The Smithsonian Folkways Recordings Latino Music Initiative proudly offers a series of new releases that showcase the diverse musical heritage of the more than 40 million Latinos living in the USA. Building on the Smithsonian archives' nearly 200 historic albums of music from Latin America and Latino USA, the new releases highlight musical traditions that further broaden the cultural representation of the national museum's collection. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings reaffirms its nonprofit mission of "connecting people through music" by offering greater access to the musical heritage of Latinos from many backgrounds.
¡Que Viva el Canto! Songs of Chile
Rafael Manríquez and Friends
SFW40549 2008
Over one hundred years and three regions of Chilean folk song style are summed up in this contemporary musical read more...
Amor, Dolor y Lagrimas: Música Ranchera
Nati Cano's Mariachi Los Camperos
SFW40518 2008
Amor, Dolor y Lágrimas (Love, Pain, and Tears) flow from the heart of the Mexican mariachi when it plays música ranchera, read more...
¡Ayombe! The Heart of Colombia's Música Vallenata
Various Artists
SFW40546 2008
In the words of Grammy®-winning popular singer/actor Carlos Vives, "Colombia is one of those great musical quarries of the Americas read more...
Merengue Típico from the Dominican Republic
La India Canela
SFW40547 2008
"Call the fire department!" shouts fiery accordionist/singer/composer La India Canela (Lidia María Hernández López) when her driving "country" quintet of accordion, tambora (drum), güira read more...
A Tribute to Gonzalo Asencio, "Tío Tom"
Orlando "Puntilla" Rios y El Conjunto Todo Rumbero
SFW40543 2008
The compositions of the late "street hero" Tío Tom (Gonzalo Asencio) epitomize the most rooted of Afro-Cuban musics read more...
Chapinlandia - Marimba Music of Guatemala
Marimba Chapinlandia
SFW40542 2008
Steeped in centuries of tradition, Marimba Chapinlandia and its music express the "modern" marimba sound read more...
Bandera Mía: Songs of Argentina
Suni Paz
SFW40532 2006
In Bandera Mía, "My Flag," veteran folksinger, songwriter, and guitarist Suni Paz paints a melodious musical mosaic of favorite Argentine folk rhythms, including read more...
Un Fuego de Sangre Pura
Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto
SFW40531 2006
With Un Fuego de Sangre Pura (A Fire of Pure Blood), the roots of the cumbia thrive in the music of Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto from Colombia’s violence-torn Caribbean hinterlands. read more...
¡Tierra Caliente! Music from the Hotlands of Michoacán by Conjunto de Arpa Grande
Arpex
SFW40536 2006
The conjunto de arpa grande (big harp ensemble) is the country cousin of the Mexican mariachi. When the mariachi was transplanted to cities and added trumpets read more...
¡Arriba Suena Marimba! Currulao Marimba Music from Colombia by Grupo Naidy
Colombia Grupo Naidy
SFW40514 2006
The marimba is a vivid legacy of African presence in Latin America, but only on the Pacific coast of southern Colombia and northern Ecaudor does it keep its close connections read more...
Rolas de Aztlán: Songs of the Chicano Movement
Various Artists
SFW40516 2005
Songs of struggle, hope, and vision fueled the Chicano Movement's quest for civil rights, economic justice, and cultural respect. Rolas de Aztlán (songs from the Chicano ancestral homeland) read more...
Para Todos Ustedes
Los Pleneros de la 21
SFW40519 2005
The bomba and plena are the heartbeat of Afro-Puerto Rican music. In Para Todos Ustedes (For All of You), New York's acclaimed Los Pleneros de la 21 wraps these venerable drumming read more...
El ave de mi soñar: Mexican Sones Huastecos
Los Camperos de Valles
SFW40512 2005
Hard-edged violin improvisations, driving guitar rhythms, and soaring falsetto vocal excursions mark the son huasteco, one of Mexico’s most distinctive and celebrated regional styles read more...
¡Llegaron Los Camperos!
Nati Cano's Mariachi Los Camperos
SFW40517 2005
Nati Cano’s Mariachi Los Camperos brings you their solid-gold Mexican sound acclaimed by audiences in New York’s Lincoln Center read more...
Luiz Bonfá Solo in Rio 1959
Luiz Bonfá
SFW40483 2005
One of the most creative guitar virtuosos of the 20th century, Luiz Bonfá is celebrated as one of the principal architects of the cool Brazilian sound of bossa nova read more...
Si, soy llanero: Joropo Music from the Orinoco Plains of Colombia
Grupo Cimarrón
SFW40515 2004
From the plains of eastern Colombia, the joropo's syncopated drive and top-of-the-lungs singing proclaim a cattle-herding mestizo people proud of their homeland. Percussive harp techniques read more...
Quisqueya en el Hudson: Dominican Music in New York
Various Artists
SFW40495 2004
Quisqueya en el Hudson: Dominican Music in New York is an exciting, fast-paced journey through music from the Dominican Republic that has made New York City its home. This extraordinary read more...
Viento de Agua Unplugged: Materia Prima
Viento De Agua
SFW40513 2004
The bomba and plena heard on this recording are the materia prima (raw material) of today's two most African Puerto Rican musical traditions. When its dynamic leader Tito Matos read more...
Havana & Matanzas, Cuba, ca. 1957
Various Artists
SFW40434 2003
These recordings, made just prior to Fidel Castro's rise to power, reflect Afro-Cuban musical and spiritual life in Havana and around the sugarcane mills of Matanzas. Lydia Cabrera and read more...
Jíbaro Hasta el Hueso: Mountain Music of Puerto Rico by Ecos de Borinquen
Ecos de Borinquen
SFW40506 2003
The resurgence of cultural and racial pride in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s had a parallel in Puerto Rico—so much so that today, the mere sound of música jíbara can provoke read more...
La Bamba: Sones Jarochos from Veracruz
José Gutiérrez & Los Hermanos Ochoa
SFW40505 2003
Jarocho (hah-ROH-cho) describes both the people and culture of the southern coastal plain of Veracruz, home for more than two centuries to one of Mexico's most exciting read more...
Capoeira Angola 2: Brincando na Roda
Grupo de Capoeira Angola Pelourinho
SFW40488 2003
Following Grupo de Capoeira Angola Pelourinho's introduction via their 1996 release Capoeira Angola from Salvador, Brazil, the group returns with an even stronger statement read more...
Latin Jazz: La Combinación Perfecta
Various Artists
SFW40802 2002
Released in conjunction with the book and the traveling exhibition of the same name, La Combinación Perfecta is a superb collection of classic Latin jazz performed by some of its most important read more...
Heroes and Horses: Corridos from the Arizona-Sonora Borderlands
Various Artists
SFW40475 2002
The corridos in this collection come from the region comprising southern Arizona and northern Sonora, one that was divided politically by the Gadsden Purchase of 1853 read more...
¡Viva el Mariachi!
Nati Cano's Mariachi Los Camperos
SFW40459 2002
A traditionalist and a visionary, Nati Cano has both mirrored and shaped the history of mariachi music. He and Los Camperos, the group he founded and directs, have been a fixture read more...
Raíces Latinas: Smithsonian Folkways Latino Roots Collection
Various Artists
SFW40470 2002
Featuring some of the finest Latino roots music the Smithsonian Folkways archive has to offer from such artists as Nati Cano’s Los Camperos, Luiz Bonfa, and Cuarteto Patria and Compay Sugundo read more...