Artist profiles [alphabeticly]
**Songs – refers to songs that are or will be on this website
Álvaro Carrillo (1921-1969)
A mexican composer and songwriter who wrote many memorable songs (especially boleros) which have been covered by numerous artists over the years. Álvaro Carrillo’s life inspired the film Sabor a mí (1988), in which Mexican singer José José plays Carrillo.
Songs: Luz de Luna, Sabor a mi
Antonio Machin (1903-1977)
A cuban singer and musician, who recorded over 600 classic songs and was the first million selling cuban artist (with El manisero “The peanut vendor”, a song based on the cry of a street trader).
He came from humble beginnings – from a family of 16 children and was a child labourer from the age of 8. He impressed people with his singing, however – wherever he went. His musical career took off when he moved to Havana and teamed up with other popular musicians.
Songs: Esperame en el cielo
Astrud Gilberto (1940-present day?)
A brazillian bossa nova and jazz singer (with german heritage). Her smooth voice is on many of the classic songs. Originally in brazillian portuguese, once she began singing bossa songs in english, the music found great international success. However, nowadays many people feel that the songs in their original language are much richer, in terms of rhythm, poetry and meaning.
Songs: Agua de Beber, Garota de Ipanema”The Girl from Ipanema”
Atahuelpa Yupanqui (1908-1992)
An argentine singer-songwriter, guitarist and ethnographic writer who has been hugely influential in argentine music.
A common theme for this songwriter is about displaced people and the impact it has on their lives. Of indigenous descent himself, he travelled extensively in the mountainous northwest of Argentina, immersing himself in the indigenous culture and championing their cause in his writings.
For being politicly active, he was incarcerated several times by the regime.
He left for Europe in 1949, where french singer Edith Piaf got him some gigs. His first album won great acclaim and from here on he recorded many more and his music became popular around the world and especially in Argentina. He returned home in 1952 and continued to create and to tour internationally.
Songs: La Arribeña, Arbolito de mi Tierra
Buena Vista Social Club
This encompasses many very talented musicians from the golden age of Cuban music (1950’s) many of whom were coaxed out of retirement in 1996, to record an album together, which became a massive international success. A documentary film was also made about them and it created a big revival of Cuban music. Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara
Portuondo were the main vocalists of the group.
Songs: Veinte Años
Carlos Cano (1946-2000)
A popular spanish singer from Andalucia, the home of Flamenco. His songs have a strong socio-political message and stand up for Andalucian culture.
Songs: Habaneras de Cadiz
Carlos Eleta Almarán
Musician and songwriter originating from Panama. Together with his brother Fernando, he also founded the very first Panamanian TV channel.
Songs: Historia de un Amor
Carlos Gardel (1890-1935)
An Argentine singer (with French heritage) – songwriter, composer and actor, and a major trailblazer. He recorded hundreds of classic tango songs, each with his own very distinctive style. Many people say that he embodies the soul of what tango music is. He was a big star and toured worldwide. Tragicly, one of these trips resulted in a fatal plane crash over Columbia.
Songs: Volver
Caterina Valente (1931-present day?)
An enormously talented singer, guitarist, actress and dancer, who was fluent in six languages (French, Italian, German, English, Spanish and Swedish) and sang songs in eleven world languages (in addition: Dutch, Portuguese, Hebrew, Greek and Japanese). An Italian born in France, she traveled widely and performed alongside many top artists.
Songs: Samba Una Nota
Cesária Évora (1941-2011)
A soulful singer-songwriter from Cape Verde (Atlantic islands 350 miles off the coast of West Africa, a former portuguese colony). She grew up in an orphanage and from the age of 16 began singing at a tavern, which also was a melting pot for some of the best musicians of the region.
In the 1960’s she began a career singing on local radio and cruise ships. It was only several decades later when she went to perform and record her music in Europe, that she found wider fame. She won many international awards. As well as her own songs, she also sang many classics.
Songs: Besame Mucho, Sodade
Chango Spasiuk (1968 – present day?)
Argentinean musician and accordian player, of Ukrainian descent. He mixes these cultural influences in his music – especially polkas and chamamé.
Songs: El Cosechero (together with Mercedes Sosa)
Charles Aznavour (1924-2018)
A french-armenian singer-songwriter, actor and diplomat. He was very popular and prolific, writing/recording over a thousand songs, 91 studio albums, and he also wrote musicals. He liked to write of and get people to think about all kinds of other points of view, outside of the mainstream.
Songs: Je t’attends, Mourir d’aimer
Consuelo Velázquez (1916-2005)
A Mexican concert pianist, singer-songwriter, actress and recording artist. She wrote Besame Mucho when she was only 16 years old. As well as numerous songs, she also composed the music for several mexican films.
Songs: Besame Mucho
Daniel Toro (1941- present day?)
A prolific singer-songwriter and guitarist from Argentina.
Songs: Zamba para Olvidar
Elena Yerevan
Elena Yerevan is a wonderful young woman, brilliant flamenco guitarist and singer, who busks and also posts many videos to YouTube.
Songs: Moliendo Cafe
Farranda di Cantadores is a fantastic large ensemble of singers and musicians based in the Canary Islands.
Songs: La Paloma
Gypsy Kings (active 1978 – present day?)
The Gipsy Kings were a band of gitano brothers and cousins (all related) – spanish gypsies born in France. Hugely popular, they brought flamenco rumba gitano style of music to an international audience. Bamboleo is their most popular hit, although they have many good songs and have done music for quite a few films as well.
They were originally buskers (guitarists/singers) who came to worldwide fame after playing at a party hosted in St. Tropez by Brigit Bardou (famous actress).
Songs: Bamboleo
Horacio Guarany (1925-2017)
Horacio Guarany was a prolific, multi-talented argentinean singer-songwriter, novelist and film-maker.
He used his work as a platform to speak out for social justice and to take a moral stand against the military dictatorship in Argentina (who were responsible for many atrocities against their own people). Resulting from this, he was forced into exile (to Spain) after numerous death threats and assassination attempts (including a car bomb).
He returned, and remained a major artist for the people. In Argentina things improved from 1983 onwards, at last having democraticly elected leaders.
Songs: La Villerita
Javier Solis (1931-1966)
An iconic mexican singer and movie actor. He began his career by singing in competitions where the prize was a pair of shoes. He sang in many styles, including boleros, tangos and rancheras. He was hugely popular in Mexico, but also came to worldwide fame from 1957 onwards.
Tragicly he died young, at the age of 35, due to complications after having gallbladder surgery.
Songs: En tu Pelo, Luz de Luna
João Gilberto (1931-2019)
A brazilian guitarist and singer-songwriter. He was a pioneer of the musical genre Bossa Nova, with his singing and compositions, but especially with his innovative guitar technique, which combines Samba rhythms and syncopation with sophisticated jazz harmony. He collaborated, toured and worked closely with Jobim.
Songs: Garota de Ipanema”The Girl from Ipanema”
Joan Baez (1941– present day?)
An american singer-songwriter (with mexican heritage), guitarist, musician – social justice/environmental campaigner (a founder of Amnesty USA) – outspoken critic of the vietnam war and numerous causes since then.
She has recorded songs in spanish, english and six other languages. She became a big star in the 60’s, being at the forefront of the American roots revival – and also responsible for promoting the then-unknown Bob Dylan.
Joan has recorded 30 albums. Her music career has spanned over 60 years.
She has also written several personal memoirs: “Daybreak” and “And a Voice to Sing With”.
Songs: El preso numero nueve, Athul la Mañana
Jobim ( Antônio Carlos “Tom”) (1927-1994)
A musician, composer and singer-songwriter – a major pioneer of brazillian music and Bossa Nova.
He started his musical career by playing piano in nightclubs and bars in Rio and then worked as a studio arranger. He composed music and songs for plays and films, including “the Black Orpheus”.
Hosting regular get-togethers and jamming sessions with other musicians at his apartment in Rio, he formed close musical allegiances with João and Astrud Gilberto, as well as other collaborations, and toured and recorded many of the classic songs with them.
Songs: Samba una Nota, Agua de Beber, Garotta Ipenema
Jorge Ben (1942– present day?)
Jorge Ben is a singer-songwriter and musician – a highly innovative and prolific artist, who has always been at the cutting edge of the Brazilian music scene, collaborating and composing music in a whole range of genres.
Songs: Chove Chuva, Mas que Nada
Jose Barros (1915-2007)
A columbian composer of more than 800 songs – song-writer, musician and big band-leader. Music styles include cumbia, porro, merengue, currulao, paseo, bolero and tango.
Songs: Navidad Negra
Lila Downs (1968-present day?)
A powerful and highly gifted mexican singer-songwriter, performance artist, actress and indigenous rights campaigner. She sings in spanish, english – also in mayan and native mexican languages such as mixtec, zapotec and nahuatl.
In her 2001 album Border/La Linea she addresses issues of immigration especially regarding the US border, a re-occuring theme throughout her work, as well as many other social issues. She is an artist who makes art out of what she feels, and does so with a lot of courage, creativety and soul.
Songs: Clandestino, Razon de Vivir
Los Chichos (1973-2008 active) A spanish gypsy rumba flamenco band, very popular during the 1970’s and 80’s, who made arrangements using synths and other instruments, as well as with traditional flamenco guitars. Their main songwriter and lead vocalist Jero who had suffered with drug problems, took his own life in 1995. However the band re-formed, and in 2009 they released the album “El Amor deja sentencia”, which became one of the best-selling spanish albums of all time.
Songs: Vente Michana Juana (Ni mas, ni menos)
Los Lobos (1973-present day?)
Los Lobos means “The Wolves”. A mexican influenced rock band, originally from LA. Most of the members have mexican roots. Although they worked over many years as a touring band and produced many albums, their biggest fame comes from the great number of movie soundtracks they have made. The song featured here is from the film Desperado.
Songs: Cancion de Mariachi
Los Panchos
Los Panchos are a much loved mexican/puerto-rican trio of romantic singer-guitarists (specialising in boleros, rancheras, corridos, guarachas and son music), active from the 1940’s to early 1990’s and recording over 80 albums.
They play lovely elabourate arrangements together on requinto guitars, which are smaller and tuned higher than standard guitars.
Songs: Rayito de Luna, Vagabundo
Luis Demetrio and Pablo Beltrán Ruiz
Luis was a mexican singer and composer, who wrote these two iconic songs.
He sold the rights of Quien Sera to Pablo Beltrán Ruiz, who recorded it in 1953, where it became a big hit.
Pablo was a big band leader, also an arranger and composer. His music formed the soundtracks of many films.
Songs: En Tu Pelo, Quien Sera
Luis Miguel (1970-present day?)
Also known as “El Sol de Mexico”, this puerto-rican born mexican singer and actor has been one of the most popular and successful latin american artists of all time. He won his first of dozens of Grammy awards when he was just 14 years old.
His father (also a well-known singer and guitarist) was his manager, and at age 11 already Luis had recorded an album which was commercially successful and won a Gold disk. By the time he was 17 he was touring internationally and selling millions of records and he has remained extremely popular over the years.
Songs: Sabor a mi
Luz Casal (1958-present day?)
A popular spanish singer-songwriter, who has recorded songs in both spanish and french. She started out fronting a rock group and then worked as a session/backing vocalist, before having bigger success as a solo artist, throughout Spain, France and Latin America. Throughout her career she has played fundraiser gigs supporting environmental campaigns and human rights.
Luz has 55 hit singles, collabourated with many well-known artists and recorded music in a wide range of genres. In 2009, she released an album called La Pasión (The Passion), in which she pays homage to some of the most important bolero singers and songs from the 1940s to the 1960s. This song comes from there.
Songs: Historia de un Amor
Manolo Escobar (1931-2013)
Manolo Escobar was an actor and singer from Andalusia who wrote many hugely popular iconic songs, including El porompompero and Y viva España. He recorded close to 80 albums.
Songs: Pasodoble te Quiero, El Abuelo
Manu Chau (1961- present day?)
A french/spanish singer-songwriter, musician and producer – well known in Europe and Latin America. His music draws from a diverse range of influences and he also layers sound recordings from his worldwide travels into the mix.
He sings in many different languages, including French, Spanish, English, Italian, Arabic, Catalan, Galician, Portuguese and Greek.
At the time of the Franco dictatorship in Spain, which had sentenced his grandfather to death, his parents fled to France, where he was born. His father was also a journalist and all of this has had a big influence on the nature and outlook of Manu Chau’s ecclectic music and social message.
Songs: Clandestino
Marc Anthony (1968-present day?)
This is his stage name. Although born in New York, he is of Puerto Rican heritage.
The top-selling Salsa artist of all time, he is also a singer-songwriter, actor, record executive and television producer.
Songs: Lamento Borincano
Maria Dolores Pradera (1924-2018)
Maria Dolores Pradera is a wonderful expressive, theatrical spanish singer, who had an amazing command of the stage, a truly unique voice and style – very captivating. She worked as an actress in the earlier part of her career.
She sang for close to 30 years backed by the same guitarist duo – twin brothers, Santiago and Julián López Hernández.
Maria sang music from all over Spain and Latin America and recorded more than 35 albums.
Songs: Toda una Vida, Habeneras de Cadiz, Palmeros
Maricarmen
Maricarmen is an elder spanish woman with a beautiful voice, who posts lots of lovely traditional songs she plays, onto YouTube.
Songs: Habeneras de Cadiz, Pasodoble te Quiero, El Abuelo
The puerto-rican artists who make such a lovely rendition of this song. The traditional guitar-like instrument is called the Cuatro and has ten strings (doubled up, in five courses)
Songs: La Borinqueña
Mecano
A hugely successful spanish pop band, primerily active from 1981-1992. They sold over 25 million albums worldwide. They created innovative music drawing from a wide range of genres.
Forming the core of the band were two brothers – Nacho and José María Cano, plus
a magical, elfkin-like lead singer Ana Torroja – one of the most high profile lesbians in Spain, of all time.
In 2005 a musical featuring their music went on tour in Spain and Mexico and was also a massive hit.
Songs: Hijo de la Luna
Mercedes Sosa (1935-2009)
“Monumental in stature, a brilliant singer with tremendous charisma who is both a voice and a persona.” is how Joan Baez described Mercedes Sosa. She was a renowned Latin American singer – an Argentinean of indigenous diaguita, spanish and french descent.
At 15 she won a singing competition for a radio station, who then gave her a recording contract. She began her career singing Argentinean folk songs and then broadened to singing and promoting artists work from all over Latin America. Over the course of nearly six decades she recorded over 70 albums.
Known also as “Voice of the voiceless”, her singing carries tremendous integrity, strength, soul and compassion and speaks up for humanity and for all just causes. She was also an international ambassador for UNICEF, UNESCO Goodwill and a co-chair of the Earth Charter.
In common with several other argentinean artists, she was harrassed and incarcerated by the military dictatorship in Argentina (during the 1970’s) – her music was banned and she had to go overseas into exile for several years.
However, she always remained tremendously popular throughout Latin America. She is someone that countless other well-known artists look up to and cite as a major influence. In the last decades of her life, she shared the stage in many joint performances with big names, such as Sting, Lila Downs, Joan Baez and Shakira.
Having suffered with kidney disease in her later years, she died in 2009. Her body was laid to rest during three days of national mourning in the Congress building, Buenos Aires and many thousands came to show their respects.
Songs: Balderama, El Cosechero, La Arribena, La Villerita, Razon de Vivir, Soy pan, soy paz, soy mas, Zamba para Olvidar
Miriam Makeba (1932-2008)
Miriam Makeba was a south african singer-songwriter, UN goodwill ambassador and civil rights activist. Also known by her many fans as “Mama Africa”, she was a powerful voice for the nation. Her style was a blending of indigenous african and jazz, as well as other musical influences.
She spent time in Brazil during her 30 years in exile from the apartheid regime of South Africa, where she collaborated with musicians such as Jorge Ben and performed/recorded stunning versions of his songs.
Nelson Mandela persuaded her to return to SA, which she did when he was released from prison in 1990.
Songs: Chove Chuva, Mas que Nada
Natalia Lafourcade (1984 – present day?)
A mexican singer-songwriter and a major artist in Latin America. She has won many Latin Grammies and just one of her videos on YouTube gets over 218 million views!
All of her songs have a very refreshing spirit about them – often a lightness and playfulness, a real feel-good factor, and a lot of soul. She records new versions of many of the old classics accompanied by 2 old men who are a brilliant guitar duo.
Songs: Luz de Luna
Osvaldo Farrés (1903-1985)
A Cuban songwriter and composer, who wrote: “Quizás, Quizás, Quizás” and other well known songs, recorded by many big stars over the years.
Songs: Toda una Vida
Piero
Latin american poet and singer-songwriter.
Songs: Soy pan, soy paz, soy mas..
Ruben Hakhverdyan (1950-current day?)
An armenian poet, guitarist and singer-songwriter, who has also worked as an actor and TV director.
Songs: Im Povrik Navak
Suma Paz
An argentine singer, guitarist and arranger, who performed concerts and appeared on TV during the 60’s and 70’s. She performed and recorded albums in particular of the works of Atahuelpa Yupanqui.
Songs: La Arribeña, Arbolito de mi Tierra
Victor Heredia
A singer-songwriter from Argentina – a champion of human rights and social issues.
His sister was one of the thousands of people “disappeared” by the military dictatorship in Argentina in the 1970’s.
Songs: Razon de Vivir
Latin-soul-songs 