Doctor Nativo’s new album BarrioKandela is a manifesto, an ancestral bridge, and a clear stand in a time when the world is burning, wars are multiplying, and people everywhere are asking again who they are and where they’re headed.

A sonic brotherhood between Guatemaya and Mexico, BarrioKandela is a spiritual and cultural alliance, a joining of forces that amplifies revolutionary voices from the ground up: from the barrio, from the roots. It speaks not of borders but of shared territory, living memory, and streets that pulse the same on both sides of the map.

Musically, the album moves freely through cumbia, reggae, mariachi, Afro-native rhythms, and Mesoamerican oral tradition. But beyond genres, what runs through the entire record is a clear intention: to remind us that we are still a people, that we’re still walking together, and that music can still be a tool for collective awareness.

BarrioKandela is here to spark awareness, light the creative fire, and bring together those who still believe music can be bridge, word, and action. In a fractured world, Doctor Nativo invites us to return to our roots so we can move forward together.

On March 20, 2026, BarrioKandela arrives. And the message is clear: the voice of the barrio is still alive and resisting.

Montreal-based Haitian artist Wesli makes a powerful comeback with his seventh career album, Makaya. This 24-track project stands as a work deeply rooted in Haitian identity and the values of resistance,belonging, and connection to the land.

Named after a mountain range in southern Haiti, Makaya pays tribute to the first Maroons, those iconic freedom fighters who helped lead the struggle toward independence. 

Symbolizing an inheritance born from Mother Africa, it evokes the traditions passed down by the Igbo, Congos, Aladas, Nagos, Yorubas, and Dahomés, all deeply anchored in the memory of the Haitian people.

In Kikongo, Makaya means “leaf”, a sacred symbol in ancestral Vodou, associated with healing, purification, and renewal. Despite centuries of colonization and prohibitions, this culture has survived and evolved, still vibrating through songs, rara rhythms, and Vodou rites.

From the electro pulses of Nago Electro and Maloya Yanvalou to the festive rhythms of Blackman Samba and Lanmou ak Konbit Lakay, Wesli celebrates the strength, beauty, and dignity of the Haitian people. 

The journey continues at the heart of tradition with Makaya, Papa Loco, and Mèsi Bondyé, where African roots and vodou drums resonate with powerful intensity, before moving toward the militant afrobeat of Rebel Union and the conscious chants of Rèv
Mwen and Rezistans, true calls for solidarity and resilience. 

By revisiting the Haitian troubadour style through Chacha, Makonay, and Lanmou Nou, Wesli weaves together poetry, humanity, and musical elegance, offering a bridge between past and present, tradition and modernity.

“Through this album, I want to remind the Haitian people and its diaspora that our roots are a light guiding the path toward the future. Our culture is not a burden, but a compass.” 

Oakland, California-based singer, guitarist and songwriter Nia Cephas lets her creativity flow and her talent shine on her debut album Cosmicpolitan, releasing in November through Little Village Foundation. The skillful arrangements include bossa nova, samba, Middle Eastern folk, pop, blues, reggae and jazz. Cephas, and the musicians backing her, followed their instincts, metaphorically tracing the footsteps of the multi-cultural musical journey Cephas took from her birth place in Orange, California to her current home in Oakland.

Standouts include the funky bossa nova of “Frequencia,” a nod to the singer’s Afro-Brazilian background, with her scatted asides adding to the tracks rhythmic complexity; “Autumn Nights,” a ballad with a rocking reggae backbeat and “400 Years,” a folk rock tune, describing the way the effects of slavery resonate today. There are hints of the blues and gospel in the wailing melismas Cephas adds to her vocal lines. 

The performances on Cosmicpolitan are a tribute to the resilience and determination Cephas has shown in her off stage life. She grew up in a musical household and studied music at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, but a car accident in 2019 destroyed her right arm, leaving her unable to play the guitar. Practicing fingerpicking, and physical therapy returned her ability to play and compose music. 

"I hope that my audience can take heart and join me in the feeling that, despite what one may be going through, everything is going to be all right in the end.”