L.A. Soul, Chilean Hip-Hop, Colombian Cumbia And More

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We start off this week's show with Miguel's "Party Life."

After months of traveling, taping special shows and other diversions, Alt.Latino co-host Jasmine Garsd and I were finally able to start exploring the CDs waiting for us at home. The first batch we opened was quite an eclectic mix and we offer them as our first new music show in a while.

Jasmine gets her groove back with two serious dance tracks: "Party Life" by the California-born Miguel and "La Niña" by Meketrefe. It's one thing to appreciate the musicality of a track from just listening; it's something completely different to "hear" it through your body as you move.

I was impressed again by the musical vision of Estrella Sanchez and World Hood from my hometown of Sacramento, Calif. They offer great music and artistic activism via their non profit arts group Sol Collective.

This week there is a spirited discussion about music that sparkles with organic rawness rather than from a studio sheen. The song in question is a track from a collection of remixes by Spain's Ojos de Brujo. I use one of our Musical DNA segments to explain why I like it, offering up source music like a track from the seminal Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis and Gil Evans and a more recent classic by Jerry Gonzalez Y Los Piratas del Flamenco.

The overall theme of discovery is back on the table — and this week we have lots of music that is new to us and, we hope, attractive to you.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Felix Contreras is co-creator and host of Alt.Latino, NPR's pioneering radio show and podcast celebrating Latin music and culture since 2010.