Mix(ed)tape

Send us Fan Mail In this episode nos dedicamos a perrear. We visit the roots and development of reggaetón, learning about the economically disadvantaged, Caribbean Afro-descendant youth who rebelled the rhythm into existence. We also learn about the musical elements of the rhythms and about the dance of reggaetón, touching briefly on reggaetón's relation to Dembow. For this track we have a se...

Send us Fan Mail Las expertas folcloristas, maestras Edelmira Massa Zapata @elpalenquededelia y Rosita Lozano @frampezcolombia nos comparten su conocimiento sobre los orígenes de la cumbia y lo que representa para la cultura colombiana y latinoamericana, resaltando el profundo encuentro de las culturas Africana y Amerindia en el corazón de la cumbia.   Edelmira Massa Zapata es una reconocida coreó...

Send us Fan Mail La distinguida palenquera Matilde Herrera Hernández , profesora de bailes folclóricos colombianos con más de 50 años de experiencia, estudiada etnoeducadora, directora y coreógrafa del Grupo de Danzas Kumbé , nos habla sobre Palenque, sobre su lenguaje, su cultura y su legado a la cultura colombiana. San Basilio de Palenque es un pueblo en el departamento de Bolívar, al norte de C...

Send us Fan Mail La canta-autora de bailes cantaos Nelda Piña , del grupo Nelda Piña y sus Tambores, nos comparte un poco de su biografía y de su conocimiento sobre las raíces del bullerengue y de la cumbia. Ella también nos habla sobre las contribuciones de la gente negra a estos ritmos y menciona la importancia de apoyar a la juventud en los lugares donde estos ritmos fueron creados. !Y además n...

Send us Fan Mail In Palenquero (Palenque Man) singer and songwriter Nelda Piña pays homage to the town of San Basilio de Palenque, to its music, its cultural influence, and its deep Black roots . Although to be precise, Palenque has Black roots, Black trunk, Black branches and Black, beautiful flowers. The whole tree is black!  Were we listening?    In this episode we are fortunate to have Nelda P...

Send us Fan Mail En esta canción Nelda Piña   rinde homenaje al pueblo de San Basilio de Palenque, su música, su influencia cultural, y sus profundas raíces negras. Aunque para ser precisos, Palenque tiene raíces negras, tronco negro, ramas negras, y hermosas flores negras. ¡El árbol completo es negro!  En este episodio tenemos la fortuna de tener a Nelda Piña reflexionando sobre la canción que el...

Send us Fan Mail En este episodio nos vamos para Colombia, la amada madre patria de nuestro host Andrés. ¡Este largo viaje a América del Sur lo hacemos para hablar sobre la cumbia! Este ritmo, hijo del caribe colombiano, se ha expandido a muchos países incluyendo Mexico, Argentina, y Perú. Su difusión ha sido tan amplia que los amantes de la cumbia a veces no están conscientes de su lugar de proce...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we visit host Andrés' beloved motherland: Colombia! We travel all the way to South America to talk about Cumbia! This rhythm, child of the Colombian Caribbean, has expanded to many countries including Mexico, Argentina, and Perú. Its diffusion has been so widespread that cumbia enthusiasts are sometimes unaware of where the rhythm is from and which cultures cr...

Send us Fan Mail En Rebelión, la canción más famosa de Joe Arroyo, el Joe nos lleva en un viaje desde la tristeza sin nombre de la esclavitud en general, al dolor específico de una pareja negra esclavizada, y en últimas a la rebelión  del hombre negro suscitada por el deseo de proteger a su pareja. ¿Estábamos escuchando?  Con este episodio, el último de este año 2021, estamos celebrando que nuestr...

Send us Fan Mail In Rebelión, Joe Arroyo's most famous song, El Joe take us from the nameless sorrow of slavery in general, to the specific pain and ultimate rebellion of a black, enslaved man sparked by the desire to protect his partner. Were we listening? With this last episode of 2021 we are celebrating that our Mix(ed)tape Playlist of Afro-Latin songs has now more than 1000 songs!!! The s...

Send us Fan Mail In África Terra Querida (Africa Beloved Motherland) singer and songwriter Paulo Flores  displays his poetic lyricism with a candid, melancholic description of various situations that depict life in the African continent and in Angola in particular, ranging from the relationship with elders, to interactions between neighbors, to the extremely popular game of soccer, the sport of th...

Send us Fan Mail En África Terra Querida (África Tierra Querida), el cantante y compositor Paulo Flores @paulofloresmusic demuestra su lírica poética con una cándida y melancólica descripción de varias situaciones que ejemplifican la vida en el continente africano y en Angola en particular, que van desde la relación con los mayores, a las interacciones entre vecinos, a el extremadamente popular ju...

Send us Fan Mail Our season so far has consisted of Afro-Latin rhythms. This month we are taking a trip across the ocean, away from the Americas all the way to Africa, because the rhythm we are talking about today is… Kizomba!!!  We travel to Angola  to talk about the history of Kizomba and the socio-political and cultural context in which it developed. We talk about Kizomba’s musical influences a...

Send us Fan Mail El Negrito del Batey (The Black Man from the Batey) composed by Hector J. Díaz and Medardo Guzmán, in the voice of Alberto Beltrán with La Sonora Matancera, is a signature merengue song that many people in Latin America easily recognize. The song presents us with an intoxicating combination of rhythm and lyrics, which appear to walk right into the trap of stereotyping black people...

Send us Fan Mail El Negrito del Batey composición de Hector J. Díaz y Medardo Guzmán, en la voz de Alberto Beltrán con La Sonora Matancera, es un clásico del merengue que mucha gente en América Latina identifica fácilmente. La canción nos ofrece una combinación intoxicante de ritmo y letra que inicialmente da la impresión de caer en la trampa de estereotipar a la gente negra solamente para luego a...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is named after the song Yo Soy El Merengue in honor of the late Johnny Ventura who died July 2021. But, who is the merengue? What is it? How is it danced? What is the Black contribution to this contagious rhythm, staple of house parties not only in its birthplace the Dominican Republic, but also in other Latin American countries such as Puerto Rico and Colombia. In th...

Send us Fan Mail In this single we celebrate the first anniversary of our podcast and reflect on the knowledge that all of our incredible guests have generously shared with us. We talk about our mission to advance anti-racism in the Afro-Latin dance community and we also reflect on our work in season one, Were You Listening?, our singles and our ongoing second season. Kick back and listen at the c...

Send us Fan Mail Caribe Soy (I'm Caribbean) by Ramón Torres is a great fit to accompany our Señora Bachata   Mix(ed)tape Podcast episode because, among the many bachata songs expressing some version of national pride, Caribe Soy is one of the only ones that uses the formula of national or regional pride while also explicitly recognizing the African roots of the region and the inequalities acr...

Send us Fan Mail We all know that in dance socials in the U.S. and in other parts of the world, if you’ve danced three or four salsa songs, La Señora Bachata is coming your way! In this episode we embark on a difficult voyage to explore the black roots of bachata. The fascinating development of this popular rhythm reveals conflicts of racial identity that exist in the Dominican Republic and in Lat...

Send us Fan Mail In Las Caras Lindas De Mi Gente Negra (The Beautiful Faces Of My Black People) Ismael Rivera interprets Tite Curet Alonso's ode of love to black people, masterfully injecting his brilliant soneo.  The main two ingredients in Tite Curet’s ode are the obvious, intrinsic joy and beauty of black people, and the sorrow that has accompanied blackness in the Americas. If you have li...

Send us Fan Mail We explore our favorite Afro-Latin rhythm (or more precisely, blend of rhythms): Salsa! Our exploration includes a historical contextualization of the development of salsa, highlighting the role of Afro-Cubans and Afro-Latin@s broadly as well as the rhythmical richness inherited from Africa. We also provide a description of the introduction and diffusion of salsa in the United Sta...

Send us Fan Mail In Ojos Chinos El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico reveals a blind spot with respect to people of Asian descent. The song is a confusing act that oscillates between appreciation and mockery of Asian and Asian-Hispanic people. Although we love El Gran Combo here at The Mix(ed)tape Podcast , would this love we have for El Gran Combo be true if we weren’t willing to point at the blind spots...

Send us Fan Mail Due to the rise in anti-Asian hate and the shooting in Atlanta last month we decided to follow on our antiracist principles and delay our next rhythms episode to devote the month of April to explore Asian and Asian American experiences through the lens of dancers from the Afro-Latin dance community. Susan Mykalcio , our graphics content creator and the host for this episode, met w...

Send us Fan Mail In Elogio a Nieves Fresneda, El Goyo Hernández constructs a eulogy to Nieves Fresneda, an icon of Afro-Cuban folklore, based on the myriad of instruments and rhythms that exist in Afro-Cuban folklore. In the construction of this episode we received help from our previous guest the great Marisol Blanco and from her main instructor, Alfredo O’Farrill Pacheco, who she helped us conta...

Send us Fan Mail Marisol Blanco met with host Andrés Hincapié for the most recent episode of our second season, which was devoted to Afro Cuban rhythms. The conversation with Marisol was so rich, we knew we had to find a way to let ya’ll listen to the whole thing in Marisol’s own voice. So we made it into a Single. This episode is in Spanish, so if you understand Spanish or are looking to improve...