Urban Voices

The young Colombian artist who became a singing sensation in China

September 15, 2016

A chocolate boutique with sweets almost too elegant to eat

For this week’s Urban Voice on “Americas Now” we introduce you to one of the owners of The Chocolate House…Marisol Slater.

September 8, 2016

An experimental platform for artists in Mexico

“Platoon Mexico City” is a venue for Mexican artists that inspires new thoughts by hosting various art projects and workshops. Marcello Dato is the director of “Platoon Mexico City.” He is this week’s Urban Voice.

August 14, 2016

The Acostas: A Caribbean musical dynasty

Americas Now team explores the city of Barranquilla and the Acotas’s historic town, Soledad. “El Checo” Acosta and his father, Alci Acosta, are this week’s Urban Voices.

July 31, 2016

A Mexican singer gives voice to indigenous culture

Oaxacan songstress Susana Harp is one of Mexico’s most famous singers of traditional music. She sings in Spanish and several indigenous languages.

July 22, 2016

A museum about the future in Rio attracts visitors today

Rio de Janeiro, the host city of this summer’s Olympic Games, houses one of the world’s most eye-catching buildings. It’s called the Museum of Tomorrow.

July 17, 2016

Singer Amaury Gutierrez is a Latin voice of romance

Latin Grammy winner Amaury Gutierrez is this week’s “Urban Voice.”

July 3, 2016

A Colombian journalist on forgiving the unforgivable

Journalist Claudia Palacios travelled across Colombia to ask her fellow countrymen one question. “Would you forgive?” Some of the answers surprised her and can be found compiled in a new book “Forgiving the Unforgivable.”

June 10, 2016

Spanish illustrators “drawing” on tradition

The work of this new group of artists is on display in an exhibit called “Spanish Illustrators: The Color of Optimism” in Washington, DC.

May 20, 2016

Flamenco dancers dazzle in ‘Carmen’ at The Kennedy Center

Meet Timo Nunez and Fanny Ara – two dancers making all the right moves.

May 15, 2016

A circus from Mexico pitches its tent in the US

t was five decades ago in rural Mexico when the two Vazquez brothers broke into the business by starting a circus to entertain people and help take their minds off of their everyday problems.

May 8, 2016

An acclaimed athlete from Argentina plays football for China

Dario Conca has joined Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as one of the highest-paid players in football. What’s the reason for the big increase in salary? He made the switch from his team in Brazil to play for China.

May 1, 2016

Palenque: A language lives on with the help of music in Colombia

On Colombia’s northwest coast you’ll find a village settled by African slaves hundreds of years ago. Today, much of their original language remains in a Spanish dialect known as Palenquero – a dialect only a few thousand understand.

April 17, 2016

Film festival puts Mexico’s moviemakers on the map

The Latin American film industry is growing with some of its brightest stars winning major movie awards around the world, including two Oscar-winning film directors from Mexico.

March 13, 2016

Photographer Bego Anton travels the US

This week’s Urban Voice on “Americas Now” is a photographer and filmmaker who believes her camera allows her to enter new and mysterious worlds she would otherwise not be able to access.

February 21, 2016

Chilean artist Jorge Tacla reveals ‘Hidden Identities’

The Art Museum of the Americas in Washington, D.C. showcases the work of artists from South America. “Americas Now” recently talked to one of the artists featured at AMA. Chilean painter Jorge Tacla is this week’s Urban Voice.

January 31, 2016

Stargazing at the National Portrait Gallery in DC

Usually when we think about the word “portrait” we think of an oil painting or photograph with the subject in a formal pose. But a new exhibit at The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC is re-inventing the notion of a “portrait” in a new […]

January 24, 2016

Suricato experiments with a new genre of jazz in Colombia

The popular, music genre of Jazz is not easy to define. It was born in the United States more than a century ago in the African-American community with some European influence. It can be lively and loud but Jazz can also be described as slow […]

January 17, 2016

Soprano Betty Garces hits a high note at Colombia’s embassy in DC

This week’s “Urban Voice” on Americas Now grew up in the Colombian port city of Buenaventura listening to Caribbean rhythms. Today, it is a more classical form of music for which she is becoming internationally known.

December 6, 2015

Father and daughter capture Mexican society in photographs

A Mexican photographer who began taking some of the first color photographs of Mexican society back in the 1970’s, inspired his daughter to follow his lead behind the lens. She joined his professional photography business and began taking photos as well – of Mexico’s upper-middle […]

October 25, 2015

Susana Baca: A blend of music, poetry and history

Susana Baca has captivated music fans around the globe with her soulful, folkloric music. She also captured the attention of Peru’s President Ollanta Humala.

September 27, 2015

A Colombian artist whose eco-friendly art sends a message

You could call Andres Hoyos an eco-artist. Not only does he “wow” spectators with his unconventional creations, he’s helping save the planet too. Andres recycles discarded items and turns them into art.

September 20, 2015

Piazzolla family gives tango a new twist in Argentina

Astor Piazzolla’s musical genius is credited for transforming the music of the tango. While his music was “classic” it challenged tradition. Now his grandson Pipi Piazzolla is passing on his revolutionary work.

September 13, 2015

A new view of Venezuela through the music of Bituaya

Bituaya is a band from Venezuela that blends Afro-Caribbean sounds with lyrics that reflect the life of young people in the country’s capital.

September 3, 2015

Urban Voices: Peruvian songstress Eva Ayllon performs in DC

Her voice embodies the experience of Peru. Eva Ayllon is an acclaimed South American singer who has had a musical career spanning four decades. She is known as the Queen of Lando a style of music that originates from Peru and could be described as […]

August 23, 2015

Buenos Aires street artist paints the town

A 23-year-old street artist from Argentina is painting the town red – and other colors too. Her name is Fio Sliva. She is an emerging talent and her work can be seen in Buenos Aires and its suburbs.

July 26, 2015

Trombonist Papo Vazquez at The Kennedy Center

Sometimes life’s challenges can turn you into a pioneer. Take the case of one musician who is our Urban Voice this week. Papo Vazquez spent his childhood growing up on the rough streets of Philadephia and his family’s native Puerto Rico. It was then he […]

June 26, 2015

Female hip hop group Pearls Negras rap about life in a Brazilian slum

Three Brazilian teenagers who grew up in one of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas are garnering global acclaim. They originate from Rio’s Vidigal favela, a slum famous for its breathtaking view of the city.

June 18, 2015

Eugenia Leon “The Voice of Mexico” performs at DC’s Kennedy Center

Earlier in 2015, The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. presented an arts festival called “Iberian Suite.” It was described as a “global arts remix” and featured performances in theater, dance, music, fashion and literature. They all had one thing in common. All the work focused on […]

May 17, 2015

Los Van Van: the sounds that defined an era in Cuban music

Los Van Van has been called the undisputed king of Cuban dance orchestras, and one of the most influential forces of Afro-Cuban music. The band, founded in 1969 by Juan Formell, has transcended the musical sphere to represent the modern ethos of this Caribbean Island.

May 8, 2015

Carlee Fernandez’ sculptural hybrids

The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington is currently offering an exhibit focusing on the contemporary portraits of six U.S. Latino artists. Under the title Portraiture Now: Staging the Self, these creative and often experimental works challenge our traditional view of a portrait.

May 3, 2015

A look at ‘Abstract Expressionism’ through the art of Elaine de Kooning

For this week’s Urban Voices segment, we took a look at a painter who developed her artistic voice in an urban setting. Elaine de Kooning learned her craft by frequenting the many art museums of New York City and studying their collections. In the 1940’s […]

April 26, 2015

In the middle of the Amazon, the haunted remains of Fordlandia

A century ago, the rise of the automobile industry created an overwhelming need for rubber. By the 1920s, auto tycoon Henry Ford tried to meet this demand by establishing the biggest rubber plantation the world had ever seen, in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. […]

April 12, 2015

Washington’s hidden underground station

As the capital of the United States, Washington, D.C. is widely known for its architecture. Classical structures like the White House and The U.S. Capitol abound. But for this week’s Urban Voice, Americas Now visited a site in the city which has a strikingly modern […]

March 27, 2015

Urban Voices: the Queen of Cumbia in the US capital

More than 1.7 million Salvadorans live in the United States with about 240,000 residing in the Washington, D.C. area. Most of them arrived in the 1980s and 1990s, fleeing a country torn by a civil war that left over 75,000 people dead.

Elena Laquao fuses American & Nicaraguan culture into her music

March 8, 2015

Elena Lacayo fuses American & Nicaraguan culture into her music

Artist Elena Lacayo infuses American and her Nicaraguan culture into her music. In our Urban Voices segment we interview the band Elena y los Fulanos.

March 1, 2015

Mas Paz seeks to make peace through art, giving

This week in Urban Voices talked with an artist who has blended his work with a cause. His name is Federico, but he goes by the name “Mas Paz,” which means more peace in Spanish. His signature traits are quite recognizable and reminiscent of indigenous alphabets […]

February 22, 2015

Urban Voices: Raúl Cabrera helps children through power of music

When schools face budget cuts, art and music programs are usually the first to be scaled back or eliminated, even as many argue that music has academic benefits and improves cognitive abilities.

February 8, 2015

Argentina celebrates 50th birthday of ‘Mafalda’, the girl that made the world listen

She may have turned 50-years-old this year, but for her millions of followers she will always remain a little girl. The Argentine cartoon character “Mafalda” is famous for her sharp wits, inquisitive questioning, interest in current events and hatred for soup. She has been translated into […]

A film about identities in an DC movie palace reborn

February 1, 2015

A film about identities in a DC movie palace reborn

For this week’s installment of Urban Voices, we’re taking you to the movies. “Tryouts” is the story of a Muslim girl rejected from the cheerleading tryouts at her school because she wears a headscarf.

January 25, 2015

Classical guitarist Ricardo Cobo inspired by Magical Realism

The guitar is one of the world’s oldest musical instruments. It can be traced back roughly 4,000 years, when images of stringed instruments appeared on cave walls in tomb paintings.

January 18, 2015

Artist Luisa Alvarez creates thoughtful illuminations

Americas Now is introducing a new segment “Urban Voices” that focuses on the many artistic endeavors in the Washington D.C. area and their impact on the Americas. Each week, we will feature the voice of a creator behind an artistic project.

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