New York Latin Culture Magazine

World-class Latin American, Indigenous, European & African culture

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Latin Music

Latin music is diverse blends of Indigenous, European, African & Asian influences.

Classical + Cumbia + Hip-Hop + House + Jazz + Mariachi + Pop + Reggaeton + Salsa
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Music Festivals + Music Awards
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Theaters + Jazz Clubs + Night Clubs

La Bohème

Saturday, January 25, 2020
April 29 – May 7, 2020
METROPOLITAN OPERA
Lincoln Center, NYC
Franco Zeffirelli’s classic staging of the world’s most popular opera, the tragic love story of Mimi and Rodolfo

La Traviata

Sunday, January 26, 2020
January 10 – February 7, 2020
February 26 – March 29, 2020
METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE
Lincoln Center, NYC
Michael Mayer’s 2018 production opens with Aleksandra Kurzak and Quinn Kelsey. “Sempre libera degg’io” and “Addio, del passato.”

Bulla en el Barrio

Monday, January 27, 2020
BARBÈS
Park Slope, Brooklyn
NYC’s leading Colombian Bullerengue group is inspired by the Caribbean women’s song and dance tradition from San Basilio de Palenque, the first free African town in the Americas

Porgy and Bess

Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Ends February 1, 2020
METROPOLITAN OPERA
Lincoln Center, NYC
James Robinson’s new English National Opera production of the Gershwin classic about African-American life in the old South. “Summertime, and the livin’ is easy…”

Pedrito Martinez

Thursday, January 30, 2020
GINNY’S
Harlem, NYC
One of the world’s best Cuban rumba percussionists shakes one of the hottest joints in Harlem

Bárbara Martínez

Friday, January 31, 2020
CLUB BONAFIDE
Midtown East, NYC
The Argentine-Venezuelan New Yorker sings Brazilian bossa nova and Spanish flamenco

Alex Sensation

Monday-Saturday
LA MEGA FM 97.9
NYC’s top radio DJ is a Colombian who plays reggaeton and Latin trap.

Orchestra of St. Luke’s

Thursday, February 6, 2020
CARNEGIE HALL
Midtown, NYC
Rare works for double orchestra by Handel and Vivaldi

Villalobos Brothers

Saturday, February 8, 2020
PURCHASE COLLEGE
Purchase, New York (White Plains)
High-energy classical pop with a world of musical influences from a base of Mexican style with social consciousness in the mix
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¡New York Latin Culture Sponsor!

Pedro Giraudo

Saturday, February 8, 2020
BARBÈS
Park Slope, Brooklyn
“Best Tango Album” Latin Grammy winner plays Argentine tango jazz

Gran Combo de Puerto Rico

Saturday, February 15, 2020
RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL
Midtown, NYC
The most popular salsa band ever is joined by Jerry Rivera and Tito Nieves for a night of Puerto Rican salsa. “Brujeria,” “Arroz con Habichuelas,” “Un Verano en Nueva York”…
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¡New York Latin Culture Sponsor!

Locobeach

Monday, February 17, 2020
BARBÈS
Park Slope, Brooklyn
The band led by Venezuelan José Luis Pardo (Los Amigos Invisibles, Los Crema Paraiso) plays their debut album “Psychedelic Disco Cumbia”

Miguel Zenón

Sunday, March 8, 2020
BIRDLAND
Hell’s Kitchen, NYC
Zenón joins the Berklee All Star Ensemble

Chris Botti

March 8, 2020
BERGEN PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Englewood, New Jersey
The best-selling American instrumental artist is Italian-American

Tony Bennett

Wednesday, March 11, 2020
COUNT BASIE CENTER
Red Bank, New Jersey
The Italian-New Yorker pop and jazz legend left his heart in San Francisco

Gilberto Santa Rosa

Friday, March 20, 2020
BEACON THEATRE
Upper West Side, NYC
“Perdoname,” the Puerto Rican romantic salsa singer “El Caballero de la Salsa” is making the rounds

Maluca Mala

Saturday, March 21, 2020
CARNEGIE HALL CITYWIDE
EL MUSEO DEL BARRIO
Washington Heights’ own “bad girl” flips it up with her fly R&B barrio techno
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¡New York Latin Culture Sponsor!

Buika

Saturday, May 9, 2020
CARNEGIE HALL
Midtown, NYC
The Latin Grammy-winning Spanish queen of flamenco soul is back in NYC
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¡New York Latin Culture Sponsor!

Flor de Toloache

Sunday, June 21, 2020
Carnegie Hall Citywide
DUMBO Archway
DUMBO, Brooklyn
NYC’s Latin Grammy-winning All-Woman Mariachi plays a FREE concert

Las mañanitas a nuestra Virgen de Guadalupe

Fri, December 11, 2020
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
MIDTOWN EAST, NYC
Celebrate the Our Lady of Guadalupe’s birthday with Don Jaime Lucero of Casa Puebla, mariachi and folk dancers

Latin Music Archive

Latin Music Festivals

Winter JazzFest

January 9-18, 2020
BROOKLYN Marathon
Friday, January 17, 2020
MANHATTAN Marathon
Friday-Saturday January 9-10, 2020
Concerts and marathons for jazz lovers and APAP booking agents

SummerStage 2020

[Anticipated]
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
City Parks Foundation announces its 2020 SummerStage lineup

Governors Ball

June 5-7, 2020, Friday-Sunday
RANDALL’S ISLAND PARK
Alessia Cara, Madeon, Cuco and Princess Nokia join headliners Tame Impala, Missy Elliot, Flume, and Vampire Weekend

More Latin Music Festivals

Theaters

Most New York Theaters present some Latin music concerts

Barclays Center

PROSPECT HEIGHTS, Brooklyn Brooklyn’s big arena
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¡New York Latin Culture Sponsor!

NYC Theaters

Jazz Clubs

All of these jazz clubs offer live music

Birdland

Nightly
HELL’S KITCHEN, NYC ~ The original jazz club, “the jazz corner of the world,” was one of the places where Latin and Jazz got together

Continue Reading Birdland

Night Clubs

All of these night clubs have live music on at least some nights

Barbès

PARK SLOPE, Brooklyn ~ This eclectic French-owned underground night club that regularly books Latin artists was also the original home of Peruvian psychedelic cumbia band Chicha Libre

Continue Reading Barbès

Latin Music blends many traditions

Latin music in New York City is mostly Urban and Tropical from the Caribbean, but the most popular Latin music across the United States is Regional Mexican.

We are taught to see places through the eyes of the last colonizer, but something unspoken ties the entire Caribbean together. Our common Indigenous (Taíno and Carib), then Spanish, African and French roots are still there underneath British and Dutch colonial influences. New Orleans is a Caribbean city.

The African influence on the music of the Americas is much bigger than we are led to believe. In the times of human enslavement and Jim Crow (institutional racism in the United States), promoters repackaged Black culture as White culture for marketing purposes. Even country music of the United States has African roots.

Urban: Hip-Hop, House, Reggaeton, Latin Trap

Tropical:

  • Cuban: Rumba, Son, Salsa, Timba
  • Dominican: Merengue, Bachata, Salsa
  • Puerto Rican: Bomba, Plena, Salsa
  • Colombian: Cumbia, Vallenato, Currulao, Salsa
  • Venezuelan: Salsa

Mexican: Regional (Banda, Norteño, Corridos, Mexican Cumbia), Ranchera/Mariachi

Brazilian: Choro, Samba, Bossa Nova, MPB, Forró, Sertaneja, Funk Carioca

American (U.S.): Blues, Jazz, Country, Rock, Alternative

European: Classical, Flamenco, Fado

Asian: Flamenco (Romani are from northern India), Soca (Calypso with East Indian influences)

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