Puerto Rican princesses and Mexican centaurs

Achieving any kind of longevity in the music business is a tricky proposition. So when a genuine legend continues to produce engaging and artistic music, we take notice.

This week, we play a track from such a legend: Sergio Mendes. He played with the pioneers of bossa nova back in the late 1950s and had a string of popular albums in the mid-'60s after moving to the U.S. Fast-forward to this year, and Mendes is enjoying his third or fourth wave of popularity with a series of albums he's recorded with artists such as will.i.am, John Legend and Brazilian contemporaries such as Milton Nascimento. Who among the new crop of artists we feature this week on Alt.Latino will achieve that kind of longevity? My crystal ball cracked recently, so I won't even pretend to guess. But give the show a listen and let us know who you think will be around making music 50 years from now. Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.