Bringing The World Home To You

© 2023 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton 94.1 Lumberton 99.9 Southern Pines
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Ana Tijoux: Tiny Desk Concert

Ana Tijoux is proof that hip-hop knows no boundaries — it's not even exclusive to the U.S. Hip-hop has become the lingua franca for young people around the globe.

Tijoux was born in France to exiled parents who fled a Chilean dictatorship. She returned to Chile as a teenager and started rapping, first in French and then finding her place in Spanish.

She recently burst from the local hip-hop scene in Santiago de Chile to join the ranks of non-English-speaking MCs who artfully work their native languages into the rapid-fire cadence of rap. Her bursts of language tell stories in rhythms and rhymes that often have a soft French edge. She speaks from the heart and tells it as she sees it.

In this intimate performance at the NPR Music offices with percussionist Names Thompson, Tijoux held a mid-afternoon crowd enthralled with her rhythmic flow and offerings from her most recent album, 1977. It's an uncharacteristically quiet performance, but all the more powerful for its subtlety.

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

Tags
Felix Contreras is co-creator and host of Alt.Latino, NPR's pioneering radio show and podcast celebrating Latin music and culture since 2010.
More Stories