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...
Tel Aviv Bachata Listening Post 163. When it comes to synergistic contrasts, to matching moods and cultural elements that don’t typically appear together and then making them crackle, Rotem Cohen has few equals. He began his career writing for some of Israel’s leading...
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...
All the Breaks Listening Post 150. “Whatever women do,” observed the feminist pioneer Charlotte Whitton, “they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.” No surprise that when Flor de Toloache became the first...
Rising to the Balcony Listening Post 138. If you had to choose one biography as a window to the splendor and diversity of Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain), a good choice might be the scientist-philosopher-musician-poet Ibn Bâjja. Though much of his work was lost, his...
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...
Perfect Fifth Listening Post 107. Most of Prince Royce’s career as a singer and songwriter has been dedicated to bachata, but with an open window letting in subtle flavors from outside. The Bronx-born son of Dominican parents, Royce has released albums in Spanish and...
Songs for Troubled Times Listening Post 105. Bob Dylan warned the Establishment that a raging battle would “soon shake your windows and rattle your walls/For the times they are a-changin'.” Five decades later, If I Was President, the signature protest track from Las...
Bride and Prejudice Listening Post 83. The Sephardic saga includes chapters of persecution and expulsion, but on her forth album the Israeli singer-songwriter Mor Karbasi (who has also lived in London and Seville) looks at her Jewish heritage from Spain and Morocco...
Eclectic Echosystem Listening Post 79. In the Peruvian rainforest where Ciro Hurtado grew up, the sun peaked through the tree canopy and radio brought musical breezes from neighboring countries and around the world. Though he has lived in the United States since he...
Feminine Fables Listening Post 75. Ana Alcaide has forged a musical Silk Route to distant lands and past epochs. Blending imported elements into her work, she has made the Swedish nyckelharpa part of her medieval Spanish repertoire; released two albums exploring the...
All Time Record Listening Post 71. When Ricardo Arjona was playing on Guatemala’s state basketball team in 1987, he scored 78 points in a single game, setting a national record that stood for decades. He also has impressive numbers as a singer-songwriter—filling...
Call Him Ismael Listening Post 45. Few artists juggle as many elements as the Spanish cantautor Ismael Serrano. First, there is the potent and cohesive mix of social comment and protest alongside songs of love and heartbreak. Then, his soft baritone, clear even when...
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...
One For the Record Book Listening Post 34. An album that makes those “greatest of all time” lists is one you can listen to endlessly and never want to skip a track. Un Besito Más (One More Kiss) by the Mexican brother-sister, singer-songwriter duo Jesse Eduardo and...
Shop Talk Listening Post 27. Nations rarely achieve higher living standards without losing some of their essence in the climb. The Cuban troubadour Tony Ávila sings and composes with wit, nostalgia and caution about the grinding wheels of change and progress. The...
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...
Here Comes the Sun Listening Post 14. While summer headlines about Greek debt and the refugee crisis made it seem like Europe was coming apart, a throbbing, Latin-beat song about erasing borders became a smash hit across the continent. The song, El Mismo Sol (The Same...
Love and Kisses Listening Post 2. Early in his career, Juan Luis Guerra was already a giant of Latin music, the national poet of the Dominican Republic and the man who put merengue and bachata on a world stage. Now, some 30 years on, he has a new album that matches...
