South American music and culture magazine

Venezuela’s Cuarto Poder are most definitely on the rise. They have shared the stage with acts such as Calle 13, Tego Calderon, Molotov and Gustavo Cerati over the past few years and surely more are soon to follow. Hailing from Caracas, the group perform a style of “criollo rap” mixing the lengua of the streets with traditional rhythms and samples. Today we have a new mix from the collective, a follow-up of sorts to their last album In Tha House. Continue Reading

There is something that comes through whenever “folkclor progresivo” artist Pernett releases a track and it’s all too appropriate as we near the start of Barranquilla’s Carnival on February 18th. That something is Colombia’s Caribbean coast. Continue Reading

Tulipa Ruiz returned to London in December 2011 for the second time, this time bringing a band featuring her father Luiz Chagas on guitar and brother Gustavo Ruiz on bass. Sounds and Colours had the opportunity to meet up with Tulipa at the gig, where she played to an enamoured audience at Cargo. Watch Tulipa in action and hear her thoughts below: Continue Reading

I arrived at Discos Fuentes studio in Medellin late on Friday afternoon. It was supposed to be a day for Ondatrópica – the new project from Will “Quantic” Holland and Mario Galeano Toro – to pack up their equipment, yet they were still busy finishing vocals on the final track, an original composition from Fruko, one of Colombia’s true musical heroes and no stranger to Discos Fuentes studio. Continue Reading

Barranquilla Carnival is one of the most colourful and intense carnivals in South America and second in size only to Brazil’s. As artist Diego Samper Martinez puts it, the Carnival of Barranquilla is “the ultimate people’s celebration — the merriest, the loosest, true to the free-wheeling Caribbean spirit.” Continue Reading

Carnival season is almost upon South America, but don’t worry – you haven’t left it too late to join the party. See below for last-minute cheap rates on hotels and hostels for four hot destinations… Continue Reading

The great split that carves through Chilean society is laid bare and brought to the surface in the documentary La Muerte de Pinochet (The Death of Pinochet), a film that depicts the different reactions to the news of the general’s death at 91 years old on 10th December 2006. From the crowds of pinochetistas who carried out a raucous vigilance outside the hospital where the old man lay dying to the spontaneous carnival that erupted on the Alameda, Santiago’s main thoroughfare, to celebrate the apparent closure of the most traumatic period in Chile’s history, the film portrays the various emotions unleashed at the time and as such serves as a social portrait of the polarising effect that Pinochet continues to have to this day. Continue Reading

Jorge Continentino describes himself as a saxophonist and flutist, but he regularly draws on his piano and guitar-playing skills when he’s writing original music. Jorge got an early start, leaving his hometown of Rio de Janeiro at just eighteen years of age to tour and record with some of the biggest names in Brazilian popular music, like Marisa Monte and Milton Nascimento. His nearly fifteen-years as a musician in Brazil laid the groundwork for a successful career now based in New York City, where Jorge blends traditional forró music from Northeastern Brazil with jazz, rock and folk in one-of-a-kind compositions. One of his groups, Forró in the Dark, has toured North America and Europe but is most at home presiding over the late night Brazilian parties every Wednesday at Nublu in New York’s East Village. The group also appears on the Red Hot + Rio 2 album. In addition to Forró in the Dark, Jorge is involved with numerous cutting-edge projects and collaborations that he described in our interview below. Continue Reading

A special New Year’s treat here in the shape of two new mixes from La Tabaquera – aka the latest project from Rodrigo Caçapa and Alessandra Leão – both celebrating classic Colombian music. We originally featured La Tabaquera’s Peru mixtape a few months ago, and these Colombian mixtapes offer much of the same, i.e. great music from Colombia’s past featuring plenty of cumbia, porro, descarga, salsa, champeta and much more. Continue Reading

In an effort to keep the natural environment healthy and thriving, only four of the Galapagos Islands are approved for residential living. Most of the islands are open to tourist traffic under the supervision of a Galapagos National Park naturalist. The Ecuadorian government has strict control over the number of annual visitors that are allowed to come to the islands. Privileged visitors come to this peaceful island chain straddling the equator for the pleasure of experiencing unique botanical finds, friendly engaging animals and crystal waters. Continue Reading

During the early 60′s, the Nueva Canción movement (‘New Song’) was born on Chilean soil. With singer-songwriters paving the way with their socio-politically-fuelled folk tunes, it was a revolutionary spirit that was deeply embedded in the Latin American New Left, the Unidad Popular coalition and its leader Salvador Allende. Continue Reading

In Latin America mass demonstrations are putting at risk huge energy, mining and infrastructure projects. Thousands of peasants occupied the Azul, Mamacocha, Chailhuagon and Perol lakes, in the Cajamarca region of Peru. The Conga mining project proposes to relocate them, but the people fear losing their access to water. Continue Reading