This Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, NPR Music celebrates artists from all corners of Latinidad with an ‘El Tiny’ takeover.
The track that opens Chuwi‘s Tiny Desk is fast, coy and questioning. In staggered vocals, keys and percussion, the Puerto Rican band gently tells a narrative a few life well-lived, however one thing lingers. “Que me faltara,” all of them sing. What am I lacking? This can be a widespread theme all through Chuwi’s music — that the members love their household, their island, their dwelling — however, like many Puerto Ricans, they nonetheless search one thing higher: “un guarapo de jengibre y un Puerto Rico libre.”
Chuwi is a set of household and pals from Isabela, Puerto Rico. (For those who caught any of Unhealthy Bunny‘s historic residency, Chuwi was the backing band each night time for “WELTiTA.”) They arrive from the western aspect of the island the place bomba, plena and salsa are injected into folks’s veins. The band harmoniously incorporates all of those influences into its sound, buying and selling ocean blues and sundown pinks for frolicsome jazz breaks and tasteful synthesizer results. Chuwi’s members construct a panorama of their dwelling wherever they go, making it really feel as if the one thing lacking is and at all times can be irrefutably theirs.
SET LIST
- “Falta Algo”
- “Tikiri”
- “Tierra”
- “Guerra”
- “Chuwi Navidades en Cataño”
MUSICIANS
- Lorén Aldarondo: vocals
- Wilfredo “Willy” Aldarondo: vocals, bass, tres cubano, percussion
- Wester Aldarondo: keys, piano, percussion, background vocals
- Adrián López: percussion, background vocals
- Jan Angelo Marrero Báez: French horn, background vocals
- Jorge Gabriel López: percussion, background vocals
- Abneris Jasmin: background vocals
- Carolina A. López Soto: background vocals, electronics
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producer: Anamaria Sayre
- Director/Editor: Kara Body
- Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
- Host/Sequence Producer: Bobby Carter
- Videographers: Kara Body, Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant
- Audio Engineer: Josephine Nyounai
- Manufacturing Assistant: Dhanika Pineda
- Photographer: Grace Raver
- Sequence Editor: Lars Gotrich
- Government Producer: Suraya Mohamed
- Sequence Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson