of Elvis Presley and Christina Aguilera and, most famously, provided the tunes for Luis Miguel's best selling…
‘I'm No Longer Here' Dir Fernando Frías de la Parra
Selected to represent Mexico at the 93rd Academy Awards this debut from Fernando Frías de la Parra is profoundly accomplished, bringing a new and highly original voice to Mexican cinema. Garlanded at multiple festivals, the film…
Great Latin American films from 2021
2021 was a difficult year for film, especially cinema releases. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the 2021 Academy Awards event took place in April 2021, at the usual event venue, the spectacular Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los…
Remembering José José, Mexican Singer (1948-2019)
Mexico is a land blessed with many things, including a huge amount of phenomenal singers and one of the most populars ever is who they call “El Principe”, the Prince of Song, José José. A hugely popular figure in his native…
Latin Londoner no.32: Alejandro Madrigal, Scientist
Prof. Alejandro Madrigal is a world leader in the area of stem cell transplantation. Beginning in Mexico, he continued his training at Harvard, Stanford and University College London (UCL). He is currently Professor of…
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…
It Is Not The Virus
Mabel Encinas is a Mexican artist and poet based in London, member of the Hispano-American Women Writers on Memory, who is also a senior lecturer in higher education in the UK. Writing and art has allowed her to process her…
Mexico's New Movie Magician: Fernanda Valadez
In the world of booming Mexican cinema, it's hard not to notice that most of the big names are male: Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñarritú. Nor for much longer if Fernanda Valadez is anything to go…
‘ASFIXIA’ Dir. Kenya Márquez
Mexican writer/director Kenya Márquez excels with her second feature ‘Asfixia’ (Suffocation 2018), to be screened (free) online at the Raindance Film Festival 2020, in the Female Gaze strand. It is a tale of redemption and love,…
Nuevo Orden (2020) Dir. Michel Franco
In ‘New Order’ (2020) the third feature written and directed by Mexican Michel Franco, no one is innocent. There is no ‘get out of jail free card’ here! Michel Franco’s powerful film, screened at the 2020 BFI London Film Festival…
'Sin Señas Particulares' Dir. Fernanda Valadez
The Devil is Alive and well on the Mexican Border in ‘Sin Señas Particulares’ (Identifying Features - 2020), one of the Latino highlights at the 2020 BFI London Film Festival - a moving, multi-award-winning Opera Prima from…
Indigenous Heroes and Heroines of Colonial Latin America
In celebration of Indigenous Peoples' Day, a day which began as a counter-celebration to el Dia de la Raza or 'Columbus Day' (still shamefully celebrated in Spain and the US to celebrate the colonisation and…
10 Black Heroes of Colonial Latin America
Many of these heroic figures in the building of Latin America were confined to the anals of history. It wasn’t easy to find them, but once we started digging we found so many that we have only been able to mention a few. All…
Things You Should Know about...Jazz Greats of Latin America
Recently we produced a list of Latin Jazz greats, but many of the finest Jazz musicians from Latin America use neither la clave, nor the ostinato patterns nor the afro-cuban rythmns that we associate with Latin Jazz. The…
Top 10 Revolutionary Latinas
We pay tribute to the Latin American women who throughout history have fought for freedom, peace and justice and continue to do say every day. Women who have fought side by side with men for freedom for their countries, even when…
Human Rights Defenders in Mexico
Each day, human rights defenders speak out for the rights of others. And each day they risk their livelihoods, their liberty and in many cases their lives. As attacks, abductions, and assassinations increase in Latin America, we…
Mexico: Populism and the Pandemic
As with many other countries led by populist leaders, in Mexico populism and the pandemic have proved to be a dangerous mix where AMLO was slow to take the virus or the medical advice seriously, and the most vulnerable are now…
Top 10 Contemporary Classic Fiction
We bring you masters of contemporary fiction, some are already becoming classics, all of which, once started you cannot put down, whether in Spanish or English.
LEONA
In a moving film set in the Syrian Jewish community in Mexico, director Isaac Cherem examines how cultural pressures affect a young girl who breaks with tradition and falls in love with a non-Jewish lad.
MAGIC MAJO
Joining the cast of Cirque Du Soleil's latest show - inspired by her native Mexico - is a dream come true, singer Majo Cornejo tells Elizabeth Mistry
JENNY AND THE MEXICATS
Singer Jenny Ball talks touring, trumpets and full English breakfasts with Elizabeth Mistry
DEBRIS (DESECHOS) Dir. Julio O. Ramos
Despite being only 14min. long, this short film, that has qualified for Oscar consideration, turns out to be a chilling and riveting thriller. It exposes the tribulations suffered by men who are enticed to the USA for work and a…
FIRE IN THE BASEMENT (2019) A short film by Eva Vázquez de Reoyo at the Raindance Film Festival.
An inventive short film that examines the revolution of ideas and shocking violence that took place in Mexico in 1968, from the point of view of 3 student friends in Mexico City. The Director Eva Vázquez de Reoyo talks about the…
‘Cumbia was a means of liberation’ - An Interview with Sonora Dinamita
About to celebrate it’s 60th birthday, Sonora Dinamita was making Cumbia before the hipsters of Europe and Asia, who embraced the genre, were an apple in the eye of music marketeers. The Cartagena Cumbia group, who then moved to…
Caballerango (Dir Juan Pablo González)
‘CABALLERANGO’, by Mexican film maker Juan Pablo González, is a feature-length documentary examining the effects of a suicide on a family and the people of a village afflicted by more than one such death, some by consuming…
THE CHAMBERMAID Dir. Lila Avilés
Filmed in an astonishing 17 days, the multi- award-winning film, THE CHAMBERMAID, follows the daily routine of a 20-something chambermaid who is responsible for the 21st floor of a 5-star luxury hotel. Endless corridors…
OUR TIME (Dir. Carlos Reygadas)
‘Our Time’ (Nuestro Tiempo) 2018 challenges our ideas of man’s condition in life. Juan Díaz and his beautiful wife Esther run a ranch in Mexico rearing fighting bulls. They have a perfect relationship in an open marriage, or so…
Latest Content
Music
Quimantú presents Surtierra Touring Project: When Music is Home
The musical group Quimantú, through its Surtierra Touring Project, aims to break the stigmas…
Film & Theatre
MAGDALENA, TE AMO (2024) by Andrea Calao
‘Magdalena, Te Amo’ (2024) is a moving short film about student sex workers in New York. Premiered…
Film & Theatre
Power Alley (Levante- 2023) by Brazilian director Lillah Halla
Lillah Halla is emerging as the new kid on the block in Brazil with her opera prima, Levante (Power…
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Top 10 Argentine Footballers
As one of the biggest football teams in South America and the world, the Argentine Football…
Top 10 Mexican Boxers
Globally, Mexico is known as a boxing powerhouse, boasting some of the greatest champions in the…
Ballads and Boleros
LatinoLife's Favourite Mexican Male Singers of all Time
Since the days when Mexico was a serious rival to Hollywood in terms of film production and quality…
