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Funky, En Español: Groovy New Latin Beats From Panama To Puerto Rico

R&B artist Goapele
MJ Kim
/
Getty Images
R&B artist Goapele

Word travels fast here at NPR, and we'd been hearing rumors that Weekend Edition Sunday was in need of some funky new beats. Which is why my Alt.Latino co-host Felix Contreras and I put on our ski masks, scaled the walls with our mountain climbing gear and busted into the studio in the funkiest way possible.

OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit (we didn't wear ski masks), but we did sit down with Weekend Edition Host Audie Cornish to share some of our favorite new Latin funk.

Puerto Rico's Mima dances with ghosts in a tune reminiscent of Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me." Oakland's Goapele teams up with Panamanian rappers Los Rakas for a steamy tune that would've made Marvin Gaye proud. And we revisit Illya Kuryaki, an Argentine funk group that just reunited.

You can check out these songs in their entirety and other groovy tunes in our own recent show about Latin funk.

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Jasmine Garsd is an Argentine-American journalist living in New York. She is currently NPR's Criminal Justice correspondent and the host of The Last Cup. She started her career as the co-host of Alt.Latino, an NPR show about Latin music. Throughout her reporting career she's focused extensively on women's issues and immigrant communities in America. She's currently writing a book of stories about women she's met throughout her travels.