Brazil’s Heartbeat: Why Samba Is More Than Just Music
If your introduction to Brazilian music begins and ends with a few globally recognised hits, you’re only scratching the surface. Brazil’s musical landscape is vast, layered, and deeply tied to its social and cultural history. At…
THE DECEMBER REGGAETON RECAP | 2025
What a year 2025 has been, but don’t wish it away too fast, there’s still a whole month of new music to digest from some of your favourite Latin stars. If you’re after a way to kickstart your new year, how about a brand-new…
Movimientos 10th Birthday Playlist
DJ Cal Jader chooses 10 tracks from the Movimientos crates with some of the tunes that rocked the dance floor at their early nights to three key releases on their record label and a few killer tunes from the last few years.
'Salvavidas de Hielo' Jorge Drexler
Blasting away all things vacuous and inane in this world, the Uruguayan singer-songwriter delivers another sublime work of unique musicality and profound lyricism.
Family Atlantica
Spanning Latin America, Africa and Europe in a single record is no mean feat. But Family Atlantica absolutely pull it off.
MARCH REGGAETON RECAP | 2026
It’s that awkward transition into Spring and the songs in this playlist have varied energies. There’s a storytelling acoustic-turned-banger, an Ivy Queen single which features on an all-female reggaeton compilation as well as a…
Pagode: The Soundtrack of Togetherness
Brazilian music has always had a unique ability to transform emotion into rhythm, but few genres capture that feeling quite like pagode. Warm, intimate and deeply communal, pagode is more than just a style of music in Brazil. It…
THE SEPTEMBER REGGAETON RECAP
There's a slight chill in the air and the artists are feeling it too. Two Argentinian powerhouses reunite once more for a melancholic tropical pop number while Rauw Alejandro and Alejo try and avoid temptation on their…
Latin American Selection by George Peguero
Hailed as a child prodigy in Cuba, the UK-based artist takes us through the music of his childhood and gives us his selection of the top Latin American tracks ever (with a few honourary Latinos thrown in!)
Cuchi Cuchi all over the world
With over 20 years of acid-jazz influenced funky songs, cool riffs, and absurd lyrics Los Amigos Invisibles are one of the world's coolest cult outfits. Starting in the 1990s Chulius, Cheo, Odnam, Maurimix, Catire and…
One Minute in Time
One of the greatest references of Argentine rock drumming, Jorge Araujo played for years with Los Divididos, one of the best and most popular rock bands in Latin America, and later Gran Martell. Now Araujo launches his second…
New Era Jazz Queen
What is the outstanding quality that westerners find so baffling about Cuba’s bounty of world-class artists? From Carlos Acosta to Chucho Valdez, you’ll find a common combination unique to this idiosyncratic Caribbean island – a…
We Owe Paco So Much
Paco Peña, one of the world's most celebrated flamenco guitarists mourns an irreplaceable Flamenco soul and friend
The Reggeatón Evolution – Three Decades of Flow
When quintessentially English band Clean Bandit was recently rocking X Factor with their latest hit ‘Rockabye,’ few watching would have known that the country that invented its catchy beat was banned from playing it for years.…
Percussion Prince
Venezuela is known for producing outstanding percussionists, who are scouted by the world’s biggest artists, from jazz to pop. Headed by the famous Quinteros family, Venezuela’s percussion royalty has planted its roots firmly…
Lula All Stars: Salsa de la Buena (Lulaworld Records)
Canadian based Salsa outfit playing wth passion and flavour
From Hypnotic Cuba to Stiff British Splendour
From the deep, hypnotic rhythms of Cuba to the stiff splendour of the Royal Albert Hall, composer and conductor Odaline de la Martinez has ridden the waves of a musical adventure. The recipient of this year's LUKAS Lifetime…
Anarchy’s Enduring Appeal
Santiago Oyarzabal talks to Los Auténticos Decadentes, one of the best, most enduring and probably the most fun, rock bands to ever come out of Argentina. Known for its distinctive anarchic energy, unique mix of rhythms, and…
The Phenomenon of Latin Music in the US
Back in the late seventies an outstanding documentary was made about Salsa in New York and its social significance. It became a seminal work. Thirty years later its director Jeremy Marre, commissioned by the BBC, went back to…
The Turbulence of Budding Stardom
Once a mere suburban boy from outside Barcelona, now Spain’s representative at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, via a controversial decision that split the country, Latinolife talks to Manel Navarro, as he prepares for his…
FUNK FOREVER
Los Amigos Invisibles is arguably the most globally recognized music act from Venezuela since Oscar D'Leon (the Salsa legend on their new album). Breaking onto the international scene on David Byrne’s (Talking Heads)…
Rule Colombian Britannia!
This year the BBC Proms pays tribute to a new British-Colombian generation by featuring the London born and bred accordionist Jose Hernando who won the BBC Radio 3 World Routes Academy at only 19. Here the burgeoning star talks…
Fresh Blend
Legendary Latin dance-music pioneers Bomba Estéreo are back on tour, bringing their blend of cumbia, rave and rap to top clubs and festivals across Europe and the US. Founder and maestro Simón Mejía talks to Charley Allan about…
LatinoLife Essentials: The Cuarteto Starter Pack
If you’re new to cuarteto, here’s your crash course. Ten tracks that trace the genre’s DNA — from barrio roots to TikTok fame. Unfortunately no videos available for Leonor Marzano or Quarteto Leo, so we start with La Mona Jimenez…
Camilo Menjura on life and LUKAS nominations
Camilo Menjura is certainly a very busy musician! The Bogota born multi-talented player is once again up for a LUKAS nomination, having won in two categories "Musician of the year" and "Community worker of the year…
La Yegros at Rich Mix
La Yegros is so cool. Self-aware and on top of everything that goes on during the show, she comes to stage in high platform shoes, short skirts, afro hair up, really up, and full of colour. Tones of green, pink, blue, yellow, and…
How to Start a Festival from Scratch - A Couple’s Story
Jose and Amaranta met in a salsa club in 2001, from that fateful evening, they've been inseparable, in life and in work, building a family together alongside an institution, or let's say, various institutions. Now the…
TOP TEN Recent Latin Albums produced in the UK
Latin music is not an easy thing to produce, let alone promote, in the UK; you need real instruments, great musicians and arrangements to make it sound good, and there is rarely any money to work on. Despite the lack of exposure…
New York's Ultimate Latin Diva
The muse of Masters at Work's Little Lou Vega and Kenny Dope, India became the dance floor icon of the 90s when House and Garage ruled clubland. Latinolife caught up with the ultimate Latin diva.
LatinoLife's Christmas Bangers 2018
After a year of reggaetón smashers, the ladies show they rule with hits that are sending the year off with a bang
Paco Peña's Fantasy Island Tracks
If you were stranded on a desert Island, which tracks would you absolutely need to have to get you through those times of loneliness and despair? Man cannot live on sun and fish alone right? Our castaway, Flamenco guitar legend…
Two Beats One Soul, feat. Little Louie Vega
A beautiful tribute to bi-cultural ingenuity as Little Louie Vega heads up this latest gem in a long tradition of Cuban-Nuyorican collaborations
"I wouldn’t mind dying if there were guitars in heaven"
Tiago Pereira talks about his latest documentary on Portuguese regional music: Chamarita - the country rock of the Azores.