NAAFI to Take Over New York, Los Angeles, and Mexico City for 7th Anniversary...
The NAAFI crew has come a long way in their seven years of existence. In 2010, they launched as a series of Mexico City parties, later transforming into a record label. NAAFI, an acronym that means “No...
View ArticleNick Hakim Talks Recording in Spanish, Sacred Spaces, and His New Album...
When a 19-year-old Nick Hakim got off the bus in Boston for his audition at the Berklee College of Music, he was fresh off a high school career in which he’d been held back a year and shuffled between...
View ArticleDeltatron and Lao Confront Collective Trauma on a Sinister New Collab
You have to take Terror Negro Records founder Deltatron‘s word about his latest release, an LP named Ego Trip; the album is best seen as the Peruvian producer’s avid exploration of self. Deltatron’s...
View ArticleDeltatron’s ‘Ego Trip’ LP is Brash Rap-Cumbia Precision
There’s this spot around the 1:10 mark on “Reyes del Sabor,” a track with Mexico-San Jose producer Turbo Sonidero from Deltatron’s Ego Trip LP, when a musical connection is made. It’s about the...
View ArticleA Look Inside One of the Country’s Only Afro-Latin American Anthropology...
When 22-year-old Cristian Casanova signed up for ANT 383 – Studies in Selected Cultures: Afro-Latin America – at Illinois State University, he was just looking to fill an anthropology requirement. But...
View ArticleFrom Solange’s Minimalism to Elza Soares’ Soul: Here’s What Went Down at...
Barcelona’s Primavera Sound Festival feels like nothing short of a decathlon, and by now many of us deserve a medal. With 12 stages scattered over Barcelona’s enormous coastal reserve at Parc del...
View ArticleThis Mexican-Guatemalan Artist Created an Epic Life-Size Lowrider Piñata
When Justin Favela isn’t co-hosting the Latinos Who Lunch podcast with Emmanuel Ortega, he’s transforming piñatas from party staples to impressive structures that make statements on his culture. One of...
View ArticleA New Law Will Require Quechua to Be Taught in Cusco Schools
Years ago, when Américo Mendoza Mori moved to Cusco to become fluent in Quechua, he struggled to find anyone willing to speak to him in the language. “By then, I already knew a lot of grammar but spoke...
View ArticleNAAFI Warps Migos, Maluma, and Missy Elliott Into Irresistible Bootlegs on...
NAAFI’s Pirata series has become a legendary happening, and its fourth incarnation is characteristically expansive, clocking in at a robust 34 tracks, for which its full hemisphere of producers pulled...
View ArticleMC Bin Laden and NAAFI’s Long-Awaited Collab “Tototo” Is a Raucous Baile Funk...
Even the cursory fan of Mexican club collective NAAFI knows that the crew has a penchant for reimagining funk carioca. That affinity for the Brazilian rhythm culminates in “Tototo,” a long-awaited...
View ArticleDefensa’s “No Me Digas” Lyric Video is a Dancehall-Drenched Invitation To Get...
In Argentina’s world-famous nightlife landscape, a new club revolution is attracting crowds out of the megadiscos and into small yet intense guerrilla-style parties. Spearheaded by collectives like...
View ArticleAs the Federal Government’s Relief Efforts Fail, the Puerto Rican Diaspora...
As Puerto Ricans on the island struggled to access food, water, cash, and gasoline over the weekend in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, public figures of Puerto Rican descent attended Gov. Andrew...
View ArticleIntersect: Why the Yoruba Roots of Ibeyi’s New Album ‘Ash’ Are a Necessary...
In 2006, Miguel “Angá” Díaz suffered a heart attack and died at his home in Barcelona. Just 45 years old, Díaz had already established himself as a virtuosic and innovative percussionist, with stints...
View ArticleTRAILER: Historical Drama ‘Morazán’ Is Honduras’ First-Ever Entry for the...
Recent standouts like Guatemala’s Ixcanul or Costa Rica’s Princesas Rojas have introduced international audiences to Central American cinema by representing their countries at festivals around the...
View ArticleC. Tangana’s ‘Ídolo’ Album Heralds a New Global Chapter for Spanish Urbano
The hairless cats look tan. GQ called the international promotional campaign for rapper C. Tangana’s album Ídolo “the largest ever carried out for a Spanish artist,” so it’s possible that Antón Álvarez...
View ArticleHow LA’s “Los Doyers” Fans Turned a Racist Insult into a Point of Pride
If you watched Games 1 and 2 of the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, live from LA, you saw them: screaming and passionate fans, wearing T-shirts, jerseys, and more with...
View ArticleHow #CentralAmericanTwitter Evolved Beyond a Hashtag Into a Much-Needed...
After decades of invisibility, Central Americans are stepping out of the shadows. Online, the #CentralAmericanTwitter hashtag has provided a common space to share diverse cultures and political views...
View ArticleAfter María: How Puerto Ricans Are Rebuilding By Relying On Each Other
Approximately a month after Hurricane María devastated the island of Puerto Rico, a group of about 15 people stand lined up for hand sanitizer outside el Centro de Apoyo Mutuo in Río Piedras. It’s just...
View ArticleA Look Back at Mexico’s Round-of-16 World Cup Curse
Most Mexicans went crazy with dread when the 2018 FIFA World Cup Draw placed El Tri in the latest Group of Death, with Germany, South Korea, and Sweden. But all I could think about was 1994. I was 15...
View ArticleThe Suena a Revolución Podcast Highlights Musicians Creating the Soundtrack...
Thousands of miles north, past dozens of political borders, two women in Canada are broadcasting the sounds of revolution from the Caribbean, Central, and South America. On their three-year-old podcast...
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