Felix Contreras
Felix Contreras is co-creator and host of Alt.Latino, NPR's pioneering radio show and podcast celebrating Latin music and culture since 2010.
In addition to his post behind the mic, Contreras programs music from the Latin diaspora for the acclaimed Tiny Desk concerts and hosts a weekly Instagram Live interview with a wide-ranging roster of guests.
A knowledgeable international ambassador for Latino heritage and arts, "Tio Felix '' travels extensively in search of new talent and new music and captures important legacy performers in jazz and Latin genres. Various national and international publications have quoted his expertise on the contemporary influences of Latin culture, music, and media.
His a recovering TV journalist whose first post at NPR in 2001 was as a Producer/Reporter for the NPR News Arts Desk. He is also NPR's resident Deadhead and performs around the DC area with his Latin music Beatles cover band, Los Day Trippers.
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NPR Music's Rodney Carmichael and Felix Contreras dish about their favorite new discoveries at South by Southwest 2018 over a plate of barbecue.
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Over a plate of Texas barbecue, Alt.Latino spoke with this fast-rising Afro-Latinx artist from Miami in the midst of her unforgiving South By Southwest schedule.
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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.
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As Santana turns 70, he's still spreading the message that music has the power to heal. With The Isley Brothers, he taps into the peaceful spirit of Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)."
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Beat the heat with this sampler of new tunes, including everything from rock to Latin jazz to electronic to cumbia and flamenco.
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On IIII + IIII, Otura Mun and his bandmates weave hip-hop, jazz and dancehall influences into Afro-Cuban music. It's an electronic take on tradition that embraces the human touch.
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A partnership between the building's realty trust, reunion outfit Dead & Company and Citi Field had the Empire State Building's lights dancing along with the crowd of thousands.
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The globetrotting SoCal band shares tracks from its new album Non-Stop: Mexico>Jamaica, bringing music and laughs to the studio.
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Hear how the members of this SoCal band developed the funky, one-of-a-kind sound that's helped propel it to national success.
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One of the most recognizable voices of his generation, Allman was one of the namesakes of a band that pioneered Southern rock — yet his music was always haunted by a sense of mortality and loss.
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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.
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Alt.Latino goes mining for new sounds in the less prominent categories of this year's Latin Grammys.