Well, spring has almost sprung its last now and while steeling myself to bid farewell to the loveliest time of year, I have assembled for the common good yet another variegated bunch of new singles from the Latin world. To quote Gil Scott-Heron, “Uno, dos, tres, cuatro…”

Marina Lima: “Um Dia na Vida (feat. Ana Frango Elétrico)

I’m not entirely sure if a “focus track” qualifies as a single, but let’s imagine that it’s one and the same thing. Besides, this is too good to overlook, featuring as it does the distinctive voice of Ana Frango Elétrico in her customary contemporary pop context. It’s taken from Lima’s album Ópera Grunkie, her first in seven years, which features other such collaborations – including one with the splendid Adriana Calcanhotto. Ms. Lima is 70 now, but she’s clearly got plenty more in the tank.

Leandro Serizo: “Abutre”

More rock than pop, with a liberal sprinkling of trap and MPB, this Brazilian artist is based in Campinas in the state of São Paulo. He created this musical farrago in collaboration with another Campinasta (if that’s what they’re known as), Cauãzin 019. It’s taken from the forthcoming album, Sol Quimérico, and I’ll leave it to the artist to explain what the single’s all about, as he does it better than I could: “This song started taking shape when I was around sixteen. It came from a constant feeling of unrest — an internal conflict tied to fear, rebirth, and the desire for rupture. Many of the melodic and structural elements from those early ideas remained in the final recording. More than anything, though, I was trying to transform an emotional state into sound and intensity.” It sure as hell is intense.

Aïtawa: “Dime que tú quieres”

Here’s the second single from an album I’ve just reviewed for Songlines by a Franco-Colombian group that includes former members of the estimable outfit, Pambelé. Pasajé is the album in question and it came out at the end of last month. The multi-instrumental vocalist Luisa Caceres is the quartet’s figurehead and the rock-oriented backing comes courtesy of bass, drums, psychedelic guitar and an organ that sounds like it was shipped over from Peru in the 1970s. The single, like the album, is well worth our attention.

Francisca Valenzuela: “Malacara”

Talking of female vocals, here’s the US-based Chilean singer’s new single. It’s taken from her album out at the end of July, Maldita, that promises apparently to shatter the myths of motherhood. Until that day arrives, we must content ourselves with what the singer describes as “a visceral, intense, brutal, and beautiful rant on being fed up”. “Nothing,” she suggests, “is more uncomfortable than an angry woman.” At the risk of incurring her wrath, I have to say that it reminds me uncomfortably of another hyper-emotive singer, Bonnie Tyler. Let’s move on quickly before there’s a total eclipse of the sun…

Nicola Conte: “Terra Em Transe”/”Naquela Base”

After all that emotion, it’s a bit of a relief to move on to something that’s… well, perhaps a little anodyne, but a rather nice invocation of 1970s Brazilian samba-jazz by the Italian regular of Far Out Recordings, who does this sort of thing so well. Is it Latin? Is it Brazilian? Is it Italian? I’m not sure, but the spirit’s willing and it’s good enough to merit a place in this month’s round-up.

Montoya: “Fantasia feat. Elasi”

Holy serendipity, Batman! Here’s something else with an Italian twist – in the shape of the vocalist, Elasi. And who’s Montoya? Well, he’s a Colombian violinist and composer and clearly someone with a pop sensibility. This “rhythmic dialogue between premonition and the present” was apparently born in the Putumayo region of his country and it comes from his forthcoming album, Tayta, which could well be worth looking out for. I certainly like the video and the single’s subtle reggaeton cadence.

Bruno Berle: “Manhã”

My word, this guy’s prolific! It hardly seems like yesterday since he released his debut album, and here’s a single from his third, which comes out this summer. Once more, it’s co-produced by Batata Boy, and this single features another collaboration with his acolyte, Nyron Higor. Berle has just embarked on a European tour with a four-piece band to mark the release next month of that third album, Sem Fronteiras. Based on this single, expect nothing unexpected.

Andrés Landero y su Conjunto: “Bailando Cumbia”

Back in time we go now, thanks to the ever-vigilant Vampisoul label, which brings us this authentic slice of rural Colombian cumbia as the A-side of a 7″ single. The two sides were recorded as part of a never-yet-reissued 1979 album for Discos Fuentes. Both are raw and authentic, with no frills attached.

Son Rompe Pera: “Reptilio”

A little late, perhaps, since the single came out at the beginning of May, but better late than never. Recorded in Austin, Texas, home it seems of so much good Tex-Mex music these days, the single hails the Mexico City group’s third album, due later this summer, and poses the question “Who is really running the world?” One might well ask. Personally, I don’t buy the idea that we’re ruled by a breed of super-reptiles, even if there’s certainly something reptilian in the amorality of our great global leaders and their zillionaire pals. Anyway, this is rather splendid.

Sr. Ortegón: “Colombia”

José Miguel “Sr.” Ortegón’s single is “a tribute to Colombians living abroad and to the homeland they carry with them wherever they go”, which is a lovely sentiment. By this token, he suggests, “If there’s something that definitely identifies a Colombian, it’s Cumbia and Vallenato.” Here, he serves all those Colombians living abroad a hearty slice of the latter put through an electronic beater to produce something suitable for clubland. Recorded in Cali, it certainly is “a harmonious blend of contemporary beats and authentic traditional Vallenato music”.

El Remolón and Brawlio: “La Ciencia”

Reggaeton doesn’t normally tick many of my boxes, but here’s a slowed-down version of the genre in which the electronics are used more for atmosphere than beats per minute. According to the Fértil Discos label, the song is “a reflection on pain, ethics, and emotional responsibility, especially when the harm comes from those who claim to be dedicated to caring for others”. Hmmm. This much I can tell you: El Remolón and Brawlio are a pair of Argentine musicians who brought out an album last year entitled Leda y María and they’re very soon to embark on a European tour.

José González: “A Perfect Storm”

Born in Gothenburg, Sweden, to politically active Argentine parents, José González is a respected singer-songwriter and finger-pickin’ acoustic guitarist who has collaborated with the likes of Tinariwen and Zero 7, and who clearly thinks deeply about the predicaments we face. Not only is he a committed atheist and vegan, but he has he pledged 10% of his income to charity via the Giving What We Can organisation. In this apocalyptic video for the single taken from his 5th studio album, Against the Dying of the Light, he warns against society’s application of AI.

Silvana Estrada and pablopablo: “Antes Te Di” (“Before You”)

The Mexican diva described by Dazed as the young “Latin American answer to Joni Mitchell” has won a Latin GRAMMY, headlined this year’s La Linea festival in London and seems to be all-round flavour-of-the-year following her sumptuous album, Vendrán Suaves Lluvias. This single came out in early May and finds her in a duet setting with the young double-barrelled singer who got the idea for the song on a flight from Madrid to Mexico City. The pair then composed it together… and here, ladies and gentlemen, is the rather delicious result.

BALTHVS: “Eternal Flow”

Just time I reckon for another single from those perennial single-makers with the unpronounceable name from Bogotá. “Eternal Flow” is the fourth single from their forthcoming fifth studio album, Manifest, due this autumn. It also apparently celebrates the return of their bassist, Johanna Mercuriana. It’s right up to scratch and bodes well for the album ahead.

I’ll be back sometime in the summer if the heat hasn’t claimed me.

(Photograph of BALTHVS courtesy of the band.)

An excellent selection of albums for you this month, including some disassembled MPB, unconventional percussive improv, doom-laden goth dramatics, unorthodox field recordings, and some scintillating violins. All recommended listening for the discerning listener.

Juçara Marçal & Thais Nicodemo – Dessemelhantes (YB Music)

By far the most experimental and innovative voice in Brazil, on this recording Marçal is accompanied by Nicodemo who plays the prepared piano, scattering pieces of paper, tin cans, clothes-pins, and metal plates across the instrument’s strings, while Marçal’s vocals surge over the notes in an impressive and oppressive performance. The songs are interpretations from artists based around Marçal’s universe and it’s the tension created between the words, percussive noises, electronic effects, and dissonances that guide the singer and pianist in their approach. For example, “Cavaquinho”, originally by Rodrigo Campos, becomes nuanced and sprightly, then augmented with electronic loops at the end. “Eu Lacrei” by Negro Leo, is disorientating through the use of voices laden with effects, contrasting with the clarity of the piano notes that expand and contract at every moment.

Barulhista – Música para dançar sentado (Self-released)

The composer Davidson Soares from Minas Gerais has been releasing music since the Myspace days. He produces an excellent mix of electronics with human warmth, acoustic atmospheres, and some post-rock guitar textures. The opening track “debaixo de um corpo que caiu do rooftop” functions as a kind of “traumatic archaeology” with the voice of a far-right politician ranting in the distance. “Extremamente Medicados” uses a rhythmic structure built from noise, sounding as if MPB had been disassembled in an electronics lab by Boards of Canada and then reassembled by someone who hasn’t slept for three days. The melody drifts un-moored, creating a mood of dreamy unreality.

Luise Volkmann & Kiko Dinucci – Canto de Olho (Power House Records)

Volkmann and Dinucci recorded their first album Enxame in 2023 in São Paulo. They toured Europe as a duo in summer 2025, with the tour climaxing at Cafe Oto in London, and then they went straight into the studio in Cologne. Volkmann uses her alto saxophone to intertwine her improvised jazzy phrases around Dinucci’s punkily strummed samba guitar lines. Occasionally he chants quotes from traditional Yoruba songs dedicated to the Orixás, repeating the phrases in an hypnotic mantra. What you end up with is two musicians coming together to find a common language, and then taking flight in a fluid, universal esperanto.

Bruno Berle – Sem Fronteiras (Far Out Recordings)

Berle’s third studio album was recorded across London, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Germany and Maceió, and co-produced alongside his longstanding musical partner Batata Boy. He’s managed to create quite a community of like-minded artists in Nyron Higor and Phylipe Nunes Araújo, all of whom are now based in São Paulo and contribute to each other’s albums. In some ways like the Clube Da Esquina movement they operate with a free-exchange of ideas, writing songs with and for each other. Berle continues playing his beguiling style of gentle songs, strummed on a nylon-stringed guitar, with small touches of a Fender Rhodes, and a melancholic delivery of his words. In contrast, “Amor Inteiro” has a cathartic Afrobeat vibe and there are touches of Autotune amongst the synthy swirls on “Ideais Mágicas”.

Victor Negri – Sem (Stray Signals)

Victor Negri now records under his own name, after a decade of making music as Arubu Avua. Sem is built upon layers of wobbly guitar loops, samples, glitchy electronics and field recordings, with the recordings beginning in Lisbon and then finished in Campinas, Brazil. The eight tracks gradually unfold in interesting ways, some simply fold into themselves to terminate in distortion and feedback, and others seem to stand still, as if about to make tentative steps towards an unknown destination. Overall there is a feeling of disorientation, reacting to the current state of things with droning blasts or the numb acceptance of a simply plucked note. 

Maria Portugal – EROSÃO Percussion Trio (Fun in the church)

I saw Maria Portugal performing with Fred Frith at a jazz festival quite a few years ago, and it was a spellbinding performance of improv using unorthodox sounds. EROSÃO Percussion Trio is another Brazil/Germany joint effort which blends her Brazilian musical roots with free improvisation and electronic experimentation. Portugal invited percussionists Burkhard Beins and Emilio Gordo from Berlin’s Echtzeitmusik (real-time music) scene to employ a traditional drum set with other unconventional instruments, including non-pitched percussion like bowed cymbals, metal objects, wood, straws, and chains. Nonetheless, it’s very accessible and there are renditions of Brazilian classics: “Pulsar” by Caetano Veloso and Augusto de Campos is rendered in delicate taps, and “Correnteza” by Tom Jobim and Luiz Bonfá is translated into a running stream of percussive patters.

Buhr – Feixe de Fogo (Sound Department)

Buhr, previously known as Karina Buhr, knocked off their surname to align with their non-binary identity. Living in Recife and as a drummer they found themself part of the original mangue beat movement. I see that their film debut was in the film Meu nome é Bagdad, to which I contributed the English subtitles. This is their first album in seven years, made in collaboration with producer and multi-instrumentalist Rami Freitas. Being such  an intense performer, Buhr could never make a dull album. The title track has contributions from both Arto Lindsay and Fernando Catatau of Cidadão Instigado, creating a rising maelstrom of guitar skronk to the rolling percussion. There are also guitar contributions from Edgard Scandurra, an 80s post-punk survivor from the Jam-inspired Ira!, and one of Brazil’s most respected rock guitarists. The music is still rooted in Recife, with dub reggae overtones, maracatus and even a forró, though a highlight is “Demotivacional” with Russo Passapusso from BahianaSystem.

QMAR – Orações Oferecidas a Estranhos (Self-released)

QMAR consists of Paula Rebellato (Rakta) and Cacá Amaral (Rumbo Reverso), both active participants in the São Paulo experimental scene. The project originated from free-improvisation sessions and this debut was recorded and produced by the duo themselves in their home studio. From its dramatic title (Prayers offered to strangers) to its mix of 80s goth post-punk songwriting with post-rock textures, the album is full of tension like all good gothic romances. The listener can envision windy moors, ruined abbeys and long flowing robes, though “Necromancia” is krautrock repetition with wild noises and disembodied voices.

Kartas – Lado H (Municipal K7)

Kartas are a couple (Marcela & Zozio) from the small city of Piraí, situated in the Atlantic Forest, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. They live there with their children, and it’s where they record. Calm lakes outline the forest landscape, a result of floods in 1967, thus living with tragedy and regeneration informs the sound of Lado H. The music is a blend of free jazz, unorthodox field recordings, spoken poetry and traces of melody interspersed with live improvisations, and there’s a host of contributors, many of whom have featured in these pages. At times it sounds like This Heat, a loose post-punk groove with strange overlaid noises: “H2” is aquatically disturbing, and finisher “H4”” is all-out free jazz skronk.

Animal invisível – S/T (Nublu Records)

Guitarist Guri Assis Brasil began his career in Porto Alegre as a member of the band Pública. Since 2010, living in São Paulo as an on-hand studio- and stage-musician, he has collaborated with big names from Criolo to Luiz Melodia. Brasil also participated in the instrumental project La Cumbia Negra, conceived by legendary producer Carlos Miranda, playing a fusion of Latin and Brazilian rhythms. Animal invisível was created during the covid pandemic and these instrumental compositions move between jazz, 70s funk, soul, samba, psychedelia, and a touch of rock, bringing together all Brasil’s influences accumulated throughout his career. His guitar is the central instrument of the album but it’s the arrangements that pop out at the listener, with strings reminiscent of the work of Arthur Verocai (a huge influence on this new generation of São Paulo musicians; just listen to “Que Delicia é Viver” and how its optimism is translated into effervescent violins).

Ottopapi – Bala de banana (Seloki Records)

The solo project of São Paulo artist, designer and producer Otto Dardenne, co-founder of Seloki Records. The songs are short and direct, the everyday neuroses of living in São Paulo, with its wild contradictions, provide the lyrical content, where love, obsession, humour and paranoia learn to coexist. Musically, the title track “Bala de Banana” is straight from the C86 book of whimsical indie-pop, with a sing-song chorus and childishly nostalgic lyrics. Elsewhere it hovers between grungy garage rock and indie-sleaze pop, embracing immediacy and rough edges.

Alabastro – udendè (Gop Tun)

A recent highlight from the Gop Tun stable. The album is an intersection of jazz, house, and Afrobeat, held together by disparate samples ranging from Nina Simone to Al Jarreau, all while adopting the aesthetic influences of artists like Air and Fela Kuti. udendè marks the pinnacle of years of sonic research, which began in 2006 under the mentorship of Mestre Leitieres Leite at the Academy of Bahian Music. The album reflects the influences of southern Bahia, where Tazzio co-founded the BEATZADA collective in Trancoso. It all adds up to a tasteful blend of jazzy house with the added interest of Brazilian percussion and some soulful trumpet playing.

A new DEAFKIDS album is something to get excited about. Formed in 2010 in Volta Redonda, a small city in the state of Rio de Janeiro, the duo of multi-instrumentalists Douglas Leal (vocals, guitar, electronics, samplers, percussion, artwork) and Mariano Sarine (drums, percussion, electronics, bass) blend the raw spirit of dub-noise, metal and punk with complex global rhythms and electronic experimentation in their metal machine music. I recently saw them performing live with fellow Brazilian avant-metallers Test in an improvised venue and, frankly, I was mightily impressed. The trance-inducing percussion team coupled with the double guitar-noise attack with constant manipulation of effects was stunning to witness. In an e-mail exchange the duo told me about their new album CICATRIZES DO FUTURO (SCARS OF THE FUTURE), a thrilling mixture of hard electronics, global percussive workouts and guitar noise.

Sounds & Colours: Are you both from Volta Redonda and what was it like living there? 

Douglas: Only I was born and raised in Volta Redonda! Mariano is from the interior of São Paulo, from the city of São José do Rio Preto, but Mariano’s been based in São Paulo for many years now. It’s a curious question to answer, because it’s been about 3 years since I returned from São Paulo to live in Volta Redonda again. Although the city never stopped growing, things haven’t changed much here. It’s a slightly more relaxed and peaceful rhythm of life. It’s an industrial city [that grew around the largest steelmaker in Brazil] of hardworking people. It’s relatively close to Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo, and as far as I can remember, there’s always been a certain independent cultural movement happening here from time to time, which is also quite interesting – however, small and relatively scarce compared to a place like São Paulo. I grew up in a simple life, playing soccer in the streets during my childhood, then I started playing music and going to shows and being part of this small music scene etc, where I had the chance to meet people from all over and being introduced to this DIY punk/hardcore music connection.

S&C: Can you talk about the beginnings of the band?

Douglas: I started playing in bands with friends from a very young age. I started going to punk shows in my area around 14 years old, and since then I’ve started joining friends’ bands and forming my own as well. I played drums, and it wasn’t very common to find drummers around here, haha. Back then, the background was punk, hardcore, and some “alternative” stuff in between, even some industrial shit (this genre grabbed me from a young age – from NIN to Throbbing Gristle – because of its connection to my city’s landscape), and DEAFKIDS was formed somewhat in that spirit! I started the band as a solo project when I was 17, recording all the instruments, doing the artwork, etc. I released the first demo on Myspace in 2010, and very quickly, through that, I met and made contact with Mariano and Marcelo [former band member], and many other connections that remain alive to this day.

S&C: Tell us about where and when the new album was recorded?

Douglas:  The album was actually recorded in 2025, with many electronic elements captured and composed at home, and then everything else related to instruments, vocals etc. was recorded at Jukebox Studio in Volta Redonda – our long-time partners.

S&C: What was the recording process of the album? Was it a different process than the last album, Metaprogramação, or your joint album with Test, Sem Esperanças?

Douglas: We started composing the first skeletons of this album in early 2023. Then, due to a series of events, touring etc., this process froze, until in 2024 we had time again to get together and delve into the process – now as a duo. We even played some “archaic” versions of some songs from the album on our last European tour with Test in 2024 – which was good for the development of the ideas as well. 

The entire creative process for this album was very different from our others, firstly because it was heavily based on electronics – which allowed us to arrive at the studio with the foundations of the songs and various elements (beats, synths) already in place. Secondly, because it was our first recording as a duo. We always go into the studio with a purpose in mind: with Metaprogramação, the concept of the album was already to use studio and post-production tools as part of the creation. The same thing with Sem Esperanças. This time, the idea was to compose 10 tracks that sounded like independent ideas, without relying heavily on post-editing or interludes created to intertwine the universe of the work, etc.

S&C: What does the title CICATRIZES DO FUTURO (SCARS OF THE FUTURE) mean?

Douglas: It means that the future is already cursed by the very forces that pretend to build it.

S&C: It’s virtually impossible to make out any lyrics in the songs, yet you sing specifically about war, genocide, and control. Are things as bad as they seem and is the sound of your music a reaction to such loud, brash times?

Douglas: Regarding the themes I address in a concise and somewhat poetic way, I believe it’s much worse. This doesn’t mean I only see the world through these negative lenses; in reality, our sound is an active, personal, and spiritual reaction against all of that. All these issues are within us, rooted in our relationship with everything. For me, it’s difficult to ignore them as an artistic expression through this medium that is DEAFKIDS. In dealing with these themes, I include myself in them.

I think it might sound pessimistic, but it’s my way of trying to deal with the harsh reality of things and, in some way, shed light on these dark topics. I always try to write in a way that speaks both to external issues—historical, social, geopolitical—and to internal issues of the psyche, which is the psychological reaction to the many realities we are forced to live in.

S&C: There’s lots of fascinating percussive rhythms on the album, for example “PARASITA” uses the Bumba-meu-boi rhythm. Can you talk about them and which particular tracks use which rhythms? 

Mariano: Yeah! The record is very much based on the usage/perversion of claves, as well as having songs which are siblings to each other on their ethos, in terms of the way they re-appropriate resources and patterns from one another.

“PARASITA” blends boi-infused drums with gnaoua-influenced riffs on bass and guitar, while “CICATRIZES” has free flowing congas playing on top of d-beat 808 kicks, as well as having a guaguancó pattern on specific parts, with a 3/2 rhumba clave on the whole beat – the minimalistic riffage is also informed by salsa guajeos. “PROFECIA” is based on a 5/4 clave on the bass drum, while the rest of the kit and congas play a modified Mozambique arrangement. “SIMULACRO” has a steady punk beat, with congas that blend merengue and a pattern inspired by balafon from Guinea. “ADVERTÊNCIA” has an electronic cascara conducting the song, with the congas on the left hand playing a 2-3 rhumba clave, while the right hand goes around the rest of the kit, with the hi-hat on the upbeat and bass drum playing a salsa bass guajeo. “REFLEXO” has the same 2/3 pattern, but used as snare, with a minimalistic bass drum, completing a beat very much influenced by Brazilian contemporary funk – it also features some SPD/congas/timbales interlocking patterns, dancing around it. “FEITIÇO” goes the jongo rhythm route with its electronic rhythmic elements, together with a processed berimbau played by Douglas, while the drums follow almost the same concept as its sister, “ADVERTÊNCIA”: the left hand plays a 3/2 rhumba clave, the right hand does a pattern built around it, bass drum on guajeo and hi-hat on the upbeat – like a superfast salsa.

S&C: I saw you on the No Hope tour with the fantastic Test. It was a real DIY tour; how did you put it together? 

Douglas: This was the seventh edition of these Brazilian tours in this DIY format, traveling with Test and playing every day and already totaling more than 100 shows. João Kombi from Test is the person who does most of the booking part with his Blast Fast “booking alias”, but we’re in this together. The difficulties are numerous as you can expect, it’s a lot of work to put a tour together, taking care of every part of the process ourselves, but I believe the rewards are also very good, and in the end, it encourages us to keep doing it more than it discourages us (so far, hahaha). We’re two bands that live it as a life’s work, so we are very faithful to our artistic and creative integrity. We want to circulate through all kinds of circuits possible and reach as many people as possible in our own way, but still, we continue to break through and reach places where it didn’t seem possible to reach with the sound we make. 

S&C: You both have solo projects, Douglas with Yantra and Mariano with Sarine, both referencing world music, how does this feed into the DEAFKIDS sound?

Douglas: I believe it’s retroactive in some way… we have a lot in common regarding the creative process, and although the projects sound quite different from each other, I believe we end up influencing each other over the years. Each in our own way, and with our own personal journeys, needs something to unleash other creations that come from the same musical universe that draws from various sources but that don’t necessarily reside aesthetically with the weight and grit of DEAFKIDS.

S&C: The video for “CICATRIZES” features footage of the Folia de Reis, a tradition I associate more with the interior of the country. What appeals to you about this celebration?

Douglas: The longevity of the tradition; the ancestral presence in terms of its syncretic roots, and how this celebration unfolds here in Brazil; the aesthetics and the mystery! Popular cultural traditions = resistance. It’s a strong tradition in my region, and the figure of the Clown (the masked ones) specifically is fascinating because of their behaviour and their diverse symbolic representations. The album cover is also a photo I took of two Clowns from Folia de Reis.

S&C: What does the immediate future hold for DEAFKIDS?

Douglas: We will definitely be promoting the new album now. We will soon announce an album release show at a special venue in São Paulo! We will be doing some shows around Brazil this year, a 26-date European tour in October/November. And we plan to play in Japan for the first time in November, and return for a second time for a South American tour. We are also working on a remix version of the album, with several artists we admire very much. And well, lots of things are coming soon. Listen to the album, and come to the shows!!!

Yes! Listen to the album below and go to the shows, DEAFKIDS live are an electrifying experience…

(Photo of DEAFKIDS courtesy of Leticia Soto.)

Marina Mole presents her new single “Luneta Azul”, a lively surf-rock track with a music video directed and edited by the artist herself, inspired by the visual world of The B-52s. Known for her energetic live performances, Mole is a Brasília-born artist currently based in São Paulo, Brazil, who has been an active figure in the city’s alternative scene for about a decade. This singer-songwriter keeps herself busy working as a journalist, visual artist, and video-maker. Regarding the video she explains, “We spent a few months getting together to play and polish the arrangements, which we then recorded on reel-to-reel tape at Beeau Gomez’s studio, giving the sound a distinct personality. Even though this is a solo project, I felt it was meaningful to make a music video with the people who helped shape the songs, each bringing a bit of their own musical style.”

The video features Cleozinhu (drums), Lucas Monch (bass), and Vitor Wutzki (guitar). The single is taken from the forthcoming concept album Azucrim, which tells the story of an angel who pesters God about His remote and inaccessible stance toward humans—an idea that connects with the concept of the Alien God, found in gnosticism. Watch the video below.

(Photo of Marina Mole courtesy of Karin Santa Rosa.)

“Music has always been with me,” Chico César says at the start of our interview. Nearly everything in his trajectory can be traced back to that statement. Born in 1964 in Catolé do Rocha, in the sertão of Paraíba, he grew up in an environment where music was part of ordinary life. His mother sang Benditos, devotional Catholic chants; his father sang aboios, those haunting vocal calls used by vaqueiros herding cattle through the hinterlands. Decades later, when his breakthrough live album opened with “Beradêro”, it was no coincidence that the song itself carried the cadence of an aboio.

“I never expected anyone else to sing that song apart from me. I thought it was only about myself, just a song to place me in the world.” Artists including Elba Ramalho and Zizi Possi would soon record it, transforming a deeply personal composition into part of the wider canon of Brazilian song.

Long before national recognition arrived, César’s musical education took place in an unlikely conservatory – a small record and book shop where he began working at the age of eight and remained until fifteen. Because his family lived in the countryside, he stayed in his employer’s house in town while attending a school run by German nuns nearby. “That period was hugely defining for me,” he reminisces. “I don’t think I’ve ever read or listened to as much music in my life as I did then.” César devoured Northeastern music by Luiz Gonzaga, Jackson do Pandeiro and Dominguinhos, but also The Beatles, Giorgio Moroder, Tina Turner and Kraftwerk. “That created an imaginary melting pot in me.”

At the same time, he was already performing. Local dance bands would return to Catolé do Rocha during university holidays, and children were invited to afternoon dances known as assustados. César sang disco songs, Secos & Molhados tracks, funk and soul, winning footballs and toy jeeps in improvised talent contests. At nine, he joined a children’s band called Super Som Mirim, assembled entirely by children without adult supervision. “They wanted someone with a more medium-range voice,” he says. “Someone who could sing Tim Maia and sambas.” Then, at twelve, came the first composition. He had been walking back from selling records door to door when a samba melody emerged almost unconsciously. Convinced it must belong to someone else – perhaps Dona Ivone Lara or Paulinho da Viola – he sang it to adults in the shop and asked whose song it was. “They said, ‘Boy, that song belongs to no one. It’s yours.’” They then recorded the track so he wouldn’t forget his composition. “That was the first time I heard my voice recorded.”

A year later, he entered the song into a local music festival. He performed it entirely a cappella because he did not yet know how to play guitar. Older musicians backstage improvised accompaniment for him. He finished fourth and won his first acoustic guitar as the prize. “I already cared about aesthetics then,” he says with a laugh. The outfit mattered: tight trousers, a marching-band waistcoat, borrowed boots. Like many artists shaped by the visual radicalism of the 1970s, César understood instinctively that performance extended beyond sound. He cites influences ranging from Bob Marley and Fela Kuti to Raul Seixas and Secos & Molhados.

By fourteen, he already knew music would define his life, though he doubted it could reliably sustain him financially. Journalism seemed a pragmatic compromise, and at sixteen he started studying it at Federal University of Paraíba. Around the same period another artistic revelation arrived – Jaguaribe Carne, an experimental collective blending Northeastern rhythms such as maracatu, coco and ciranda with avant-garde composition, concrete poetry and improvisation. “That opened my mind for the second time,” he says. Through the group he discovered Ravi Shankar, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and ECM jazz recordings, and became obsessed with Codona, the trio featuring Naná Vasconcelos, Don Cherry and Collin Walcott. “I nearly became an experimental instrumental musician exclusively.” But there was still something in the boy who’d spent seven years in a record shop – he wanted music that communicated with larger audiences. The tension between experimentation and accessibility, sophistication and directness, would become one of the defining characteristics of César’s work.

His latest album, Fofo (2026), revisits songs written during his late teens and early twenties, before national fame arrived. Listening now, the sophistication of the compositions feels startling for someone so young. “Those songs formed the foundation of the artist I became,” he says. “I owed it to those songs, to that young composer between sixteen and twenty, to record some of them.” The project emerged after an intense year of touring to celebrate thirty years since the release of his first album, Aos Vivos (1995), singing accompanied only by his acoustic guitar. Performing more than seventy concerts restored his technical relationship with the instrument. “My fingers became agile again,” he says. “I started remembering those songs – often very complex songs – that I’d left behind after moving to São Paulo and seeking a more communicative language.” The result is an album that reconnects César not only with his younger self, but with a tradition of Brazilian songwriting rooted in emotional risk and lyrical confrontation. He hears continuity between the teenager and the mature songwriter, “a visceral way of writing about love.” He cites the influence of figures such as Waly Salomão, Jards Macalé and Torquato Neto – artists for whom love songs could be abrasive, destabilising and dangerous rather than merely tender. “Contemporary MPB [acronym for the genre called Brazilian Popular Music] often becomes too sugary, too soft, as though we’re afraid to prick people a little.”

National fame arrived in the mid-1990s when Daniela Mercury – then enjoying great popularity with a string of hit axé records – recorded “À Primeira Vista” for her hugely successful album Feijão com Arroz (1996). The song featured prominently in the telenovela O Rei do Gado and became a major hit. “She later told me she kept rewinding that track over and over when listening to my first album,” César recalls. Mercury invited him to Bahia, listened to fifteen additional songs, and ultimately chose “À Primeira Vista”. Its success transformed César from an underground songwriter into a nationally recognised artist. Soon, figures such as Maria Bethânia began recording his compositions. “It opened Brazil to me,” he says. “And later it helped open the world too.”

The transition from obscurity to mainstream visibility was disorientating. Suddenly César found himself backstage beside pagode groups, sertanejo stars and television personalities he had once regarded as belonging to another universe entirely.

“It took away anonymity,” he says. “And it took away certain illusions I had from the underground scene – the illusion that being underground made you special.”

Touring Europe further dismantled his assumptions. Audiences in Belgium and Germany, unable to understand Portuguese, still connected emotionally to “Beradêro”.

“That made me realise a lot of my assumptions were vanity,” he says. “Success gave me a feeling of belonging to the world.”

One moment with Maria Bethânia – regarded as one of Brazil’s most expressive and relevant interpreters – remains particularly important. Upon meeting him, she extended her arms to him and said: “Welcome to Brazilian music. This is your home. Don’t feel like an intruder. You belong here.” Whenever self-doubt resurfaces, César says he remembers those words. Bethânia would go on to record numerous César compositions, among them “A Força Que Nunca Seca”, co-written with a then unknown Vanessa da Mata.

Their partnership began almost accidentally. Da Mata repeatedly left messages asking César for songs until, exasperated but intrigued, he finally invited her to his apartment. After hearing her original compositions, he immediately recognised her talent. “I told her, ‘You don’t need songs from me. You’re a songwriter.’” Later she showed him lyrics scribbled in a notebook for “A Força Que Nunca Seca”. While she went to buy books by poet João Cabral de Melo Neto – whose similarity César detected in the writing and urged her to get acquainted with his work– he composed the melody. Bethânia recorded the song, turned it into the title track of her 1999 album, and helped launch Da Mata nationally.

César’s own discography has often grappled directly with questions of race, class and representation in Brazilian music. Nowhere is that clearer than in the song which gives name to the album Respeitem Meus Cabelos, Brancos (2002), which confronted the racism embedded in commentary about his appearance. The song also reflected broader frustrations with what César saw as an increasingly sanitised version of MPB. He recalls a conversation with a Rio taxi driver who complained that contemporary Brazilian music seemed obsessed with “lofts, white sofas, apartments”. “He said, ‘Your MPB mates are all so clean and polished. It’s like real life doesn’t exist.’” The exchange lingered with César. “We come from artists like Luiz Gonzaga, from songs that confront life directly,” he says. “We can’t become only softness and prettiness.” That concern still animates his reflections on Brazilian music today.

César witnessed another unexpected surge of popularity in 2021, when former Big Brother Brasil contestant Juliette Freire sang “Deus Me Proteja” – from his 2008 album francisco, forró y frevo – on television, sending streams of the song, and César’s wider catalogue, soaring. “Once again it showed me that we control nothing,” he says. “We write the songs, we record them – what happens afterwards, we simply don’t know.” Still, he takes comfort in what remains after viral moments pass. Some listeners stay. They move from “Deus Me Proteja” to his big breakthrough hit in his own voice, “Mama África”, then through the rest of his catalogue. “What matters,” he says, “is building a faithful audience while staying faithful to yourself and your artistic centre.”

Near the end of the conversation, César reflects on the broader generation to which he belongs – artists such as Lenine, Zeca Baleiro, Zélia Duncan, Paulinho Moska and Vitor Ramil. “I’d like people to look at our generation and recognise its importance,” he says. “Without those artists, Brazilian music might have gone somewhere very different.”

Thankfully, they are all still going, taking Brazilian music to places of reflection and elevated beauty.

(Photo of Chico César by Anderson Stevens)

Released today is the new EP from Exclusive Os Cabides  which blends Brazilian music influences with energetic indie rock, crafting a distinctive identity rooted in the region’s alternative scene. Hailing from Florianópolis, an island in southern Brazil with a history of producing idiosyncratic indie bands far from the dominant Rio–São Paulo axis, their new EP draws equally from both Brazilian ‘70s sounds and the bittersweet melodies of the C86 scene. Feliz e triste ao mesmo tempo (Happy and sad at the same time) offers seven short tracks which are the result of an intense year on the road, touring their album Coisas Estranhas, an experience that led the band to pursue a more rock-driven sound, aiming to get crowds moving. “The idea was to create a set of faster, more intense songs and build an interesting dynamic between them,” says João Paulo Pretto (vocals and guitar). At the beginning of this year, during the Brazilian summer, the band spent eight days at Ouié Studio working with Paulo Costa Franco. In regard to the production process, Costa Franco explains: “Basically, I try to achieve a tight, live sound from the band’s core – bass, drums, and guitar. That way they can express more energy.” You can listen to the new EP below.

Since my last foray into forthcoming events (in mid March), a few more interesting concert announcements have come my way. They’re all in and around London, so apologies to anyone like me who lives a long way from the metropolis.

Como No addenda

Since last time, there’s now the enticing prospect of celebrating Mexican Independence Day with Mexican Institute of Sound (+ DJ Gypsy Box) at the Jazz Café on the 11th September. Barely an article goes by, it seems, without mention of Camilo Lara, to give the Grammy-winning pioneer of Mexican electronica his natal name, and he’ll be playing with his full band, so it should be quite a show. You can find out more and get yer loverly tickets here.

And then, on the 27th October, Jorge Drexler will be appearing at the Roundhouse with a 7-piece band to present his latest album, TARACÁ. Candombe rhythms a-go-go.

Live at Ronnie Scott’s

Among the many concerts designed to reach the parts of jazz lovers that other shows can’t, here are some of particular interest to the Latin in-crowd. The Panama-born drum virtuoso Billy Cobham will appear with the Guy Barker big band on Thursday, 11th June. Two shows are scheduled: 5.30 and 8.30pm. You may need a small mortgage, but tickets and information can be found here.

The following day, Moyses Dos Santos appears for two shows at the same times. The Brazilian bassist and composer relocated from São Paulo to London back in the noughties. Since then, he’s performed with a host of golden artist(e)s, including Azymuth, whose sound his own brand of jazz, funk and native Brazilian music probably most resembles. He’ll be launching his new album (on Far Out Recordings), Maria.

Meanwhile, Upstairs at Ronnie’s, there are several shows of note for Latin lovers. There are more versions of the Viva Cuba Late Late Show on Friday nights during June and July at 11.15pm, celebrating Cuba, its culture and its music courtesy of a whole range of bands. The Venezuelan-born jazz pianist Benito Gonzales appears with his trio on the 9th June; French composer and pianist Adrien Brandeis appears with a quartet featuring the splendid Cuban percussionist Abraham Mansfarroll on the 11th June; and the London-based Buena Vista Live will treat audiences to some authentic traditional Cuban music on two afternoons and evenings, on Sunday, 19th July and Sunday, 20th September.

The bassist and percussionist are different, but here’s a taste of what you can expect from the Adrien Brandeis quartet.

That’s all for now, folks. Be there, or be distinctly square.

The Amor in Sound label has just released digitally (with vinyl to follow on the 10th July) The Other Side, Seu Jorge’s new album that has been 16 years in the making. I’ve only dipped my toes into it thus far, but it sounds well worth the wait. The singer-songwriter with the rich and fruity voice that suggests a Brazilian Gregory Porter with a sore throat (perhaps) has put together a homage to his country’s bossa nova, MPB and jazz traditions with a remarkable line-up of guests. Marissa Monte, for example, sings on the original “Quando Chego”, while Beck appears on a cover of Nick Drake’s exquisite “River Man” and Zap Mama guests on “Far From The Sea”. Here he is in a duet with Maria Rita on one of the album’s three singles, a version of “Vento do Maio”, a classic by the guest’s mother, Elis Regina.

The album was recorded in LA and produced by Mario Caldato jr., the man forever associated with the Beastie Boys’ classic records, as well as Seu Jorge’s debut, Cru. The lush orchestral arrangements are the work of the composer and multi-instrumentalist, Miguel Atwood Ferguson. The singer’s original numbers are fleshed out by covers of Milton Nascimento, Arthur Verocai and more, so The Other Side promises to be quite a landmark release.

Right, excuse me while I find a quiet spot and some time to listen at leisure to the album…

(Photo of Seu Jorge in LA courtesy of -B+ (unless I’ve got myself very confused!))



At this time of year, new albums are as abundant as the vegetation. It’s hard to keep on top of it all. Even so, here are some of the hardiest perennials that I’ve managed to find the time to listen to.

Super Panela: Sangre Nueva (Maaula Records)

Perhaps there’s a little bit of poetic license in the word “recent” in the column’s sub-title. This came out in February, but it’s so feisty and spirited that it deserves our attention. Super Panela are a Franco-Spanish octet based mainly in Toulouse, France. They got together following a project called Fanfare sans Frontières, which took co-leaders Olga Pavía Cerdán and Jonas Chirouze in 2014 to Cartagena and other parts of Colombia for three revelatory months of playing with local street musicians and generally imbibing the (musical) culture. They’ve been gigging ever since. The album, Jonas explains, “is very faithful to our stage show. Since the beginning, we’ve aimed to make energetic dance music.” It is exactly that: energetic – and rather splendid, with jazz, funk, hip-hop, Afrobeat, salsa and more, all rooted in the dynamic rhythms of Colombia and New Orleans. Here they are performing “Yo Canto” live, one of the album’s “dirty dozen” numbers (the New Orleans brass band is a key influence).

Carlos Henriquez Big Band: Monk Con Clave (Self-released)

Thelonious Monk is a household god, so this release has been warming the cockles of my Latin jazz heart for several weeks. Having worked with Wynton Marsalis’s Jazz at Lincoln Centre orchestra for many years, bass player and composer Carlos Henriquez has called upon distinguished colleagues, along with guests like Cuban piano maestro, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and ubiquitous percussionist Pedrito Martínez, to help render homage to the pianist and composer. Monk staples like “Round Midnight” and “I Mean You” are “re-imagined” and mixed with the bassist’s own compositions such as “San Juan Hill”, the Harlem district where Monk once lived, in a thrilling album that combines big band brass and dynamic Latin rhythms. Here’s Carlos talking about the various inspirations behind the album.

Nuevo Rios: Nuevos Rios (ZZK)

This in its way is every bit as thrilling: a meeting of Colombia’s Canalón de Timbiquí and the Toulouse-based trio, Rico Rico. In other words, a mash-up of the Colombian group’s traditional voice-and-percussion music, the outstanding vocals of lead singer Nidia Góngora and the trance-driven electronic rhythms of the Toulousain trio. The result, deriving from improvised jam sessions in Nidia Góngora’s home in Colombia’s Pacific region, is outstanding. As Rico Rico’s electric guitarist, Juan Kowalczewski, puts it, “The sound emerged naturally through a musical osmosis.” My life feels richer for musical osmoses of this quality.

Pixvae: De Lado a Lado (Compagnie 4000)

Something now in a similar kind of vein, but which doesn’t (in my ‘umble) work quite so naturally. The Franco-Colombian sextet recorded their first two albums for Bongo Joe, the home of edgy new music from the world over. Pixvae constitutes two distinct groups: the original French trio Kouma of baritone sax/keyboards, electric guitar and drums, augmented by the Colombian trio of marimba and two vocalists/percussionists. They call their blend of art-rock and traditional currulao rhythms “Colombian crunch music”. At times, it can be a little too crunchy for my taste, but when the two potentially discordant elements work in close harmony, it works very well. See what you think…

Airto Moreira and Ricardo Bacelar feat. Flora Purim: Maracanós (Jasmin Music)

Something remarkable has just occurred to me. We’re four selections in and we haven’t yet been to Brazil. Time to remedy that crisis. And what better way than with the return of Airto Moreira and (to a less prominent degree) Flora Purim? They’ve hooked up with pianist, composer and producer, Ricardo Bacelar, for a largely instrumental album based on improvisation, composition and some studio experimentation. It seems to be part of a larger audio-visual project that includes a feature-length documentary directed by Jom Tob Azulay. It’s great to have Moreira and Purim back, even if it’s not necessarily from the top drawer of their repertoire. That’s probably because their powers on the wane, but nevertheless there’s much to love about Maracanós, so beggars can’t be choosers (as they say). This cross-generational project, one sincerely hopes, will not be the last hurrah of this legendary pair.

Vitor Araújo & Metropole Orkest: TORÓ (Selo RISCO)

Strings are featured to a degree in Maracanós, but not to the degree that they are in this one. Metropole Orkest are a 14-piece string ensemble that have worked with the likes of Brian Eno, Jacob Collier and Snarky Puppy. Here, they work with a percussion-oriented troupe of Brazilian musicians hand-picked by Vitor Araújo, a 34-year-old composer from Recife (location of the wonderful Brazilian film that I watched very recently on MUBI, The Secret Agent). Highly influenced by Bartok and Bach and, closer to home, Heitor Villa-Lobos, the young prodigy has worked in a duo context with Caetano Veloso, João Donato and Naná Vasconcelos, as well as recording an album with Arnaldo Antunes of Tribalistas fame. Nearly an hour long, TORÓ is a record of a performance in 2024 that transcends genres of modern classical, electronic, world and Afro-Brazilian music. Here’s a sample of an extraordinary album.

Jesús “La Grulla” Caunedo: Fire & Sugar (Rocafort Records)

Time, I feel, for some reissues from Spain. The latest from Rocafort Records of Barcelona harks back to 1975. The Cuban multi-instrumentalist, Jesús “La Grulla” Caunedo, is an often un-credited figure in Latin music, but definitely not someone to be overlooked. He performed alongside such big-hitters as Tito Puente, Machito and Celia Cruz, and while the album might not scale those lofty heights, it’s well worth a detour. Recorded in Puerto Rico, it blends Afro-Cuban rhythms, heavy percussion, tight brass arrangements, fuzz guitar and jazz-fusion elements to land somewhere between Latin jazz, funk and fusion. At times a little overblown, the album comes across to me as a kind of updated, fuel-injected version of the Spanish-born “Rumba King”, Xavier Cugat’s sound. Take a dip into the full album…

Joe Acosta: The Power of Love (Vampisoul)

The next two reissues came originally from Joe Bataan’s short-lived Ghetto Records, a laudable but ill-fated attempt to swim clear of the shark-infested waters of record labels and recording contracts. Both date from 1971 and I imagine that original copies are as rare as hen’s teeth. Born in Puerto Rico and principally a pianist, Acosta tasted success with the album’s romantic opener, “I Need Her”, which spent 21 weeks in the Billboard Latin Top 10. Apart from a couple of other ballads (including “Phoenix”, a version of Jim Webb’s lovely “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” that might have been better omitted), it’s an album mainly of hard-hitting guaguancos and salsa dura that feature the kind of gut-bucket trombone normally associated with a Willie Colón recording.

La Fantástica: From Ear to Ear (Vampisoul)

The 11-piece Orquesta La Fantástica hailed from Brooklyn. They were led by saxophonist, vocalist and composer, “Sammy” León and featured a winning combination of piano and vibraphone, along with a brass section of two tenor saxophones and two trumpets and distinctive vocals by Rafael “Ralphy” De Jesús, aka Chuleta. The album’s eight original numbers are uniformly hard-hitters and include the penultimate “M and M”, which clocks in at 17 minutes – surely too long for an ode to the popular sweet. Or should I say “candy”?

Mansfarroll: África Sí (M. Percuson / InOuïe Distribution)

Mansfarroll is a Cuban percussionist and composer who came to France in 2002. His name was new to me, even though he has played with the likes of Chucho Valdés, Ibrahim Maalouf, the great tenor saxophonist, David Murray, and one of my favourite expatriate bandleaders, Ernesto “Tito” Puentes (note that all-important “s” to distinguish him from El Rey). With credentials like that, it’s not surprising that this is as good as it is: some of the best Afro-Latin jazz of the year so far. With guests of the calibre of Ballaké Sissoko on kora and Patrick Bebey on Pygmy flute and kalimba, the album highlights the constant musical exchanges between Africa and Cuba. It marks an exciting new chapter in the evolution of the genre. Here are some tasty extracts…

Various Artists: Transmisiones: Cuba (Buh Records)

While on the subject of Cuba, here are two fascinating compilations of Cuban music new and old. The first – one of those rare creatures, a digital and limited-edition cassette release – focuses on new sounds from the beleagured island. The 15 different artists featured are all between the age of 20 and 30 and are all part of a new generation of musicians who grew up in an era of digital liberation (in some respects). However, this expansion has not translated into easy access to international streaming platforms or to formal systems of distribution and payment, which remain problematic due to financial and technological restrictions affecting the island. With difficulties compounded by such factors as the instability of the electrical system and the frequent power outages that affect large parts of the country, it makes this compilation of art-rock, post-rock, folk, ambient music and other sounds that much more compelling.

Various Artists: DJ KOCO aka SHIMOKITA – Cuban 45s Boxset (Mr. Bongo)

By contrast, this latest box-set of 7″ singles curated by the Japanese turntable wizard DJ KOCO, known as SHIMOKITA, concentrates on cuts in the spirit of Mr. Bongo’s Cuban Classics series. Released to coincide with this year’s Record Store Day, it follows a sold-out box-set of Brazilian classics two years ago. The focus is on rhythm and grooves from an era when disco influenced the indigenous sounds of Cuba. There are highlights a-plenty, which suggests that anyone with a turntable and arm should think about ordering this set before it, too, sells out.

Pedro Volta: Retrosambas (Brasil Discos)

And since we’re on a retro track, here’s something that does exactly what it says on the tin. Pedro Volta is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from São Paulo, who explores his country’s musical tradition through a contemporary lens in these 10 tracks, mixing originals with re-interpretations of lesser-known works from Brazil’s songbook. Geraldo Pereira’s 1945 samba, “Vai Que Depois Eu Vou”, for example, is re-imagined here as a vocal duet. Pedro Volta played many of the instruments used himself on an album that moves easily and seamlessly through the musical worlds of pre- and post-bossa nova songwriting without ever quite lighting the blue touch-paper.

Rua Das Pretas: Povo Brasileiro (Harmonia/The Orchard)

Rua Das Pretas is a collective directed by the Brazilian composer and guitarist, Pierre Aderne. Povo Brasileiro is not only an album but also a short film written and directed by Aderne. Born in Rio de Janeiro but now installed in Lisbon, the multi-talented artist has collaborated with the likes of Seu Jorge, Tito Paris, Sara Tavares, Madeleine Peyroux and especially Melody Gardot, with whom he wrote several songs for her album Sunset In The Blue. I haven’t seen the film in question, but the album is a multi-faceted delight, a celebration of both sides of the Atlantic, with guests from Cape Verde, Portugal, Rio and São Paulo and diverse elements of samba, choro, fado and Afro-Brazilian music, to cite the most obvious genres. It’s a rich mix that will, I’m sure, keep on giving.

Doctor Nativo: BarrioKandela (Stonetree Records)

I’ve already featured the good doctor in two previous round-ups of new singles. Here in his cross-genre album, the Guatemalan-born son of a Cuban father and restaurateur, assassinated by the regime for welcoming Guatemalan guerillas into his establishment, runs the gamut from Balkan-infused cumbia to reggae, hip-hop and mariachi. It’s an edgy, rhythmic and ultimately uplifting release that seeks, like his 2018 debut Guatemaya, to bring the threatened Mayan culture into a sharper focus. Book an appointment with Doctor Nativo right now!

Well, that’s the last one on my list struck off – but did I forget to put someone/anyone on that list? If I did, mea culpa. “Put the blame on Mame, boys, put the blame on Mame…” as Rita Hayworth sang in Gilda. Enjoy the end of spring and see you next time.

(Our thanks to Maria Bacelar for the cover photo of Airto Moreira.)

CATTO is a Brazilian singer-songwriter who reached the wider public in 2011, when her song “Saga” – originally released in an eponymous EP released about two years earlier – was part of the Brazilian telenovela Cordel Encantado’s soundtrack. Telenovelas have been a great platform to popularise songs for over five decades in Brazil.

CATTO’S arrival was widely praised then, particularly for her voice, which bore similarities to the legendary singer Ney Matogrosso, whose career had begun with the performative rock band Secos e Molhados in the early 70s. CATTO has released seven albums since, with CAMINHOS SELVAGES (2025) being the most recent.

She has expanded her own repertoire with no less authorial concerts which lend her raw and edgy delivery to the oeuvres of what could be considered “old-school” musicians such as Maysa, Célia, Cauby Peixoto, and Ângela Maria. One of these concerts was the basis for the poignant album Belezas São Coisas Acesas Por Dentro (2023), featuring songs from the catalogue of the Tropicália muse Gal Costa, who had passed away the previous year.

She is mostly known as a singer but also lends her talent to other areas, working as audiovisual director, record producer, and graphic designer. As the latter, CATTO’s work can be seen in her own as well as in others’ album sleeves, such as Alice Caymmi’s Rainha dos Raios, which gained instant iconic status at the time of its release in 2015. And no iconic album is considered such for its music alone. Think of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours (1977), of Madonna’s Like a Prayer (1999), of Charlie xcx’s Brat (2024). Or, if we’re considering Brazilian artists, think of the group album manifesto Tropicália Ou Panis Et Circensis (1968), of Marina Lima’s Fullgás (1984), of Marisa Monte’s Verde Anil Amarelo Cor de Rosa e Carvão (1994). Then remember the sleeve of Rainha dos Raios – simply i-co-nic!

We spoke about her journey as both an artist and an individual as she prepared for a concert in Argentina. We began by discussing how music entered her life as a profession. “Music came into my life mainly through my father, who is a musician. At home there were many instruments and lots of records. There was also the television and the radio. I loved listening to songs from around the world – that always captivated me, and I adored it. In fact, all forms of art interested me. I liked drawing and putting on little plays. And I would sing around the house. For me, it was all one thing. It was art in its entirety that interested me. Things just happened naturally.”

I’m always curious to know which artists inspired singers at the beginning of their careers and in what ways, especially when they are primarily recognised for their vocal performances, as CATTO is. She says, “I’m very influenced by female singers. I’ve always loved women in rock – Alanis [Morissette], Shakira at the start of her career in the 1990s, when I was a child. Chrissie Hynde, PJ Harvey, Courtney Love – rock singers influenced me most. And then there’s Brazilian music, with Chico Buarque, Elis Regina, Gal Costa, Marina Lima.”

I wondered whether any artists who emerged after her have also gone on to inspire her. “I’ve never had any prejudice about things. And after I released my first album, I discovered the work of so many people from my own generation – contemporaries, you know? Alice Caymmi, Johnny Hooker, Jup do Bairro, and all this gang that I absolutely love.”

We then moved on to discuss which part of her work as a singer she enjoys the most. “It’s the stage. There’s a lot of work to get to that moment. I also enjoy producing records – I think it has its own kind of magic – but the stage is where the magic happens.”

Thinking about her performance in Argentina, I asked whether she tends to create different set-lists depending on the place she’s performing, or whether that only happens when she’s preparing a new tour. “There’s a foundation I always try to preserve so that the show connects with the album and my ideas, but the set-list is always changing. Music is very alive. In shows like this one in Buenos Aires, where it’s just me and my guitar, I have more room to improvise, to pull a rabbit or two out of the hat. It’s fun.”

Focusing on how her personal life influences her work, we spoke about the joys and challenges of her being a trans woman and artist at this time in Brazil, since her gender transition took place after her debut and recognition as an artist. “There are many joys. I think the joy is not being ordinary. Not being ordinary is wonderful. And there are many challenges too. I try not to take things too personally, even though I’m constantly someone on the margins and who sometimes feels a bit out of place. There’s a fascination with art that comes from trans people – we’ve been here for thousands of years. But it’s still very difficult to have to keep explaining the basics all the time, when we’re artists and want to talk about our work, really.”

If she had to choose one song from her repertoire that best defines her today, which would it be? “The song that defines me most today is “1001 NOITES IS OVER”. I feel absolutely brilliant! “MADRIGAL” also defines me very well. These two songs from my latest album are very powerful for me. They have an incredible ability to express who I am.”

We finish by discussing the legacy CATTO hopes to leave as an artist. “I want to be remembered as an artist committed to art, committed to the craft, committed to the artistic quality of what I do. I’m very meticulous – I like working on things in the smallest detail – and I believe that in the long run the work speaks for itself. I want to leave behind a body of work that speaks for itself. And I hope I can enjoy myself along the way.”

CATTO will perform as part of Suena 2026 concert series, which showcase prominent voices in urban and pop music scene. Her concert will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 10 May 2026. Tickets can be purchased online.

(Cover photo of CATTO courtesy of Ivi Maiga Bugrimenko @ivimaigabugrimenko)

Good morning, viewers. As you know, many of the albums we feature on Sounds and Colours are available via Bandcamp. The platform that doesn’t rely on algorithms is organising a fundraiser for Lebanon between 1st and 3rd May in partnership with Beit Aam, a humanitarian organisation based in Beirut that’s providing basic goods from hygiene products to mattresses and clothes. Over 30 labels, including Agogo, Bongo Joe, Mr. Bongo, Mais Um, Strut and Wonderwheel to name but six of the worthy contributors, are participating.

The fundraiser was launched by friends Lewis Robinson (Mais Um) and Duncan Ballantyne (Ballantyne Communications PR), who were inspired by the Land 2 + 3 album fundraisers that Beirut’s Tunefork Studios and the Beirut Synthesizer Centre put together, also to raise funds for Beit Aam. So get yourself down to Bandcamp in the virtual high street without delay because the initiative ends on the 3rd May.

If there’s nothing currently on your shopping list, there’s a GoGet Funding page available for any donations you feel able to make.

Thank you for your help!

As things hot up in more ways than one, we can comfort ourselves in the knowledge that certain things never change: there will always be more new singles from the Latin world to enjoy. Hopefully. Here’s a healthy broad-based selection from recent weeks.

MOMO.: “Egum Eô”

It’s good news week: MOMO.’s back in town. The London-based Brazilian singer-songwriter’s new single is taken from June’s Tum Tum Tum, the second album that he has made since moving with his family to London. Produced by the artist himself, it has a nice hook, a catchy melody and the kind of easy-swinging funky sound that is getting to be a trademark. Now on Agogo Records, the forthcoming album includes a collaboration on one track with the mighty Marcos Valle.

Lau Ro: “Conclusão”

Another expatriate Brazilian singer-songwriter based in England – and just a 50-minute train ride south from London to Brighton, or London-by-the-sea – is Lau Ro. The artist’s sophomore album also appears in June and this delicate, meandering song about the ache of unresolved relationships offers a promising foretaste of things to come. It follows 2024’s Cabana for the estimable Far Out Recordings.

Terror/Cactus: “Transmisión Clandestina”

Would you credit it? Another South American expatriate artist with a sophomore album due in June. In this case, though, the man in question, producer and multi-instrumentalist Martín Selasco, was born in Argentina. Part of a family that founded not just one but two record labels, he was raised in Miami, surrounded unsurprisingly by music. Now based in the Seattle area, his work draws from a range of Latin American musical traditions and moves fluidly between cultural landscapes. The album, Calapso, comes out on June 12th and, on the basis of this intriguing single, could be one to look out for.

Arturo Sandoval: “Scat”

Here’s someone we haven’t heard from for quite some time. Well, I guess the flamboyant Cuban trumpeter is a senior citizen these days at 76. This funky single is taken from an album out very soon (no, not June, May), SANGÚ. It sounds like Sandoval can still hit those improbably high notes, while the scat-singing appears to be a new string to his bow. Sandoval was mentored of course by the great Dizzy Gillespie and I hope you’ll have checked out Adailton Moura’s fascinating article on Sounds and Colours about a little known album that Dizzy made in Brazil with Trio Mocotó.

Rizomagic: “Orbital”

Time now for a dose of “Psychotropicolombian Futurism”, which is what this Colombian duo of Diego Manrique and Edgar Marún dub their electronic take on cumbia rebajada, the slowed-down and manipulated form of the genre pioneered by Mexican and Colombian sound-system DJs back in the day. “Orbital” is one half of an EP along with “Cumbia Lunar”. It’s very redolent of the contemporary Bogotá scene and it’s enough to get you spinning slowly around the room in a state of hypnotic bliss.

Curió Curió: “Bem Querer”

Another duo for our delectation. This single comes courtesy of the ever-trustworthy Mr. Bongo label from an act named after a Brazilian songbird and specialising, it would seem, in the kind of infectious fusion of MPB, disco, samba and more that Bala Desejo and others are serving up. Born in Rio de Janeiro, appropriately enough, Luiza Monteiro is a singer and actress now based in Austria, while musician and producer Dustin Braun hails from Germany. An album is scheduled for July, but for now we’ve got this lovely sultry, funky groove to be going on with.

Climax: “Nacido Para Ser Salvaje”

Right, you rockers! Time to rev up your Harleys and hit the road. Here’s Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild” Bolivian style from the debut EP of a hard-rock outfit that would later find some kind of fame in a more “progressive” niche. Originally released in 1969, the first-time vinyl reissue comes courtesy of Vampisoul. Climax take on Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your Love” and “Tales of Brave Ulysses”, as well as Hendrix’s “Fire”, on the other three tracks and they do it with a certain rough-and-ready panache.

La Gata: “KUiDAO FT. JAZZ”

When is an EP not an LP? 3:33, named after the singer’s time of birth, is a six-track pack, but the individual components are short enough to justify its inclusion here. Katelina Eccleston, known perhaps understandably as La Gata, is a US-based Dominican artist, as well as an historian of reggaeton and a social commentator. According to an in-depth profile in Rolling Stone, in her social media platform Reggaeton con La Gata, she’s “investigated, educated, and challenged the narratives surrounding reggaeton” – and probably not before time. Her music fuses punk and rock to the genre to create something like this…

Muca & Roberto Menescal: “Every Little Thing ft. SAHRA”

After all those wailing electric guitars, it’s a bit of a relief to go acoustic for a few moments. Taken from an album scheduled for the end of May, BELEZA, comes this breezy single in which the London-based jazz singer, SAHRA, joins forces with the bossa nova tyro, Roberto Menescal, and the London-based musician Murillo Squillaro, known in the trade as Muca. “I spent some time in Brazil in the winter of 2024 and fell in love with bossa nova all over again,” the guest vocalist reveals. “So when Muca approached me to contribute vocals to this track with a legend such as Menescal, I jumped at the chance to give him his flowers and show appreciation to a true pioneer.” How perfectly delightful.

Grupo Firme: “Cabrón y Medio”

And now, because I’m sure you’re clamouring for it, here’s a little heart-rending, emotionally-charged Mexican music. Grupo Firme are currently on an extensive tour of Central and Latin America to coincide with the release of their first studio album in three years, Evolución. It has garnered trillions of streams on platforms everywhere and, in fact, the band can count on over 21.4 million monthly Spotify listeners. No wonder that the publicity describes Grupo Firme as “one of the most beloved Mexican acts today, continuously redefining the genre and bringing música Mexicana to a global audience.” You heard it here first. Or perhaps not, given their global reach.

Diego Mena: “Motivos pa Volver”

While we’re on a Mexican theme… Diego Mena is a Mexican singer-songwriter and producer based in Houston. He blends corridos with pop, urban and rock influences into a fresh, frothy and rather sweet sound. “Motivos Pa Volver” is the first single from his upcoming 10-track debut album. More than that, I cannot currently tell you. Watch this space…

Lucas Filmes: “Pai”

Back to Brazil – and don’t spare the horses! If “Pai” sounds like it slots neatly into the niche of nova bossa nova created by the likes of Sessa and Bruno Berle, this is actually a rather unusual single. Like the other side, “Quanto Amor”, it reflects specifically on the experience of loss – of the artist’s father in 2024. “Pai” was written during surgery to remove his father’s malignant tumour. “It was an extremely complex, high-risk procedure. This song works as a plea—for everything to be okay, for us to continue living and learning together,” Filmes explains. It is, as he suggests, a sad song, yet it’s not submerged in melancholy and is rather beautiful in a wistful kind of way.

Sparklmami: “No Te Vayas”

Perhaps something a little more uplifting is needed after that sad song. Sparklmami is described as a multi-disciplinary artist and she hails from Chicago, where so much great jazzy music derives from these days. I love her cool-and-lazy take on disco-fied Brazilian jazz-funk, and her self-directed video’s not too shabby either. It’s the opening track from her first album, In This Body, which is out on 5th June – on Verve Records, no less.

Hockitay: “buttons”

Here’s a curious song by a singer-songwriter with an unusual voice. Hockitay was born in Guatemala and is now based in Montreal, where this beguiling video was made. The line “The task of living is all consuming, don’t you find that I’ve consumed enough” highlights the theme of the song: what remains of our essential self in this increasingly automated world of ours? Remember the name; Hockitay might be onto something here.

Mexican Institute of Sound, Meridian Brothers: “Cumbia de los Estudiantes”

Here’s another deliciously bonkers single from the bonkers team of Mexican Institute of Sound and Meridian Brothers. The video is clearly also created in the same spirit of joyful lunacy. I still remember my school days and they’d have been considerably enhanced by music like this. It’s the second single from the album that comes out in May, Ruido Tovar. It’s bound to be a winner.

Celeste Sanazi: “Sabor a ti”

Here’s some really nice contemporary salsa from an Argentine artist based now in Mexico City. Known apparently for her acting roles in TV shows and films, Celeste Sanazi gained broader recognition for her role in the Nickelodeon hit series Kally’s Mashup. I can’t say I know it, but I do know that this is a heap-good single.

Orquestra Pacifico Tropical: “Entre La Montaña”

Drummer David “Papi” Fimbres of this tropical outfit based in Portland, Oregon, shares, “We want to show people what dance music is and that it is for everyone.” That seems like a very worthy aim and a rather appropriate place to end this current round-up. It’s the second single from an album out in June, El Poder. Another good one in prospect, it would seem. Well… I’m sure I’ve missed loads of similarly worthy new singles from the Latin world, but I’ve simply got to get into the garden: It’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from going under…

(Cover photo of Terror/Cactus courtesy of Jake Hanson)