Felix Contreras
Felix Contreras is co-creator and host of Alt.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.
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This week, the jazz world celebrated what would have been Miles Davis' 100th birthday. The late trumpet player is widely considered one of the most innovative and influential jazz musicians of all time.
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The tight and powerful group breathes fire into a Grateful Dead classic and smolders on a Hank Williams song. -
Salsa legend, Willie Colon, has died at age 75. Colon was a key part of salsa's development in the 1970's as an instrumentalist, songwriter and producer.
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The South Bronx bandleader took the Latin genre to new heights while recording for Fania Records. -
The Grammy winner and Blue Note label head recalls the unique challenges and rewards he faced when the late Bob Weir recruited him for an intimate new project in 2018. -
For three decades with the Grateful Dead and three more after the group ended following the 1995 death of his bandmate Jerry Garcia, Weir helped build and sustain the band's legacy across generations. -
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The Alt.Latino and El Tiny host shares his favorite records of the year, including jazz musicians from across Latin America as well as vocalists inspired by folk, rock and pop whose work defies genre. -
The son of Cuban immigrants, Malo and his band blended country, rock and roll, folk, jump blues, Latin music and Cajun rhythms into a distinct sound anchored by his unmistakable voice. -
Deyra Barrera, the mariachi voice heard on Kendrick Lamar's new album, GNX, shares the story behind their collaboration and a song that moves her.
