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From NPR music, I'm Felix Contreras.

Anna Maria Cere is traveling this week and left the studio empty, so I'm going to step in,

close the door, and record a show with just you and me.

What I have planned is a continuation of an alt-Latino tradition of recognizing Black

History Month with music from Afro-Latino populations from throughout Latin America.

And we're going to feature a conversation I had with saxophonist Miguel Zenon,

who is originally from Puerto Rico and identifies as Afro-Latino. I ask him to come in and talk about

the Afro-Po Puerto Rican composer Tite Gouret Olonso, a behind-the-scenes, musician type of figure

known for hundreds of songs that he wrote mainly for artists

on the Fania label in the 1970s and 80s.

And many of those songs celebrate the history of African heritage in the Americas and specifically

the Caribbean.

But to get started, we're going to go to Venezuela.

Betsada Machado comes from a small town called El Chavo, which is near the Caribbean coast of Venezuela.

Like much of the music from Latin America and the Caribbean, its strongest influence is from West Africa,

but it's also mixed with European and indigenous music.

The song that we're going to hear right now is called O Santa Rosa, and it's Bitsida Machado and Parranda El Chavo. to be a Oh, Santa Rosa The 30th of August

I'll celebrate

Oh Santa Rosa

And my Tanta Rosa

I'm going to

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