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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The 24th annual Latin Grammy nominations have been announced. The genre is experiencing a wave of unprecedented popularity, but recognition from the Latin Recording Academy seems to be lagging behind.
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The Puerto Rican vocalist brings her distinctive songs of desire and longing to the Tiny Desk. -
Jeff Beck, one the most acclaimed guitarists in rock and roll history, died Tuesday after contracting bacterial meningitis, according to his family. He was 78 years old.
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Reggaeton superstar Daddy Yankee has announced his retirement from music at the age of 45. But it's unclear whether that means he'll never perform or release music again.
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NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Julyssa Lopez, writer for Rolling Stone magazine, and NPR's Felix Contreras, about the controversy around this year's Latin Grammys nominations.
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The musician rose to fame in the 1960s and '70s, bringing global attention to his hip-shaking style of music.
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Pacheco was a prolific songwriter and musical arranger whose work helped fuel the careers of Celia Cruz and Ruben Blades.
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Chick Corea was a towering figure in jazz for over 50 years — at home in straight ahead jazz, electric jazz fusion, Latin music and more. He won 23 Grammy awards.
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This year's edition of A Jazz Piano Christmas features REDWOOD, Cory Henry and Kenny Barron. We're celebrating the holidays with swing from the East Coast jazz scene.
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An indomitable musical culture survived the tragedy of the international slave trade. Alt.Latino captured a weeklong celebration featuring artists Trombone Shorty, Tank and the Bangas and Cimafunk.
