JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
NPR's Tiny Desk Contest tour is in its final leg. This year's winner, Ruby Ibarra, has been through 7 of 10 cities already. And that rounds out the 11th year of the Tiny Desk Contest. Well today, NPR Music's Felix Contreras, the co-host of Alt.Latino, is here to share some of his favorite videos among the thousands submitted by bands and performers. Hi, Felix.
FELIX CONTRERAS, BYLINE: Hey. What's up?
SUMMERS: OK, so last year you came by the show to share some of your favorite jazz entries, and this year you've brought us in some Latin music. I wonder, Felix, were there any differences between this year and last year?
CONTRERAS: OK, first of all, this year I was a judge. And I have avoided it for the 11 years because I knew that if I was a judge, I would want to give everyone a prize, man.
SUMMERS: (Laughter) I mean, I get that. I get that. All right, so tell us about some of these folks. Who have you got for us today?
CONTRERAS: OK, first up is a song called "Lejos de Aqui" by Charly Siaba. Check this out.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHARLY SIABA SONG, "LEJOS DE AQUI")
CONTRERAS: So it starts with the faintest whisper of acoustic guitars, reflecting his classical training. It's set in what looks like his home studio or workplace - so dramatic lighting, workshop partially obscured by darkness. I can see guitars. We see recording equipment, stuff on the walls. And then he starts singing, man.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LEJOS DE AQUI")
CHARLY SIABA: (Singing in Spanish).
SUMMERS: Felix, tell us more about Charly Siaba.
CONTRERAS: You know, the beauty of the contest is there are so many new names, right? I didn't know him at all, so I did some research. I found out that he was born in Cuba, born in Havana. He's classically trained on guitar. He's the product of those famous Cuban music conservatories. At some point, he relocated to Houston, Texas. He's taken a singer-songwriter approach. And the videos I saw were mostly solo and duo videos, but he added some horn parts to his performance on this. Check this out.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LEJOS DE AQUI")
SIABA: (Imitating trumpet sounds).
SUMMERS: I mean, that's incredible. For people who are not seeing this, he's making a really credible trumpet sound, and he's using just his mouth.
CONTRERAS: Yeah (laughter). Yeah.
SUMMERS: Felix, tell us who's next.
CONTRERAS: OK, the best part of doing the Alt.Latino podcast is there's so many different musical cultures to explore and to share. And I saw a video by Diego Herrera. He's a jazz saxophonist from Lima, Peru. He studied music in Boston, like so many other young jazz musicians, but his Tiny Desk Contest video includes traditional Afro Peruvian instruments like charango, which is a small guitar-like instrument that comes from the Andes, and a cajon, which is a percussion instrument that you sit on. And that's what starts his video.
(SOUNDBITE OF DIEGO HERRERA'S "ASHIA")
CONTRERAS: So he's got this traditional thing going. Now listen how he layers jazz over that.
(SOUNDBITE OF DIEGO HERRERA'S "ASHIA")
SUMMERS: Felix, this is so beautiful. Tell me more about this song.
CONTRERAS: The song is called "Aisha," (ph) and it features, you know, regular jazz instrumentation. There's electric guitar. There's a five-string electric bass, electric keyboards and his very, very nice, warm tone on the tenor saxophone - again, a traditional jazz instrument.
(SOUNDBITE OF DIEGO HERRERA'S "ASHIA")
SUMMERS: I mean, these artists are so incredible, but I think we've only got time for one more pick from the thousands of videos that you got the opportunity to sift through.
CONTRERAS: OK, singer by the name of Taisha Estrada - has roots in Puerto Rico. She's sort of like a jazzy singer-songwriter base, but with so much more. This song that she submitted is called "El Abstracto."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EL ABSTRACTO")
TAISHA ESTRADA: (Singing in Spanish).
SUMMERS: I mean, Felix, her voice is so beautiful. Tell us more about her.
CONTRERAS: You know, she comes from that tradition in Latin America that goes back to the 1800s, of a thing called trova. And some of the greats from the 1960s were taking a critical eye towards social conditions, social issues. And when I heard Taisha Estrada, it reminded me of some of the greats like Mercedes Sosa - poetic lyrics, a voice that weighs between folklorico and jazz, kind of finger-picking guitar chops. Really, in a lot of ways, like Mercedes Sosa meets Joni Mitchell.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EL ABSTRACTO")
ESTRADA: (Singing in Spanish).
SUMMERS: Felix Contreras, co-host of NPR Music's Alt.Latino podcast and radio program. And we just heard selections from the 11th annual Tiny Desk Contest. Felix, thank you.
CONTRERAS: Thank you, Juana.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EL ABSTRACTO")
ESTRADA: (Singing in Spanish). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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