#5136, New Music From Mexico For Battle of Puebla Day

New Sounds | May 5

For Battle of Puebla Day, aka Cinco de Mayo, there’s music by psychedelic cumbia band Sonido Gallo Negro; marimba-playing cumbia punks Son Rompe Pera; Mexico City-based cellist Mabe Fratti, both solo and as Titanic- a duo with Hector Tosta; and from electronic dance producer Mexican Institute of Sound.

There’s chamber guitar with jazz overtones in music from the Mexico City-based duo called Titanic, who are Guatemala-born cellist and singer Mabe Fratti and multi-instrumentalist Hector Tosta. Also, hear some of Fratti’s outstanding 2024 album, Sentir que no sabes. Listen to work by Mexican born, New York-based vibraphonist, marimbist, improviser, and composer Patricia Brennan, along with a tune arranged for Kronos Quartet.

The Mexican band Sonido Gallo Negro (Black Rooster Sound) plays a day-glo mix of music that starts with the psychedelic cumbia music of 1970’s Peru and Colombia, mixes in 60s-style surf guitar, and processes the whole thing to sound like one of those big Caribbean sound systems. Also, hear music by marimba-playing cumbia punks Son Rompe Pera, who fuse together tropical dance beats, hard-hitting punk, modern cumbia, and fuzzed-out guitars. 

Hear Jeffrey Zeigler play a piece for amplified cello and electronics by Mexican composer Felipe Perez Santiago. The piece was inspired by the work of astronomer Jill Tarter, the co-founder and former director of the SETI Institute (search for extraterrestrial intelligence). Plus, listen to Mexico’s Magos Herrera from her collaborative album with Paola Prestini, Con Alma, and more. - Caryn Havlik

Program #5136, New Music From Mexico For Battle of Puebla Day (First aired 4/30/26)

ARTIST: Sonido Gallo Negro
WORK: Coup De Poudre [1:06]
RECORDING: Sendero Mistico
SOURCE: Glitterbeat Records
INFO: sonido-gallo-negro.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: Mexican Institute of Sound
WORK: Mexico [3:47]
RECORDING: Politico
SOURCE: Nacional Records 
INFO: mexicaninstituteofsound1.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: Sonido Gallo Negro
WORK: Coup De Poudre [3:10]
RECORDING: Sendero Mistico
SOURCE: Glitterbeat Records
INFO: sonido-gallo-negro.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: Patricia Brennan
WORK: Derrumbe De Turquesas [5:29]
RECORDING: Maquishti 
SOURCE: Valley of Search
INFO: patriciabrennan.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: Son Rompe Pera featuring Chico Trujillo
WORK: Cumbia Algarrobera [4:50]
RECORDING:  Batuco
SOURCE: Aya Records
INFO: https://ayarecords.bandcamp.com/album/batuco

ARTIST: Kronos Quartet with Alejandro Flores & Efren Vargas
WORK: El Llorar (Crying) [3:38]
RECORDING: Nuevo
SOURCE: Nonesuch 79649 
INFO: nonesuch.com

 

ARTIST: Magos Herrera / Paola Prestini
WORK: Rojo sol [4:39]
RECORDING: Paola Prestini and Magos Herrera: Con Alma
SOURCE: National Sawdust Tracks
INFO: visionintoart.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: Titanic
WORK: Te Evite [3:46]
RECORDING:  Vidrio
SOURCE: Tin Angel Records
INFO: tinangelrecords.bandcamp.com/album/vidrio

ARTIST: Golden Hornet featuring Jeffrey Zeigler
WORK: Felipe Perez Santiago: Quest [8:27]
RECORDING: The Sound of Science
SOURCE: National Sawdust
INFO: nationalsawdust.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: Mabe Fratti
WORK: Angel nuevo [4:44]
RECORDING: Sentir que no sabes
SOURCE: Tin Angel Records
INFO: https://tinangelrecords.bandcamp.com/album/sentir-que-no-sabes

WNYC Homepage - Top Stories

The radical readers sick of settling for low library funding

NYS Finally Has a Budget

A Russian Phrasebook for Surviving Authoritarianism

The Essential Sonny Rollins

YOU ARE ONLINE