The UK’s largest Latin music festival returns for a spectacular 9th year. Get ready for Latin music, culture and food, with four stages and immersive experiences. There’ll be street food, cocktails, salsa, reggaeton, house music and more.
- 20th July, 12-10pm
- Walpole Park
We took some time to speak to the director and founder, Amaranta.
Tell us about yourself
My name is Amaranta and I am director and founder of LatinoLife, which has become the UK’s leading Latin media, music and events organisation and its first and only Latina-run National Portfolio Organisation (NPO), supported by the Arts Council to bring Latin culture to a wider audience and nurture young UK-based Latin artists.
Tell us about LatinoLife
I started LatinoLife with my husband over twenty years ago. He is from Venezuela and I am from Argentina. I grew up here from the age of seven and Jose came when he was 19. My background was in journalism (I worked as a correspondent in Latin America for a long time) and Jose’s background was in events (he pioneered the reggaeton scene in London and Europe with his La Bomba clubnights at Ministry of Sound back in the early noughties). We joined forces and have since done so many things together, trying to develop the UK Latin music industry. I run LatinoLife magazine (in print and online), but we also run The LUKAS (Europe’s only Latin Entertainment Awards) plus clubnights, concerts, conferences, artist showcases, incubators, mentoring and outreach programmes and Candela Records, the first UK Record label dedicated to Urban Latin Music. In 2015 we launched LatinoLife in the Park, which has now become Britain’s largest Latin music festival.
We started in Finsbury Park, but very quickly the festival grew exponentially and we weren’t getting the support we needed to manage such a big festival. The Arts Council put us in touch with Ealing who already had a summer festival and were wanting to diversify its offering. We found Ealing Council to be really supportive and welcoming, providing the structure that we needed to be able to consolidate our event. It’s been a really great partnership.
How did the festival come about?
We’d been showcasing young UK-Latin talent in since 2005, through our club nights, smaller festivals and other events like the LUKAS, and supporting through LatinoLife magazine, and about 10 years ago, we realised that there was no Latin music festival that really represented our community. Most Latin music promoters, curators and commentators of Latin culture in the UK were older white men from a World music background, and we felt the artists and music they promoted weren’t ones we listened to or represented the quality, authenticity, breadth and depth of Latin genres. So we wanted to reclaim our cultural narrative and start a Latin music event based on our own lived experience of, and work in, our own music. So that’s how our festival began, a festival by Latinos, for everyone, including ourselves!
What can Ealing residents expect?
We’ve been running LatinoLife Festival for nine years now and it gets better each year, so you can expect our best festival yet – the amazing experience and programming that LatinoLife has built its reputation on, with quality and diverse artists in a stunning festival site. You can expect four stages and immersive experiences filled with authentic and high quality Latin music and dance, as opposed to clichéd, low-quality expressions without context. We showcase Latin genres in all their diversity, within their cultural contexts, not lumped with other so-called World music, diluting their meaning and value.
Is there a community feel?
Absolutely, for a start, LatinoLife is not a commercial event, it’s not-for-profit event, which was voted the UK’s most inclusive festival by FestSpace in 2022. LatinoLife is all about community – a very happy meeting between London’s Latin community, our host community, Ealing, and the wider London community, with all its diversity. This is our third year in Ealing and we’re really happy to see how much it’s been embraced by residents. Our stats tell us that the festival is heavily attended by Ealing and West Londoners. Last year, we had the largest ever attendance of families, and it became clear that our festival is seen as very child friendly. You’ll find people of all ages; entire families coming together – parents, grandparents, grandchildren, cousins – enjoying its different aspects. We have a discount for Ealing residents (use code IloveEaling) which hopefully will encourage those who might not think of going to a Latin music festival normally, to try it out. You won’t regret it!
What are some of the highlights for this years festival?
This year we’re going with the theme Salsa is Back! because even the big reggaetón artists are bringing out salsa releases, so it’s a great excuse to showcase the music that we personally love with two great main stage headliners: TROMBORANGA, currently the world’s most successful salsa band and RENE ALVAREZ’ TRIBUTE TO HECTOR LAVOE, celebrating the music of the legendary Puerto Rican singer. We also have a NYC Salsa ‘Immersive Experience’ promising to transport festival goers to New York’s Golden Era of salsa, charanga and chachacha. Also on the main stage, Peru’s NOVA LIMA bring their unique fusion of Afro-Peruvian music, as well as a full-on MARIACHI EXPLOSION, which is a chance to really show the artistry of this genre which has not been taken seriously enough in the UK. Festival-goers can soak up the rich and ancient cultures of Andean Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile at CASA ANDINA immersive experience with folk dance parades, cumbia, chicha, and electro-folk DJs, pisco cocktails, and delicious Andean street food. We’ll also be showcasing the best of new British-Latin talent from London’s underground scene in our now legendary URBAN MUSIC SHOWCASE.
What’s next?
We have just become a PRS Foundation Talent Development Partner which means that we’ve been given funding to further develop some of the talent that we see emerging from the street, and taking it to Latin America, which is really exciting. We’ve also just been selected as the official partner for SXSW London, and we’ll be showcasing some of the talent we work with there. We have events every week, VIVA clubnights every Saturday and our SABOR family Sundays in Vauxhall, and we have special events coming up all the time. Also we churn out great articles and content every day for anyone interested in finding out more about Latin music and culture. We’re also on Instagram.
