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The Latin Alternative Music Conference 2013: Who Rocked, Who Shocked, Who Killed

Irene Diaz.
Courtesy of the artist
Irene Diaz.

The annual Latin Alternative Music Conference is the single biggest event of its kind in the U.S. Once a year, Felix Contreras and I head up to New York City in order to soak up the live music, meet up with industry folks and, most importantly, see up-and-coming artists.

This year was no exception, as we caught some amazing concerts by the likes of the Chilean band Astro. But our minds were also blown by the sheer quality and quantity of records and samples that were dropped in our hands by young musicians.

After several nights spent cavorting through New York concert venues — it's a tough job, but someone has to do it — we sat on a bench in Central Park and taped this week's Alt.Latino. We discuss our favorite shows, artists we'd heard for the first time and loved, and whether or not Felix sneaked into my hotel room dressed as a lucha libre ninja and took some CDs and makeup.

As we headed to Central Park, we posted our location on Twitter and Facebook — and guess what? Several listeners stopped by to say hi and talk about music with us, including New York Times music critic Jon Pareles. It turns out that people listen to our show, so from now on, we're going to have to watch what we say on the air.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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.