A few weeks ago Lili Ortiz, one of our viewers, wrote this to us: "Check out Rita Indiana! She streams from her heart the young sounds that resemble reggaetón... and the hard rhythms from the Dominican Republic, with a galactic flavor....I laugh when I think how the machista and traditional Dominicans are reacting to this asexual brash extrasterrestrial, in fact, they call her that, they explain her that way and accept her because of her talent and because she works with the musical roots and the Latin American influences. At the end of her video she sings Todos Vuelven" by Blades. There's no ignoring her."

I found myself thinking the same thing when I saw the spacey video. She reminds me of David Bowie... a praying mantis...  I wanted it immediately for Link!  Easier said than done.  No reply from her or her management for weeks.  And I even wrote her in Spanish.  So I figured: We'll stream it on the blog!

 
I'm still hoping I'll get a reply, and we'll be able to use the video as a premiere on the channel.  But 'till I do, this is the next best thing. By coincidence, the visual resemblances and divergences between "Hora de Volve" the video, and our video premiere by DeLeon, are notable.

Coming up for Cinco de Mayo, a profile of Rana Santacruz: Mexican roots, Brooklyn based.

I first met Josh Norek about ten years ago when he sent me a low budget video of his Latino-Jewish band the Hip Hop Hoodíos. It was a song about Chanukah sung in Spanish and English, and there were plenty of surreal shots of the "Bagel Babe" - a hot young thing wearing a bra made from that circular staple - even in a Jacuzzi! I sensed there was an unusual mind behind this.

Further down the road, Josh sent me an email about a new event: the Latin Alternative Music Conference (LAMC) that he was co-organizing in New York City. I wished him well. He continued to send me press releases about bands I had never heard of but which were pretty damned good. I started to trust his taste.

Five years ago, he helped Tomas Cookman launch the company Nacional Records. Between them, they had tons of experience managing and promoting "Rock en Español" acts, and soon they began aggregating the strongest roster of Latin Alternative Music extant. Then, prior to the past presidential election, Josh sent an email around, saying he was taking a sabbatical (or should that be shabattical?) from the music biz, and donating significant time to his favorite grassroots organization, Voto Latino, working to register and activate young Latinos in battleground states to get the vote out. Since then he has also gotten his radio show "The Latin Alternative" up and syndicated. So when I heard that Josh was going to be in town, I jumped at the chance to interview him. His time as usual, was tight; we had just half an hour, so we plowed into it despite the noise from construction on an adjacent floor.

No matter where we fall on the immigration issue, the undeniable fact is that the burgeoning Latino population is changing the face and culture of the USA. I wanted Josh to talk about this, to reflect on the relationship between music, demographics and activism. He did that and more; his conversation was so far ranging that I may have to present those parts of it that dealt specifically with Rock en Español, Nacional, the LAMC and the state of the music industry in general, at a later date.

We're in the midst of another pledge drive, and you may have noticed a bit less music programming as a result. But never fear-- on the other side of that event you'll find some fascinating new music documentaries.  We'll be debuting films about Balkan, South Asian and Central Asian music; all of them filled with beautiful images and haunting music. And who knows, you might even be seeing some new music blocks! All of this programming is made possible by your contributions, so I hope you'll take the time to show your support.

Closer to home, I want to plug a dear colleague's debut solo CD: If you were wondering about the vivacious lady singing the Yoruba chants in our video "The Price of Silence", that was Cucu Diamantes, one of the founders of the Pan Latin pop group Yerba Buena. She really made a splash with us with her enthusiasm, professionalism and terrific pipes. And now that she is stepping out with her solo CD "Cuculand", releasing March 17, we wish her all the success she richly deserves.