Felix Contreras
Felix Contreras is co-creator and host of Alt.Latino, NPR's pioneering radio show and podcast celebrating Latin music and culture since 2010.
In addition to his post behind the mic, Contreras programs music from the Latin diaspora for the acclaimed Tiny Desk concerts and hosts a weekly Instagram Live interview with a wide-ranging roster of guests.
A knowledgeable international ambassador for Latino heritage and arts, "Tio Felix '' travels extensively in search of new talent and new music and captures important legacy performers in jazz and Latin genres. Various national and international publications have quoted his expertise on the contemporary influences of Latin culture, music, and media.
His a recovering TV journalist whose first post at NPR in 2001 was as a Producer/Reporter for the NPR News Arts Desk. He is also NPR's resident Deadhead and performs around the DC area with his Latin music Beatles cover band, Los Day Trippers.
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Americans are increasingly using hand-held devices to access the Internet and for texting, sending e-mails, playing music and instant messaging. A large number of those hyperusers are young Latinos and blacks, who crave the convenience of staying connected wherever they go.
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Americans are increasingly using hand-held devices to access the Internet and for texting, sending e-mails, playing music and instant messaging. A large number of those hyperusers are young Latinos and blacks, who crave the convenience of staying connected wherever they go.
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On Tuesday night, a tradition continues: ABC airs the animated special, A Charlie Brown Christmas. Its jazzy Vince Guaraldi soundtrack is a holiday staple, too, but it wasn't embraced by all who first heard it.
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The founders of Fania Records didn't set out to change the course of Latin music, but that's just what they did. The label went out of business in the late 1970s, and the records have since become hard-to-find collector's items. Now, a Miami-based record label is reissuing that music.
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Bids are expected to top $11 billion in the sale of Univision, the dominant Spanish language media outlet in the United States. But the network's next owners will face big challenges. There is more competition than ever from newer Spanish media. To keep its dominance, Univision seeks to attract and keep, younger, bilingual Latinos.
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The lead singer of the music group the Buena Vista Social Club, Ibrahim Ferrer, has died at 78. He didn't become a star until a 1997 film based on the Cuban group's work drew international acclaim. He won two Grammys after he turned 70.
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Meshell Ndegeocello has released five critically acclaimed albums since 1993 that featured socially provocative lyrics driven by a solid groove. On her latest CD, Ndegeocello leaves her husky voice behind and lets her bass guitar take center stage. Felix Contreras reports.
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As a child, writer Sandra Cisneros turned to fairy tales to escape from her run down surroundings. Their highly stylized language inspired her own distinct literary voice, which blends Spanish-language rhythms and cadences into English to tell stories of a cross-cultural world. For Intersections, a series on artists' influences, Cisneros tells NPR's Felix Contreras how she finds inspiration in the collision of languages.
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Take a dollop of Stevie Ray Vaughan, a pinch of Santana and a helping of Ritchie Valens and you might come up with a band that sounds a lot like Los Lonely Boys. The Austin-based group of Mexican-American brothers also has country music roots and considers Willie Nelson a patron of sorts. NPR's Felix Contreras reports. Hear band members discuss one of their recording sessions and listen to selections from their debut CD.
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As a Colombian-American singer-songwriter, Soraya has spent her life traveling between two worlds. NPR's Felix Contreras reports on Soraya's career and a personal challenge that threatened to derail it.