Los Hacheros — Tiny Desk Concert (NPR), 2016

Live filmed session by New York band Los Hacheros for NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concerts, recorded on 30 June 2016 at Bob Boilen’s desk in Washington, D.C. A spearhead of New York’s salsa dura revival, Los Hacheros draw on the Afro-Caribbean groove that underpins all tropical music: son montuno, guajira and bombas led by tres, percussion and horns. In the stripped-down, acoustic Tiny Desk format, the band delivers a three-song mini-concert — “Baila Con Los Hacheros”, “Papote’s Guajira” and “Bambulaye” (the title track of their 2016 album) — with a sense of sabor and authenticity that led producer Felix Contreras to jump in and play along for one number. Captured up close, the session highlights the refinement of the arrangements and the drive of a true dance orchestra. Formed in Brooklyn, Los Hacheros became one of the standard-bearers of the twenty-first-century salsa dura revival, championed by labels and radio for their commitment to the classic New York sound. A live filmed concert perfect for discovering contemporary New York salsa in an intimate setting.