MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Nominations for the 27th Annual Latin Grammys have been announced, and if you look closely at some of the big categories, you might see a surprising shift, a shift toward traditional folk music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ANTE LA DUDA, BAILA")
JORGE DREXLER: (Singing in Spanish).
KELLY: Felix Contreras is co-host of NPR Music's Alt.Latino podcast, also a curator of Latin music at the Tiny Desk. Felix is here to tell us more. Hi there.
FELIX CONTRERAS, BYLINE: Hey. (Inaudible).
KELLY: Hey. So give me some examples of this. What are you seeing in the nominations?
CONTRERAS: OK, it's right there in the major categories - the best album of the year, best song of the year, best record of the year, which normally sound a lot like reggaeton and other forms of pop music. But this year, specifically, two albums stand out - "Tacará" (ph) from veteran Uruguayan singer-songwriter Jorge Drexler and "La Vida Era Más Corta" from 19-year-old Milo J from Argentina.
KELLY: Nineteen years old? OK, so the members who get to vote in the Latin Recording Academy, they must heard something they like. Start with newcomer - 19 years old, what do we need to know about him? Is he even known for folk?
CONTRERAS: OK, Milo J - and that's Milo and the letter J, hota in Spanish - he's been known as a hip-hop artist, and his previous two albums sound pretty much what, like, we expect from Latin American hip-hop.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CUANDO ESTAS VOS")
MILO J: (Singing in Spanish).
CONTRERAS: But his nominated record is a 180 from the pop world. It incorporates Argentine folk traditions like chacarera, milonga and even tango, like the track "Cuando El Agua Hirviendo." It starts with vocals and a small, guitar-like instrument called charango, which is common in a couple of Andean countries, then hand drums from Argentina and Uruguay start percolating, then a folk-sounding chorus. It's just a spectacular statement.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CUANDO EL AGUA HIRVIENDO")
MILO J: (Singing in non-English language).
KELLY: OK, love it. All right, that's one. The other name you dropped, Jorge Drexler, he's a little bit more familiar on this scene.
CONTRERAS: He's one of the most recognized artists in Latin Grammy history - 43 nominations, 16 wins, going back to 2002. He's originally from Uruguay, and during his trips back home, he noticed a movement recently exploring the Afro Uruguayan music known as candombe. And this album is a full embrace of those traditions.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EL TAMBOR CHICO")
DREXLER: (Singing in Spanish).
CONTRERAS: This is called "El Tambor Chico," and his lyrics and his vocals introduce us to the instruments and the sounds that we hear throughout the song. And by doing that, Drexler is leading us by hand into a world that few people outside of Uruguay know. Candombe is a much-overlooked musical impact of the slave trade down there in the southern cone.
KELLY: I'm thinking, Felix, you have covered and enjoyed Latin music for a long time. Does this moment really feel that different, the shift towards traditional folk?
CONTRERAS: You know, it does. I've been doing Alt.Latino for 16 years, and it roughly reflects the timeline of the popularity and breakthrough in the mainstream of reggaeton. It became so influential because it really was able to reflect a pan-Latin sound. Anywhere from any country could participate. But a while back, my co-host Anamaria Sayre and I started hearing music that pushed back on that pan-Latin thing. Instead, they introduced some cool folk-influenced music from places like Mexico, various parts of Latin America and even Spain. It was a subtle trend, but it seemingly reached a critical mass, resulting in these high-profile nominations.
KELLY: Well, if you like what you are hearing, you can actually hear both these artists talking about their albums on the Alt.Latino podcast. Felix Contreras, thank you for being here.
CONTRERAS: Thank you.
KELLY: And the Latin Grammy Award show, it'll be broadcast on the Univision TV network, November 12.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTISTS: (Singing in Spanish). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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