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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The Brazilian singer and guitarist, who won wide acclaim for his abundant technical skill and minimalist style, was behind one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time, 1964's Getz/Gilberto.
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Latin artists at SXSW 2019 Festival have traveled from Brazil and Venezuela where speaking out against government officials can be dangerous.
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There's a new box set of rare Cuban music recordings from the 1950s and 60s. The set is called The Complete Cuban Jam Sessions. Hear an interview with co-producer Judy Cantor-Navas on Alt. Latino.
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The patriarch helped take his legendary family from Gary, Ind., to global stardom, though the disciplinarian streak he used to get them there proved controversial later in life.
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The norteño band became the first major Latin band to play at Folsom Prison since Johnny Cash did in 1968.
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NPR Music's Rodney Carmichael and Felix Contreras dish about their favorite new discoveries at South by Southwest 2018 over a plate of barbecue.
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Rapper Cardi B's song "Bodak Yellow" hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. This marks only the second time in history that a female rapper has topped the charts unaccompanied.
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Since the legendary singer began his career in the 1960s, he won Grammys in the jazz, pop and R&B categories. Just one clue that Jarreau, who died Sunday, was impossible to categorize.
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With a voice that borrows heavily from opera, Downs performs the kind of full-throated mariachi singing that would fit right in at Mexico City's Garibaldi Square — ground zero for mariachi.
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Alt.Latino goes mining for new sounds in the less prominent categories of this year's Latin Grammys.