
Things That Matter to...Arya
The second profile in our series on Venezuelan Diaspora Music, we are delighted to present a true rising star; Italo-Venezuelan singer/songwriter Arya. Daughter of Orlando Watussi, a well-known Venezuelan salsa singer, Arya grew…
Latin Londoner #34: Gisella Stapleton, Artist
The unique artworks of vibrant colours, inspired by folklore and culture, with social undertones, are quickly earning a name for Peruvian artist Gisella Stapleton. Gisella’s work combines realism and abstract art, mixing figure…
Coconut Passion Brulee
We at LatinoLife are embracing Veganuary or 'Veganenero' as we say in Spanish. Come on its only one month! But, as we've hit the half-way wall of mid January we could do with a bit of inspiration, so we asked our…
Things You Should Know About...Latin Jazz pioneers
Latin Jazz or Jazz Latino…the Latino “tinge” was part of American Jazz DNA from day one but somehow has been, at best, perceived as a sub-genre or, at worst, erased from history books. When Cuban musicians arrived in Harlem in…
Fish Finding Water: The Story of Pescadito Films
Children’s films do not always get the headlines they deserve despite being vital to the film industry these days. With Disney recently finding a lucrative business in Latino related animations such as the hugely successful Coco…
Top 10 Mexican Boxers
Globally, Mexico is known as a boxing powerhouse, boasting some of the greatest champions in the sport’s history, something which continues today. Here we present 10 of the greatest Mexican boxers of all time
City Music Guide: Cali
Over the years LatinoLife has built up relationships with amazing DJs around the world; their passion, knowledge and dedication to the music they love we admire. As part of a new series, we decided to ask our friends for the…
'3 Feet' Dir. Giselle Geney
This charming children’s short film '3 Feet' by Colombian director Giselle Geney is an unaffected and delightful tale of the challenges and dilemmas facing children when faced with the conflict between their dreams and…
What Will Biden Mean for Latin America?
After four years of global ridicule and eroding influence overseas, the new president will be under immediate pressure to show where his priorities lie. From détente with Iran to an assertive Russia and a combative China, Latin…
Omar Allibhoy's Green Paella
We at LatinoLife are embracing Veganuary or Veganenero as we say in Spanish. Come on its only one month! So we asked our favourite Spanish chef Omar Allibhoy for recipes and he gave us his delicious Green Paella: a paella version…
The Queen of Quechua Pop Grows Up
Back in 2018, Renata Flores Rivera burst onto the international music map with her cover of Michael Jackson’s ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ in Quechua, the indigenous language of the Incas. The video received almost two million…
Vegan Tres Leches Cake
The Tres Leches Cake is a Latin American Classic, one of those where every country thinks they invented it. A full on butter cake—soaked in three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream its very difficult…
Tito Rojas Dies at 65
There are very few salsa artists who had the level of success that Tito Rojas had during the 90s. One of the best selling Latino artists of that decade, he managed to stay relevant until pretty much he passed away a few weeks ago…
Things You Should Know About...Inspiring US Afro-Latinxs
Changing the world in everything from Poetry to Baseball, from Politics to Hollywood, here, in no particular order, are just some of the US Afro-Latinos who have helped shape the American landscape and who you should definitely…
ARMANDO MANZANERO : LIGHTS GO OUT FOR MEXICO'S SMOOCHIE COOCHIE MAN
Armando Manzanero was one of Mexico’s greatest romantic composers, whose ballads were performed by the likes of Elvis Presley and Christina Aguilera and, most famously, provided the tunes for Luis Miguel's best selling…
Latin Londoner #33: Natalia Luisbassa, Conductor
Coming up through Venezuela's world famous El Sistema, Natalia became the first person to obtain a degree in Orchestral Conducting in Venezuela. She completed her postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music (RCM) in…
‘I'm No Longer Here' Dir Fernando Frías de la Parra
Selected to represent Mexico at the 93rd Academy Awards this debut from Fernando Frías de la Parra is profoundly accomplished, bringing a new and highly original voice to Mexican cinema. Garlanded at multiple festivals, the film…
Argentina Becomes Third South American Country to Legalise Abortion
This week, the South American country became the largest nation in Latin America to legalise abortion, a landmark victory for women across the region. It comes after years of mobilisation by the grass-roots movements in response…
Great Latin American films from 2021
2021 was a difficult year for film, especially cinema releases. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the 2021 Academy Awards event took place in April 2021, at the usual event venue, the spectacular Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los…
Remembering José José, Mexican Singer (1948-2019)
Mexico is a land blessed with many things, including a huge amount of phenomenal singers and one of the most populars ever is who they call “El Principe”, the Prince of Song, José José. A hugely popular figure in his native…
Top 10 Music Docs on Netflix
At LatinoLife we love our music and there are some great documentaries we've discovered on Netflix that we want to share...from a panoramic view into the electrifying world of Latin Rock to the fascinating lives of music…
Pao Pestana
Pao Pestana’s feisty cocktail of seductive beats and gritty sensuality packs a contagious punch. The Venezuelan-born, London-based singer-songwriter and Producer self-released ‘Quiero Verte’ in October, attracting the attention…
Latin Londoner no.32: Alejandro Madrigal, Scientist
Prof. Alejandro Madrigal is a world leader in the area of stem cell transplantation. Beginning in Mexico, he continued his training at Harvard, Stanford and University College London (UCL). He is currently Professor of…
Loathe the Word Latino? Blame it on the French!
The word ‘Latino’ may conjure up style and swagger (LatinoLife, of course, equalling all things cool). But having been created as a tool in Europe’s colonial tussle for territory, is the word really cool or has Latin America come…
10 Novels To Gift This Christmas
This list of books takes you from one corner of Latin America to the other with a special trip over the Atlantic to a lost town in the middle of Spain. We chose 9 books written by women authors in this selection where you'll…
Black Heroines of Latin American History
Being an female activist meant putting your life at risk, being a black female activist was a probable death sentence, yet these courageous women took that risk, and gave their lives in some cases, in order to shape our history.…
Nheengatu – Conquest and Resistance in the Amazon
Travelling by boat along the deep Amazon forest, Portuguese Film director José Barahona searches for a language that was all but obliterated when his ancestors imposed their own language upon the native population in Brazil.…
Do Bad Bunny Music Videos Spell the Future?
Officially the world’s most popular artist: 26-year-old Puerto Rican vocalist Bad Bunny, streamed more than 8.3bn times this year on Spotify alone. With 3 chart-topping, history-making albums in 2020 alone, Bad Bunny is on track…
Remembering Daniel Santos, Puerto Rican Singer (1916-1992)
Very few singers have been able to combine Puerto Rican and Cuban music to create one single style like Puerto Rican Daniel Santos did. His long connection with the best Cuban music of the 1940s and 50s provided his musical work…
THE MOLE AGENT (2020) Dir. Maite Alberdi
“I love the fact that everything I would like to invent already exists; the challenge is to find it!” With this attitude, Chilean director Maite Alberdi brings her highly original eye to her documentaries, not least THE MOLE…
OUR TIME TO SHINE
Sons and daughters of immigrants, the UK’s first-generation Spanglish-singing Latino-Brits have been busy creating in the shadows of a bustling UK urban music scene. But with music in Spanish now making the global hits, they…
Clementina, Where Are You?
In Brazil, Cinderella has a different name - Clementina. Clementina de Jesus worked for decades as a maid before being discovered, at the age of 62, by a record producer and composer named Herminio Bello de Carvalho. With the…
Imagining Orwell
Award-winning Uruguayan photo-journalist Julio Etchart is one of the UK’s best known documentary photographers covering news, social and environmental issues for the international press and NGOs. His latest project is a…
Pino Solanas - Film Director, Activist (1936-2020)
Fernando Ezequiel 'Pino' Solanas, charismatic and legendary filmmaker, politician, activist and father to filmmaker Juan Solanas (‘Nordeste’- 2005, ‘Que sea Ley -2019’) has died aged 84, on November 6th 2020, of Covid-…
The Hand of God – Argentina’s Peculiar Blessing and Burden
Argentines will both mourn and celebrate the death of Maradona as they haven’t since the death of Evita, for it is love-hate with him, just like Argentines with their own self-image. As with all its other famous people, the…