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 Felix Contreras remembers one of salsa music's architects — Eddie Palmieri — who died Wednesday at 88.
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NPR Music received a record number of entries to this year's Tiny Desk Contest: 7,500. The judges discovered so many amazing entries, and now we're sharing some of those standouts here.
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Did we really squeeze the big sound of Living Colour behind the Tiny Desk? Yes, we did. And, yet, the band lost none of its intensity. -
Accompanied by a 16-piece band, Carín Leon's commanding presence shows why he's one of the best in the Mexican Regional scene. -
Some musicians are never satisfied with the status quo, either their own of something imposed on them. Either way, it's a win for us listeners. Enjoy the show. -
The popular Dominican merengue vocalist Rubby Pérez died after a roof collapsed at a popular nightclub on Tuesday night. Here's what the loss means to the vibrant Dominican merengue scene.
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From the very first song, there is no question that we are immersed in the rich and vibrant sound of Colombia's Caribbean coast. Led by co-founders and lead vocalists Johanna Castañeda and Ronald Polo, the members of REBOLU dig deep into their roots to captivate audiences everywhere they play, including the Tiny Desk. -
Honduran folk musician Aurelio Martínez has died. The 55-year-old was a respected proponent of the Central American culture known as Garifuna. According to his spokesperson, Martinez and 11 other people died Monday in an airplane crash, shortly after taking off from the Honduran island of Roatán. -
In Cuba, pianists explore the wonderful rhythms of the island with their own percussive sense of melody. Roberto Fonseca's mastery of the Cuban piano tradition fuels this fiery performance. -
The performance is a front row seat to the joys and sorrows of the fado spirit, delivered by an artist that uses the genre as a base to explore other musical worlds, always coming back to a tradition that is centuries old.
