(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL GROUP: (Singing in non-English language).
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Today marks the start of National Latino Heritage Month. That can mean many things to different people, but for our friends at NPR Music's Alt.Latino, it means a takeover of the popular Tiny Desk Concert series. Through the second week in October, all of the performances will be some kind of Latin music that has been handpicked by Felix Contreras and Anamaria Sayre, who join us this morning to fill us in on all that we're going to hear. Welcome, guys.
FELIX CONTRERAS, BYLINE: Hey, there.
ANAMARIA SAYRE, BYLINE: Ah, thanks for having us.
RASCOE: So, first of all, what is El Tiny?
CONTRERAS: OK, El Tiny is something that we've started to call this takeover. And it goes back to a couple of years when we had all these musicians from all over Latin America and Spain. And I heard them talking, and they were all excited to be there, and they kept referring to El Tiny, El Tiny. Then I suddenly realized they were talking about El Tiny Desk. They just shortened it. So that just stuck with me, and we just kind of redubbed that whole month El Tiny.
RASCOE: Oh, wow. You present Latin music all year-round. How is the programming of performances around Latino Heritage Month any different from what y'all already do?
SAYRE: This year, it's pretty funny, but we decided what we really care about is love. Now, there's all kinds of stereotypes, obviously, around what it means to be Latino and love - the Latin lover, everyone's heard it. But the way Felix and I like to think about it is it shows up in the music all the time in these really unique, expressive, important ways. I mean, we have artists like Danny Ocean this year, who is using conceits about heartbreak to talk about his love and loss for his country, Venezuela, or an artist like Daniel, me estas matando who is doing a reimagining of a really old style of lovesick music. So it's love, but we're turning it on his head to show that we like to love deeply.
RASCOE: Let's hear some music.
SAYRE: OK, so we're gonna start with that artist I just mentioned, Danny Ocean.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DANNY OCEAN: (Singing in non-English language).
RASCOE: That's got some good vibes to it.
SAYRE: Oh, absolutely. And that's the beauty of Danny - right? - because he can talk about things that are really deep and meaningful and impactful and emotional, but he always does it with this really joyful tinge to it. And I think that that's what makes his music so communicable and so relatable and unfelt in so many parts of Latin America because there's heartbreak and there's pain, but there's joy through all of that. And so he really, really represents that well for us.
RASCOE: And, Felix, I understand you have some Latin music from Canada.
(LAUGHTER)
RASCOE: Tell us more about that.
CONTRERAS: OK. Well - and, you know, of course, you know, Canada does have diplomatic relations with Cuba. So a lot of musicians over the years - and for quite a long time, for decades - have been going back and forth between Canada and the United States and even living in Canada. And there's this great interplay between the generations.
And the group I brought in to the tiny desk, Okan, is on the younger side, and they have been basically just absorbing the stuff from the older musicians that have been living there. They have their own take on Cuban music. It's very traditional. It's based on, you know, what they call the sanctity of faith and the music and all that, but it's also, like, so many other different world elements that you can hear in a place like Toronto. We brought them in, and they tore the place down.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
OKAN: (Singing in non-English language).
RASCOE: OK, so that's gonna get you out of your seat, right? That's getting you moving.
CONTRERAS: Definitely.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
CONTRERAS: Most definitely.
RASCOE: And the best concerts always end with a bang, on a high note. What will El Tiny have?
CONTRERAS: We have Juanes. Check this out.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JUANES: (Singing in non-English language).
CONTRERAS: For over 20 years, Juanes has been basically filling stadiums and large arenas. He's a huge star throughout Latin America, and he has the same status here in the United States, so it was very, very cool to see him in a small, intimate performance. And that charisma, that personality, that powerful music that he has inside of him just came out all over and filled the room, really. And we had a lot of fun with him, and I think he had a lot of fun. It was really one of the highlights of the session.
RASCOE: Oh, wow. And El Tiny kicks off on September 16 with Juanes. The entire schedule of 11 shows will be announced soon on NPR Music's social media. Felix Contreras and Anamaria Sayre are the host of the Alt.Latino podcast, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts, and the Alt.Latino radio show on select NPR member stations. Thank you so much, Felix and Ana.
CONTRERAS: Of course. Anytime.
SAYRE: Aw, thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JUANES: (Singing in non-English language). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
