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Coffee And Mambo With Sergio Mendoza Y La Orkesta

Many of us at NPR Music fell hard for Arizona's Sergio Mendoza and his band La Orkesta this year. Together, they mix myriad Latin styles — what Mendoza calls "indie mambo," salted with generous handfuls of cumbia, merengue and ranchera — and then feed all that through a psychedelic prism. They perform their songs with charm and panache, set off by the fireworks of the group's resident showman, the multi-talented Salvador Duran.

While NPR Music was in Austin for SXSW this year, we coaxed Mendoza and his crew into a three-song backyard party after a little local coffee. But they didn't really need the caffeine to get everyone's blood pumping.

Set List

  • "Traicionera" (Treasons)
  • "La Cucharita" (Little Spoon)
  • "La Rienda" (The Reins)
  • Credits

    Producers: Mito Habe-Evans, Saidah Blount, Anastasia Tsioulcas; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; Director: AJ Wilhelm; Videographers: Mito Habe-Evans, Becky Harlan, Olivia Merrion, AJ Wilhelm; Editor: Olivia Merrion; Production Coordinator: Kate Kittredge; Special Thanks: Friends & Neighbors; Executive Producer: Anya Grundmann

    Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

    Anastasia Tsioulcas is a reporter on NPR's Arts desk. She is intensely interested in the arts at the intersection of culture, politics, economics and identity, and primarily reports on music. Recently, she has extensively covered gender issues and #MeToo in the music industry, including backstage tumult and alleged secret deals in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against megastar singer Plácido Domingo; gender inequity issues at the Grammy Awards and the myriad accusations of sexual misconduct against singer R. Kelly.