Latin, Tropicalia etc.

Trini Lopez: Pop-Folk Is Here To Stay — Like It Or Not

Profile by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, October 1963

SOME SAY IT'S TOO COMMERCIAL, IMPURE, PHONEY, ETC., BUT WHATEVER THEY SAY ABOUT IT... ...

Jose Feliciano, Willie Bobo: Downing Stadium, Randall's Island, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, New York Times, July 1969

Jose Feliciano Gives A Bilingual Concert On Randall's Island ...

Santana: Welcome

Review by Ian MacDonald, NME, January 1974

SANTANA WERE always a good group, even though debs and deadheads liked them and played 'Soul Sacrifice' endlessly at boring Friday night Strand-ups. ...

Fania All Stars, The: The Fania All Stars: Live

Live Review by Miles, NME, January 1976

A TERRIBLE HANGOVER and a record comes under the front door. I pluck up the courage to put it on (the cover has such loud ...

Fania All Stars, The: The Fania All-Stars: It's Skinny [OLÉ] It's Dangerous [OLÉ OLÉ] And It Drinks Cheap Spanish Wine...

Overview by Miles, NME, February 1976

With a rose clenched between his teeth, the man they call EL MILES infiltrates the heady, exotic world of the Strand Lyceum, where trousers are ...

Brat, The, El Chicano, Los Illegals, Los Lobos, Tierra: Latino Bands

Overview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, January 1984

EVER SINCE Ritchie Valens rocketed into the national spotlight a quarter century ago with 'La Bamba', Los Angeles' Latino musicians have made repeated attempts to ...

The Noise From Brazil

Overview by Carol Cooper, Elle, August 1989

MARCO AURELIO DA SILVA, known as Mazola, sits hunched over the console in one of Rio’s top recording studios, waiting for a live horn section ...

Gloria Estefan: Treasure Island Ahoy!

Profile and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, Q, October 1989

BASKING IN FLORIDA'S almost blood temperature waters, with the ice cream-coloured Miami Beach architecture in the background, the 50-acre, man-made haven of Star Island is ...

David Byrne: Rei Momo

Review by Mark Cooper, Q, November 1989

DESPITE DAVID Byrne's beaver-like activities over the last few years, his persona and his work have gradually been losing much of their old allure. Perhaps ...

David Byrne: Music, Maestro!

Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, February 1990

Although embarrassed at being hailed a "cultural ambassador", David Byrne has temporarily put Talking Heads on hold to step out with his 14-piece Latin big ...

Gloria Estefan: Into The Light

Review by Lloyd Bradley, Q, March 1991

GLORIA ESTEFAN'S FIRST new album since a coach crash last March left her with, among other things, a broken back. ...

Caetano Veloso: Town Hall, New York City

Live Review by Richard Gehr, Newsday, August 1991

Brazil's most respected singer-songwriter is a velvet-voiced visionary with a surreal sense of humor. Richard Gehr at Town Hall, Saturday night. ...

Ruben and the Jets: For Real/Con Safos

Review by Miles, MOJO, May 1995

WHEN FRANK ZAPPA released his 1968 Cruising With Ruben & The Jets album of parodies of '50s R&B and doo wop, a number of radio ...

Jeff Buckley, Esquivel: AUDIO: Jeff Buckley interviews Esquivel (1996)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages Audio, April 1996

Jeff Buckley asks the questions, and Esquivel gives us a glimpse of his happy half-century of music making.

File format: mp3; in 2 parts, total file sizes: 40.6meg, total interview length: 44' 20" sound quality: **

Los Lobos: Wild Gift

Profile and Interview by Richard Gehr, Spin, June 1996

Years down the road, Los Lobos defy all odds, making the most radically experimental music of their career. Richard Gehr hones in on their secret ...

Caetano Veloso: Tropicalia CDs: Samba takes a trip

Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, 1998

ON THE DAY that man first trod upon the moon, Brazilian stars Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil were bidding a reluctant farewell to their homeland. ...

Tom Ze: Tom Zé: Fabrication Defect (Luaka Bop/Warner Bros.)

Review by Richard Gehr, Village Voice, May 1998

TOM ZÉ'S peculiar contribution to the Tropicalistas' highly influential 1968 collaborative album Tropicalia: Ou Panis Et Circencis was the satiric antidevelopment anthem ‘Parque Industrial’, which ...

Menudo, Ricky Martin: Ricky Martin

Interview by Bill Brewster, Big Issue, The, July 1999

What were your influences growing up in Puerto Rico? ...

Santana: Jack of All Trades: Carlos Santana

Interview by Andy Gill, Independent, The, January 2000

AROUND THIS TIME every year, the American music industry holds its collective breath as the Grammy awards nominations are announced, eager to see which of ...

Jesús Alemañy, ¡Cubanismo!: ¡Cubanismo!: Jesús Alemañy goes beyond Buena Vista

Report and Interview by j. poet, Boston Phoenix, April 2000

IT'S BEEN EASY to get the impression over the past couple of years that Cuban music starts and ends with the Buena Vista Social Club. ...

João Gilberto: Carnegie Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Bill DeMain, MOJO, August 2000

Set List: 'Doralice'/'Vivo Sohondo'/'Ecliose'/'Samba De Una Nota So'/'Samba Da Minha Terra'/'Voce Vai Ver'/'Bonita'/'Morena Boca De Ouro'/'A Felicidade'/'O Pato'/'Estate'/'Chega De Saudade'/'Um Abraco No Bonfa'/'Sem Compromisso'/'S'Wonderful'/'Wave'/'Triste'/'Eu Vim ...

Los Lobos: The Entertainers: Learning from Los Lobos

Review by Nick Hornby, New Yorker, April 2001

WHAT A PIECE OF WORK is a boxed set! How infinite(ish) in faculty! In action, how like an angel! ...

Cachaito: Buena Vista Bassman

Report and Interview by Mark Hudson, Daily Telegraph, June 2001

A TOUGH-LOOKING character in a back-to-front baseball cap slaps hard around a semi-circle of conga drums. An older man, small and self-contained, who could easily ...

Caetano Veloso: Tropical Truth: A Story of Music and Revolution in Brazil (Knopf)

Book Review by Will Hermes, Village Voice, September 2002

IT'S TOUGH TO imagine an American pop star penning a memoir like Tropical Truth. That's not just because our musical celebs are rarely imprisoned for ...

Brujeria: This Is Jarcor: Brujeria

Profile and Interview by Chris Campion, Dazed & Confused, July 2003

Mexican Death metal band Brujeria are the white man's nightmare. Striking mortal fear into the populace both north and south of the border for over ...

Joe Bataan: Young, Gifted And Brown

Sleevenotes by James Maycock, Vampi Soul Records, 2004

A ROMANTIC STREET punk, a jailbird with spirit, a champion of the blue-collar underdog – Joe Bataan is a rebel with soul. ...

Fania All Stars, The: Fania All Stars: Our Latin Thing

Sleevenotes by James Maycock, Vampi Soul Records, 2004

ON 19TH JULY, 1972, the first few images flickering on the screen at the premiere of Our Latin Thing in New York’s Line 2 cinema ...

Johnny Pacheco: Latin Swing's Last Lion: 
Johnny Pacheco Returns to the New York His Salsa Once Changed

Profile and Interview by Carol Cooper, Village Voice, January 2004

DAPPER, CHARISMATIC, and 68 years young, Johnny Pacheco is one of New York's cultural lions, a Juilliard alumnus who revolutionized the way Afro-Latin swing, a/k/a ...

Eddie Palmieri: The Man Who Stirred Up Salsa

Interview by Mark Hudson, Daily Telegraph, March 2004

Eddie Palmieri, maverick genius and opening act in next month's Latin music festival at the South Bank, tells Mark Hudson why salsa is more than ...

Bebel Gilberto: Joao And Bebel Gilberto

Profile and Interview by James Maycock, Times, The, June 2004

IT WAS IN THE summer of ‘64, 40 years ago this month, that Joao Gilberto’s ‘A Girl From Ipanema’ was released. A huge global ...

AUDIO: Shakira (2005)

Interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages Audio, 2005

The Latino Lioness on her Oral Fixation album, writing in English, politics and poverty, and the benefits of belly dancing.

file format: mp3; file size: 22mb; Interview length: 24' 13"; sound quality: ****

Fania All Stars, The: Rumba In The Jungle: Fania All Stars Live In Africa

Sleevenotes by James Maycock, Vampi Soul DVD, February 2005

1974 WAS A fine year for Jerry Masucci's golden boys. Following the triumphs of Our Latin Thing, the Fania All Stars broke out across the ...

Ry Cooder: Chavez Ravine (Nonesuch)

Review and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, July 2005

AFTER A DECADE of travels that's taken him from Timbuktu to Cuba, Ry Cooder has come home to shine a light on a shameful episode ...

Sergio Mendes: Legends of Songwriting: Sergio Mendes

Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, October 2005

ON TIMELESS, the latest album by Sergio Mendes, there's a line in the title track that goes, "Kindness is timeless/Love is so easy." ...

Eddie Palmieri & La Perfecta: Sugar Daddy

Sleevenotes by James Maycock, Fania CD, September 2007

THE HIP DANCEFLOOR RHYTHMS OF PALMIERI'S LA PERFECTA: 1962-1967 ...

Mario Telles: Mario Telles

Sleevenotes by Tim Tooher, Rev-Ola Records, September 2007

THE SUBTLE DANCE between melody and meaning, both music and lyrics, is what makes a song. This should, and often does, lessen the appeal of ...

Santana's Michael Shrieve (2009)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages Audio, June 2009

The Santana drummer remembers the glory days — Abraxas, Woodstock etc. — and the coke, Coke Escovedo and the crumbling of the band.

File format: mp3; file size: 42.1mb, interview length: 45' 56" sound quality: * (phoner)

Shakira Wants to Fight Poverty and Offer Escapism

Interview by Gavin Martin, Daily Mirror, December 2009

SHAKIRA'S THE 50 million-selling pocket-sized Colombian superstar whose high-profile charity work, runaway international success and eye-boggling performances comprise a perfect combination of brain power and ...