Viva el podcast!

Podcasts are living a wild second youth. More and more documentary makers get behind the microphone and the results are spectacular. Since today is International Podcastday, we present to you five not to miss podcasts with a latin touch.

1. ‘Los Frikis’ – Radio Ambulante & Radiolab

http://www.radiolab.org/story/los-frikis/

Radio Ambulante is a collective of Latin American audio reporters. What they are capable of is proven by this raw episode (adapted by Radiolab) about Cuban punkers and their shocking form of rebellion. The recording took place right after Obama cancelled the embargo on Cuba, making the beginning quite moving indeed.

2. ‘Viva la arquitectura’ – 99% Invisible

http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/viva-la-arquitectura/

Che and Fidel play a game of golf in Havana when they strike on a luminous idea. The result: a new art academy in a fascinating building. Roman Mars and Avery Truffelman –two podcast greats- describe it like no one else can in 99% Invisible, a podcast on the design of fortune cookies, baseball socks and everything that’s ever been made in this suddenly o’ so crazy world.

3. ‘Not It’ – This American Life

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/554/not-it?act=1#act-1

Last year, Adriana Cardona-Maguigad started noticing way more homeless people around her neighbourhood in Chicago. When she decided to ask them about their stories, she discovered some unsettling facts about Puerto Rico, heroin and flights without return tickets. This story was produced by This American Life, a real institution on American radio.

4. ‘The Hustler’ – La Hora Faniática

http://gladyspalmera.com/programas/jose-arteaga-la-hora-faniatica/

Can’t get enough of Fania Records’ music? In La Hora Faniática, a show on Barcelona’s Radio Gladys Palmera, every episode is dedicated to one of Fania Records’ legendary albums. Our favourite: The Hustler from Willie Colón.

5. ‘Gringo of the year’ – Mortified

https://soundcloud.com/themortifiedpodcast/09-steve-gringo-of-the-year?in=themortifiedpodcast/sets/podcast

In Mortified, adults get on stage and read aloud from their embarrassing teenage diaries. Schadenfreude guaranteed. Especially in this episode where an American boy travels to Mexico for all the wrong reasons.