Author: José Simián

José Luis Pardo, a.k.a. DJ Afro, plays guitar for the ubiquitous Los Amigos Invisibles, that New York-based crew of Venezuelans that have been making raunchy disco-Latin blends for more than a decade.

Pardo discovered his DJ persona, he says, once he became tired that before the Los Amigos’ gigs, the fans had to listen what club owners considered Latin music — the top 40 sounds of artists we won’t mention in this space.

Now DJ Afro has become associated with the up and coming National Geographic music label/website, Nat Geo Music, which this week had an event at music club Le Poisson Rouge.

[WATCH interview at NY1 Noticias]

Colombian music legend Totó La Momposina visited New York to perform at the Chase Latino Cultural Festival. In this interview, she explained how Afro-Colombian music can be nothing short of “exhuberant,” and why it is wrong to talk about a Third World.

Interview with percusionist Pedrito Martínez and composer Onel Mulet, before their performance at Central Park’s Summerstage.

Watch here.

Watch here.

If someone asked me to name one thing I am proud of as a reporter/producer, the first to come to my head would be to have interviewed Inti-Illimani’s Jorge Coulón on television. No chauvinism here (although, if you don’t know it, Inti-Illimani is a Chilean musical group); just the sheer pleasure of using media to communicate valuable knowledge.

Watch here.

Mor info on Inti-Illimani here.

My interview with Antibalas leader Martín Perna, on the third record of his indescribable and wonderful project Ocote Soul Sounds.

(Yes, in that picture he is singing to the rhythm of a donkey jaw scratched by a pencil, as you may have thought.)

Moving yet another step closer to becoming the Mano Negra of this generation, Calle 13 recently released Sin Mapa — a documentary of their travels through Latin America. (Manu Chao’s combo shot a film of its 1993 epic train trip through Colombia, scenes of which can be seen here and here.)

 At NY1 Noticias, Residente and Visitante explained that one of the goals of their film was to bridge the cultural gap that separates Central and South America. 

[Watch here.]