She is young, soft spoken; her vocals are zephyrous, her lyrics without guile, her arrangements demure, and she plays the cello without bombast. At the same time, Dom La Nena is an immensely affecting and gently powerful musician,... Read Article
Aldo López-Gavilán’s eyes open wide and round as he examines a vast gallery of vintage American cars in Detroit. On his first visit to the States, he comments ingenuously to his brother and host, Ilmar, “I didn’t know... Read Article
A burnished man, 40’s, wall-eyed, unshaven, his hair slicked down by the salt spray. He clamps his teeth on a home-rolled “puro,” the tail of a tobacco leaf lifted by the breeze to flap across his grey and... Read Article
I jumped at the chance to interview Totó la Momposina in 2005, on the eve of her New York Town Hall appearance. She arrived at her hotel from the airport a few minutes late, her band in tow,... Read Article
The story of Buena Vista Social Club, the reunion of veteran Cuban musicians who’d found modest success in the 1950s and 1960s, and the subsequent mega-breakout of their eponymous album and world concert tour, in 1997, has become... Read Article
Yesun, Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca’s 9th release, is a work of vivid intricacies woven by a master hand. Scion of a family of Cuban headliners—his mother is a famed dancer and singer, and was formerly married to Chucho... Read Article
Twenty years in the sub-Arctic cold of Smithers, British Columbia, hasn’t chilled the tropical soul of Alex Cuba (born Alexis Puentes). To the contrary, he’s recently added a layer of warmth, borne out by his seventh release, Sublime.... Read Article
I write from my go-to café in Merida, Mexico. Ki’ Xocolatl has been a refuge since I discovered their music collection, a virtually complete catalog of Putamayo’s compilation CDs from the discovery days of ‘world music’. But, I... Read Article
The music of Polo Montañez is back in circulation after almost 15 years, thanks to LusAfrica’s reissue of his two recordings, Guajiro Natural (2000) and Guitarra Mia (2002). The albums represent the brief but memorable archive of an... Read Article
During the nearly four centuries of slavery in the Americas, 2.5 million Africans were brought to the Hispanic New World; among the few things they carried with them was their music, which became inflected by life across the... Read Article
Latin America has a tortured history of democracy deferred by brutal dictatorships that were nearly endemic on the continent until the end of the last century. To oppose them, a number of nations cultivated a mighty aesthetic of... Read Article
World Circuit Records has been reissuing on vinyl various jewels from its trove of world music recordings. Their latest release is the superlative solo album of Cuba’s brilliant bassist, Orlando ‘Cachaito’ López, titled just Cachaito. I am as... Read Article
