South American music and culture magazine

The Spanish speaking film festival, ¡Viva! 2012, returns to Cornerhouse, Manchester, for its 18^th year to showcase a range of films from the parts of the world which, for one reason or another, hablan español. Continue Reading

We were extremely honoured to be invited onto Cal Jader’s Movimientos radio show on SOAS Radio in London for a Sounds and Colours-style takeover. The result was an hour of hip-hop, afro-beat, indie, electro-pop, noise and all manner of other alternative music that hopefully spread the word on some of our favourite artists. Continue Reading

After being found liable in Ecuador for creating one of the world’s worst oil disasters, Chevron filed a notice of appeal to Ecuador’s highest court where it seeks special treatment not afforded any other litigant under the nation’s laws – the waiver of a bond required to suspend enforcement of a judgment during the pendency of any appeal. Continue Reading

At the end of last year we held a small private screening of Esperando el Tsunami, a new film from Vincent Moon and Lulacruza logging a musical journey across Colombia. Now, with our good friends Movimientos, we will be holding an official screening of the film at Rich Mix in London (followed by live music). Prepare yourself for a truly original journey into Latin America! Continue Reading

There will be a London Premiere for Nostalgia for the Light, the new film from Patricio Guzman – and one that featured in many Best of 2011 lists – on February 2nd that will be followed by a Q&A with Guzman himself. Continue Reading

Novalima is set to release it’s third full-length album Karimba on January 31st, 2012. The original four Limeños: Ramon Perez-Prieto, Grimaldo Del Solar, Rafael Morales, and Carlos Li Carrillo have teamed up with a variety of musicians to create an electro-traditional sound distinct to Peru. Drawing on indigenous Afro-Peruvian rhythm’s and percussion instruments like the cajon, Karimba seamlessly blends clean, modern electronic beats with energetic and soulful organic instrumentation on top. Continue Reading

Interesting new side project here from Bomba Estéreo’s Liliana Saumet. Under the moniker of Leidi Li, she has teamed up with Argentina’s AOIM (known to his bank manager as Pedro D’Alessandro), for a track called Maté A Mi Novio (“I Killed My Boyfriend”), which considering Liliana’s boyfriend is Pedro, makes you wonder how he thought about this recording session would end. The song is considerably more down-tempo than Bomba Estéreo, and sounds pretty damn good to our ears.

Kudos to Remezcla for the heads up on this one.

The New York Times, recently featured an article listing the top places to go in 2012 and Chile was among the article’s highlights. Chilean Patagonia has built a reputation for being one of the world’s ultimate travel destinations for those who seek adventure, and major publications everywhere are talking about it. Continue Reading

Here is a new collaboration between two of the Spanish-speaking music world’s finest talents. “Novias” already existed on El Guincho’s Pop Negro album from last year. Here, Javiera Mena – Chile’s queen of electro-pop – adds her vocals, giving the song a completely new lease of life. There’s a power in Javiera Mena’s voice which always grabs your attention, making you believe every word she says, and it’s in full effect here. Continue Reading

A Useful Life is the second feature film from Uruguayan director Federico Veiroj. It tells the story of Jorge, a film critic whose life is thrown upside down when he loses his job. With a running length of just 70 minutes, this is a journey into Jorge’s life, from his existence surrounded by film, an existence which has become monotonous from the outside, to the excitement of being thrown out of that world. Continue Reading

Each year Ethical Traveler choose 10 countries from the developing world which it feels have made serious accomplishments in the areas of environmental protection, social welfare and human rights. This year, out of 30 shortlisted finalists, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay were chosen in the 2012 list of The Developing World’s 10 Best Ethical Destinations. Continue Reading

The 125th Birthday Anniversary of Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos will be celebrated with a special 125th Birthday Anniversary Concert and Reception on March 5th 2012 in New York. The Villa-Lobos Music Society have announced that the celebrations will take place at Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center in New York City. Continue Reading