Wave of the Present Listening Post 334. Like ripples on the water or wrinkles in time, the songs of Mónica Giraldo’s seventh album radiate gently. Water and time, in fact, are central features of the Colombian singer-songwriter’s 10-track collection Hubo un Tiempo...
Sewing a Song, Composing a Flag Listening Post 240. According to legend, during the Dominican Republic’s War of Independence a certain solider abandoned his post in the midst of battle, and after victory his comrades mockingly sang ”Tomás fled with the flag” in a...
Music to Nurture Nature Listening Post 222. Colombia ranks second in the Americas for forest cover and second worldwide in overall biodiversity, but the country is paying an unexpected environmental price for peace: The 2016 accord between government and guerrillas...
Mystery and Transparency Listening Post 202. Before you process a single word, there is poetry in the sound of Mónica Giraldo’s voice and guitar—a natural healing force akin to a magnificent sunset or refreshing breeze. As the lyrics flow the sensation deepens with...
Baby Love Listening Post 192. Accustomed to naming each of his albums after one of its standout tracks, Fonseca switched gears when he realized his newest release would coincide with his wife's giving birth. Thus did Agustín become his eighth baby and also his third....
Street Smart Listening Post 166. They began in struggle, illegal immigrants from Colombia and Argentina playing their music on the streets of Barcelona. Fifteen years later, Che Sudaka has performed more than 1,500 shows in 45 countries, etching a profile as...
A Star Is Reborn Listening Post 155. Shakira’s eleventh studio album, launched in 2017, showed her in peak form—bearing in mind that with Grammys galore, career record sales over 60 million and YouTube views topping 12 billion, her “peak” has an altitude mere...
Across the Universe Listening Post 120. As a lyricist, Juanes has been compared to John Lennon, as a humanitarian to Bono. He has sold 15 million albums and has honors to spare. So what more does the Colombian singer-songwriter aspire to? Well, there was his boyhood...
Lush Latin Spectrum Listening Post 39. Fonseca became one of Latin America’s leading singer-songwriters using an explosive mix of vallenato and cumbia—Colombia’s traditional folk styles—with tropipop. On Conexión, he offers a riveting pan-Latin blend. In Ya No Mi...
A Composer's Voice Listening Post 20. For two decades, Wilfran Castillo has been the preferred composer for many of Latin America’s most popular singers. With Desigual (Unequal), the Colombian musician demonstrates that he can not only write songs that trip well from...
