Felix Contreras
Felix Contreras is co-creator and host ofAlt.Latino, NPR's pioneering program about Latin Alternative music and Latino culture. It features music as well as interviews with many of the most well-known Latinx musicians, actors, filmmakers, and writers. He has hosted and produced Alt.Latino episodes from Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, and throughout the U.S. since the show started in 2010.
Previously, Contreras was a reporter and producer NPR's Arts Desk and, among other stories and projects, covered a series reported from Mexico on the musical movement called Latin Alternative; helped produce NPR's award-winning series 50 Great Voices; and reported a series of stories on the financial challenges aging jazz musicians face.
Contreras is a recovering television journalist who has worked for both NBC and Univision in Miami and California. He's a part-time musician who plays Afro-Cuban percussion with various jazz and Latin bands in the Washington, DC, area. He is also NPR Music's resident Deadhead.
-
The song "Afilando Los Cuchillos" was a major feature during the protests in Puerto Rico that led to the resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rossello last week.
-
Latin artists at SXSW 2019 Festival have traveled from Brazil and Venezuela where speaking out against government officials can be dangerous. -
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.
-
The norteñoband became the first major Latin band to play at Folsom Prison since Johnny Cash did in 1968. -
NPR Music's Rodney Carmichael and Felix Contreras dish about their favorite new discoveries at South by Southwest 2018 over a plate of barbecue. -
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.
-
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. -
Brazil's rich musical history is interwoven into Alt.Latino's weekly musical explorations. Just in time for the opening ceremonies, we collected some of our favorite Brazilian music moments. -
Alt.Latino host Felix Contreras shares some classic gems and some new tunes that both pay tribute to Puerto Rico's traditional sound and expand the island's musical tradition.
-
Alt.Latino talks to a bandleader with deep roots in Cuban music and a role in current events. O'Farrill just released a new album called Cuba: The Conversation Continues.
