Jasmine Garsd

In their newest album, 9 Dead Alive, Rodrigo y Gabriela return to their roots, reminding listeners why they fell in love with the Mexican duo in the first place. The album finds them at the peak of their musical flexibility, dexterously weaving elements of heavy metal with flamenco.

I'm not entirely sure how I made it into the studio to tape this week's show. I was still recovering from a tremendous flu. But lured by co-host Felix Contreras' promises that he'd take over and play me some excellent new music, I hopped on a cloud of cough meds ...

Three days of mourning have been declared in Puerto Rico following the death of salsa great Cheo Feliciano in a car accident there early Thursday. The singer was 78. "His music embodied the rhythm of Puerto Ricans living in New York City," U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) said in a ...

In some ways, borders that divide countries are concrete and inescapable. The border between Mexico and the U.S. is very real for the thousands who have died trying to cross it without papers; for those whose families are divided by it; for those living the nightmare of getting caught in ...

Every March for the last few years, Felix Contreras and I have flown to Mexico City to partake in one of the biggest music festivals Latin America has to offer. Tens of thousands of music lovers accompany us from stage to stage, enjoying legendary bands and discovering up-and-comers.

Here's how ...

The Puerto Rican rap duo Calle 13 is one of the most beloved and hated bands in the Spanish-speaking world. Its members are politically outspoken and opinionated. They've also undergone an unusual evolution: They went from making raunchy club hits to becoming Latin America's premier political troubadours.

When the group ...

If you've ever wondered how Felix Contreras and I sound when we're happy but exhausted — and stuffing our faces with Texas barbecue — then this is the episode you've been waiting for.

Once we'd had our fill of music at SXSW in Austin, Texas, we somehow managed to trek ...

Once a year music fans from around the world converge in sunny Austin, Texas, to check out bands they like and discover great new artists. SXSW is a musical playground, and for those of us who love Latin music, it's good to see new kids being invited into the sandbox. ...

Since last summer, Jasmine Garsd has been co-hosting NPR Music's Alt.Latino from Mexico City, where she's reporting on the area's music and culture for NPR. This week, she reunites with her Alt.Latino co-host Felix Contreras in Austin to celebrate the debut of SXAméricas, a new branch ...

This week Felix and I are heading over to one of our favorite places in the whole world — Austin, Texas — to meet up with some of our favorite musicians, watch some great live shows and, if Tio Felix has his way, eat a lot of Tex-Mex. Later today ...

In the '90s, Chile experienced an artistic wave as the children of political exiles returning after the fall of dictator Augusto Pinochet brought enormous changes. Of course, waves never come alone: They bring in shells and rocks and souvenirs from faraway lands. The returning children of exiles brought new cultural ...

This week on Alt.Latino, we tackle the growing pile of new records sitting on our desks, unopened. Throughout February, in honor of Black History Month, we brought you shows that focus on Afro-Latino history. This week, we shift gears and do something else we love to do: kick back and ...

Puerto Rican rap duo Calle 13 is both famous and infamous throughout the Spanish-speaking world. Its members went from making hilariously raunchy club hits early in the previous decade to becoming two of the most visible and socially conscious Latin musicians today. Their unabashed support of the independence ...

This month on Alt.Latino, we're celebrating Black History Month — and this week, that means diving into a genre that's near and dear to our heart: Latin hip-hop. We play hip-hop often, and have our favorite artists, but this week we get to go deep alongside Latin music blogger Juan ...

Throughout Black History Month, Alt.Latino has been bringing you episodes that focus on different aspects of being black and Latino. This week's show is about one island and two countries: Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Race has played an enormous role in the island's history. Haiti is often described as ...

This week on Alt.Latino, we kick off Black History Month with a mix of smart guests and amazing music. Felix Contreras and I take pride in the fact that Alt.Latino frequently celebrates the African heritage of Latinos, so our challenge this month was to go above and beyond what we ...

Felix Contreras always jokes that every time we do a show full of new music, one song in the mix has become my obsession. This week is different: I'm infatuated with single song we play. Our eclectic mix includes Brazilian beats, Latin metal and Uruguayan hip-hop, and we close the ...

"His guitar strums, they sounded like his machete whacks." That's how musician Fredi Vega describes his grandfather's guitar work in this week's Alt.Latino, which is all about the Mexican music style known as Son Jarocho.

When Vega told me this, I remembered the book Harnessed: How Language and Music Mimicked ...

Excerpted from a conversation via IM:

Jasmine: Bro, why didn't you tell me about your side project?

Felix: Busted. Sometimes a man has to wear stretchy pants to be a man.

Jasmine: Dude I loved this week's show. It was so much fun. You know I would do ...