Latest news with #Ca7riel
Fast Company
31-05-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
How NPR's Tiny Desk became the biggest stage in music
Until last October, Argentinian musical duo Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso were more or less a regional act. Known for their experimental blend of Latin trap, pop, and rap, the pair had a fanbase, but still weren't cracking more than 3,000 daily streams across services like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. Within a week, they shot up 4,700%—hitting 222,000 daily streams—according to exclusive data firm Luminate, which powers the Billboard charts. Suddenly Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso were global pop stars. What changed? On Oct. 4, the pair were featured in a Tiny Desk Concert, part of NPR's 17-year-old video series featuring musicians performing stripped-down sets behind an office desk in the cramped Washington, D.C. headquarters of the public broadcaster. In the concert video, the artists play five songs from their debut album Baño Maria, which came out last April. Paco's raspy voice emerges from underneath a puffy blue trapper hat while Ca7riel sports an over-the-top pout and a vest made of stitched-together heart-shaped plush toys. The pair sing entirely in Spanish, backed by their Argentinian bandmates (sporting shirts screenprinted with their visas) and an American horn section. The duo's performance quickly took off across the internet. Within five days, it had racked up more than 1.5 million views on YouTube, and hit 11 million in little more than a month. It also reverberated across social media: the NPR Music Instagram post garnering nearly 900,000 likes, and TikToks clips garnered hundreds of thousands of views. In a year that featured Tiny Desk performances from buzzy stars like Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter, as well as established acts like Chaka Khan and Nelly Furtado, Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso's concert was the most-watched of 2024. It currently sits at 36 million views. That virality translated to an influx of bookings for the duo, including a performance at Coachella in April, and upcoming slots at Glastonbury in June, FujiRock Japan in July, and Lollapalooza and Outside Lands in August. Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso's global tour includes sold-out dates at Mexico's 20,000-capacity Palacio de los Deportes and Chile's 14,000-seat Movistar Areana—and was previewed by an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in April. 'Through Tiny Desk, we've noticed media approaching us, promoters being very interested in offering their spaces and festivals, and many media outlets opening doors to show us to the world,' says Jonathan Izquierdo, the band's Spain-based tour manager who began working with the duo shortly after the Tiny Desk Concert debuted. 'We've managed to sell out summer arena shows in record time and we're constantly adding new concerts. Promoters are knocking on our doors to get the Tiny Desk effect.' Tiny Desk, Big Influence The Tiny Desk effect is something Bobby Carter, NPR Tiny Desk host and series producer, has seen firsthand. Carter has been at NPR for 25 years, including the past 11 on the Tiny Desk team. He took the reins when Bob Boilen, the longtime All Songs Considered host who launched Tiny Desk in 2008, retired in 2023. The series—which now has more than 1,200 videos—began as an internet-first way for Boilen to showcase performances from musicians that were more intimate than what happens in bigger concert venues. The first installment, featuring folk artist Laura Gibson, went up on YouTube. Today, the concerts are posted on the NPR site with a writeup and credits, as well as YouTube, where NPR Music has 11 million followers. NPR Music also clips installments on Instagram, where it has 3 million followers. In the early days, NPR staff reached out to touring bands to secure bookings. Acts coming through DC could often be cajoled into filming an installment before heading out to their venues for that night's sound check. Now, musicians come to DC just for the chance to record in NPR's offices. 'We don't have to worry about tours anymore,' Carter says. 'Labels and artists are willing to come in solely for a Tiny Desk performance. They understand the impact that a really good Tiny Desk concert can have on an artist's career.' Early on, the stripped-down nature of the Tiny Desk—artists can't use any audio processing or voice modulation—lent itself to rock, folk, and indie acts. But a 2014 concert with T-Pain, in which the famously autotune-heavy singer unveiled an impressive set of pipes, showed how artists from a broader array of genres could shine behind the Tiny Desk. 'Everyone knows at this point that they're going to have to do something different in our space,' Carter says. 'It's a bigger ask for hip-hop acts and electronic acts, but most artists now understand how important it can be if they nail it.' Carter highlights rapper Doechii as an artist who overhauled her sound for her Tiny Desk concert in December. Doechii's all-female backing band used trumpet, saxophone, guitar, and bass to transform songs from her mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal for the live setting. 'If you listen to the recorded version of her music, it's nothing like what you saw in that Tiny Desk,' Carter says. Clips of Doechii's Tiny Desk virtuosity lit up social media, introducing the 'swamp princess' to new fans. The concert even inspired a viral parody, with writer-director-comedian Gus Heagary pretending to be an NPR staffer watching the performance. Reimagining Old Favorites It isn't just emerging acts that totally revamp their sound for a Tiny Desk opportunity. Established artists like Usher, Justin Timberlake, and Cypress Hill have followed T-Pain's lead and used NPR's offices to showcase reimagined versions of some of their most popular songs. When Juvenile recorded his installment in June 2023, he was backed by horns and saxophones, a violin and cello, and John Batiste on melodica. The New Orleans rapper played an acoustic version of 'Back That Azz Up' twice at the audience's request—the first encore in the series' history. 'I love what has happened with hip hop [on Tiny Desk],' Carter says. He explains that artists now approach the concert with the mindset: 'I have to really rethink what I've been doing for however long I've been doing it, and present it in a whole new way.' Tiny Desk has also helped musicians like Juvenile, gospel artist Marvin Sapp, and percussionist Sheila E to reach new audiences while reminding listeners they're still making music. 'We're helping artists to re-emerge,' Carter says, 'tapping into legacy acts and evergreen artists [to help] breathe new life into their careers.' In many ways, Tiny Desk now occupies a niche once filled by MTV Unplugged —but for the generation that has replaced cable with YouTube and streaming. 'Maybe 10, 15, 20 years ago, all of our favorite artists had this watershed moment in terms of a live performance,' Carter says. 'Back in the day it was MTV Unplugged. SNL is still doing their thing. But when you think about the generation now that lives on YouTube, some of these Tiny Desk performances are going to be the milestone that people point to when it comes to live performances.' Building a Diverse Audience When Carter talks about Tiny Desk concerts reaching a new generation of listeners, it's not conjecture. He notes that the NPR Music YouTube channel's 11 million subscribers are 'as young and diverse as it gets. It's almost half people of color [and] much younger than the audience that listens to NPR on air, which is an audience NPR has been trying to tap for a long time,' he says. That diversity informs some of the special series that Tiny Desk produces. The Juvenile video was part of Carter's second run of concerts recorded for Black Music Month, in June. Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso's video was tied to El Tiny, a Latin-focused series that debuts during Latin Heritage Month (from mid September to mid October) and is programmed by Tiny Desk producer and host AnaMaria Sayer. Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso's tour manager, Izquierdo, has worked with artists featured in the series before. He says Tiny Desk is crucial for Latin American artists trying to break through. 'I've realized that for U.S. radio, Latin music benefits from Tiny Desk,' he says. The Tiny Desk audience's broad demographics are also increasingly reflected in its broader programming. Bad Bunny's April installment took his reggaeton-inspired songs from recent album Debi Tirar Mas Fotos to their acoustic roots, using an array of traditional Puerto Rican, Latin American, and Caribbean instruments, such as the cuatro puertorriqueño, tiple, güicharo, and bongos. '[Our] audience informs a whole lot of what we do,' Carter says. I get so many pointers from YouTube comments like 'Have you heard of this artist?' We're watching all that stuff because it helps us stay sharp.' Tiny Desk heard round the world With a strong global audience, Tiny Desk has been expanding into Asia. In 2023, NPR struck a licensing deal with South Korean Telecom LG U+ and production company Something Special to produce Tiny Desk Korea for television. Last year, NPR inked a deal with the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) to launch Tiny Desk Concerts Japan. 'We're really expanding in terms of global reach,' Carter says. Here in the States, Carter and Sayer recently launched Tiny Desk Radio, a series that will revisit some of the series' notable installments, sharing behind-the-scenes stories from their productions and playing the audio from the concerts 'Our engineers put a lot of time and effort into making sure that we sound great,' Carter says. 'I hear it a lot—people tell me they prefer an artist's Tiny Desk over anything.' That's something Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso clearly have on their mind as they navigate the Tiny Desk effect and a new level of recognition (their daily streams haven't dipped below 50,000 a day since the beginning of the year). The duo released an EP in February, Papota, which features four new songs, plus the recorded versions of their pared-down Tiny Desk performances. They also released a short film that recreates their Tiny Desk performance—this time in a Buenos Aires diner. One of the themes of the EP is the pair wrestling with the implications of their viral success. On the song Impostor, Ca7riel asks '¿Y ahora que vamos hacer?/El tiny desk me jodio' (What do we do now? Tiny Desk fucked me up.) It's an overstatement, but an acknowledgment that the path they're now on ran directly through the NPR offices.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Argentina's Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso Bring Their Explosive Live Show to New York's Bowery Ballroom: Concert Review
Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso are a Latin/hip-hop/multi-genre duo who are superstars in their native Argentina and much of Latin America, but until recently were little known in the U.S. outside the Latin music genre. That began changing first with their NPR Tiny Desk Concert last fall, then with their incendiary appearances at Coachella earlier this month. The duo's 2024 debut album, 'Baño María,' featured their strong singing and rapping over largely electronic instrumentation, and although their new EP 'Papota' has live instrumentation from their band, it does not prepare you for what an explosive and exciting live band it is — and not only because the group brought the same set to New York's 575-capacity Bowery Ballroom that they played at Coachella and in stadiums on the recently completed Lollapalooza South America tour. On Tuesday night, they practically erupted off of the Bowery stage. The duo — who have comic, antic stage presence that belies their serious musical chops — are accompanied by nine top-flight musicians: a three-piece horn section, two backing singers, a keyboardist, percussionist, bassist and a powerhouse drummer (who, astonishingly, has a tattoo of the logo for '70s progressive rockers Emerson Lake & Palmer on his arm) — while Ca7riel played guitar on several songs. All of the musicians' formidable skills are on full display in their live set, which finds them changing direction in a head-spinning but still fluid manner: They'll be playing a Latin-flavored song and then make a hard left into hip-hop and then serve up a smooth '80s R&B-flavored number that actually had my companion saying, 'This reminds me of Bone Thugs N Harmony'; a couple of others veered into cool-jazz territory found the horn section evoking mid-'70s Stevie Wonder and Earth Wind & Fire (and featured a stinging jazzy solo from keyboardist Javier Burin). In just one example of the group's versatility, Ca7riel — who happens to be a blazing guitarist — peeled off some tasteful, jazzy licks on one song, even scat-singing along with his solo a la George Benson, and on the next was rapping loudly while pulling elastic faces and jumping up and down. Even though the joyfully enthusiastic audience knew the words to all of band's songs — nearly all of which were from the album and EP — and sang along passionately, you truly never knew what was coming next. But for all of their musical expertise and undeniable chops, most of all Ca7riel and Paco are fun, playing with the audience, making faces, doing a comical exercise routine to their latest single 'El Dia Del Amigo' (which they took to even more comical ends on 'Jimmy Fallon' earlier this week). And the musicians all looked like they were having a great time too: Clad in more or less matching outfits — white shirts with black shorts, which bassist Felipe Brandy customized with hilarious oversized sunglasses and sock garters — they were laughing, goofing around and cheering each other throughout the set, all without missing a single beat. There were even lasers. Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso will be on tour in North America for most of the spring, and come back in the summer for Lollapalooza in Chicago and presumably more dates. Even if you don't speak Spanish or have little familiarity with Latin music, you'd be hard pressed to find a more entertaining live show.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso chase Tiny Desk fame with new EP 'Papota'
What happens after a Tiny Desk performance goes viral? If you're the edgy Argentine duo Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso, you simply build on the momentum. A few dates into their "Baño María" world tour, and a month away from their Coachella debut, the eccentric pair have released a new nine-track EP, "Papota." While composed mostly of audio from their acoustic NPR Tiny Desk concert, the album also features four new songs that explore their emotions following the performance — creeping impostor syndrome, fears of all-consuming fame and the pressure to keep up the buzz on social media. 'There was this idea of, 'What happens after Tiny Desk?' Like the fear of success. How do we follow this?' says Amoroso in a Zoom interview, while on tour in Mexico. (In stereotypical Argentine male fashion, he can barely peel his eyes away from an ongoing soccer match on TV.) The Tiny Desk series, which has been around since 2008, presents established artists with the opportunity to flex their raw vocals live. It is also an incubator for up-and-comers edging toward their big break — an opportunity that childhood friends Ca7riel and Amoroso did not take for granted when they were invited to do an "El Tiny Desk" takeover during Latinx heritage month. The 17-minute show, uploaded Oct. 4, 2024, marked the Buenos Aires singers' fast track to fame. With more than 27 million YouTube views to date, it became the No. 1 Tiny Desk video released in 2024. 'What you see there is something authentic. It's not watered down, it's not thought through," says Amoroso. "We simply are who we are with our friends, playing music and having a good time.' Backed by a jazz ensemble, the two trap MCs-turned-rock stars wooed audiences with their spitfire lyrics and catchy tunes from their first joint album, 'Baño María,' released last year. " I told them right when they finished playing: 'That's one of the best ones, if not the best one I've ever seen, and I've never said that before,' says Anamaria Sayre, NPR host and Tiny Desk producer. One of the reasons why Sayre believes the video went viral has a lot to do with Tiny Desk's viewership. Outside the U.S., Argentina has the second-highest viewership of Tiny Desk performances. "Their energy is so dynamic and so specific that it automatically made them magnetic to me," says Sayre. " Anyone's gonna be drawn to [them], no matter who they are, Argentine or otherwise." Now with the EP 'Papota,' which is a colloquial Argentinian term for anabolic steroids, Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso look to humorize the external hullabaloo that has surrounded their rapid ascent to stardom. Tracks like the jazz number 'Impostor' emphasize the high expectations that followed their Tiny Desk performance, with the lyrics satirically condemning it as a curse: 'Ahora que vamos hacer / El Tiny Desk me jodio' ("Now what are we going to do?/Tiny Desk f— me'). 'Tiny [Desk] did not f— us,' admits Ca7riel. 'But within every joke there's a bit of truth,' he adds, noting that the pair have experienced few tranquil moments in the last couple of months, as they are often spotted in public. 'If I were to say I was happy all the time because of the Tiny Desk, it would be like a film without conflicts," says Amoroso. "We always have to share the conflicts.' The album's lead bubblegum pop single, '#Tetas,' pokes fun at trendy buzz words in English: crypto, glow up, vibe check, dab, chad and hashtag. The line 'Si quieres sеr alguien, no puedes ser tú / Tienes que ser alguien que no seas tú' — 'If you want to be somebody, you can't be you / You have to be someone that isn't you' — takes aim at the heavily curated nature of users' social media personalities. This fate seems to befall the singers in the accompanying music video, as they take on polished boy-band personas. 'We have our cellphones with us all the time," says Ca7riel. "We are receiving so much information, like we have to be fit, we have to eat well, we have to speak in English. Those are things that our cellphones are telling us." Other new songs include 'Re Forro,' an upbeat tune that describes becoming a monster despite having everything. There's also a feel-good pop jingle, 'El Día del Amigo,' that nods to the pair's long-standing friendship that began in elementary school. The two were often confused as brothers for their similar last names, which are off by one letter: Catriel "Ca7riel" Guerreiro and Ulises "Paco Amoroso" Guerriero. "We've been friends our whole lives and have shared a lot of hours. I think that's what helps make all of this feel so real," says Paco Amoroso. The release of their "Papota" EP also follows the pair's eclectic short film of the same name, directed by Argentine actor-director Martín Piroyansky. As the film's story goes, Ca7riel & Amoroso enter a cafe still sporting their distinct Tiny Desk attire — a blue fur hat and puffy mini heart vest. In comes 'Gymbaland' (played by YouTuber Martín Bossi), a leechlike Latin music producer who promises the budding stars a "Latin Chaddy" award — a nod to the esteemed Latin Grammy. 'We played around with the idea of Tiny Desk going against the Miami Latin music industry and the Latino producer that promises you success [and] awards,' says Amoroso. The short film previews Ca7riel & Amoroso's career as they buy into the sham promise of fame, a change demonstrated by their enlarged pecs and chiseled chins, details evoking the album's steroid title. Their partnership nearly falls apart as they vie for the Latin Chaddy — although true friendship prevails with a makeshift Tiny Desk session, paying homage to the pivotal moment on the concert series. 'With Tiny Desk, we feel that we hacked the system and we were able to do music that we enjoyed without having to go through that,' says Amoroso. Get our Latinx Files newsletter for stories that capture the complexity of our communities. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso chase Tiny Desk fame with new EP ‘Papota'
What happens after a Tiny Desk performance goes viral? If you're the edgy Argentine duo Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso, you simply build on the momentum. A few dates into their 'Baño María' world tour, and a month away from their Coachella debut, the eccentric pair have released a new nine-track EP, 'Papota.' While composed mostly of audio from their acoustic NPR Tiny Desk concert, the album also features four new songs that explore their emotions following the performance — creeping impostor syndrome, fears of all-consuming fame and the pressure to keep up the buzz on social media. 'There was this idea of, 'What happens after Tiny Desk?' Like the fear of success. How do we follow this?' says Amoroso in a Zoom interview, while on tour in Mexico. (In stereotypical Argentine male fashion, he can barely peel his eyes away from an ongoing soccer match on TV.) The Tiny Desk series, which has been around since 2008, presents established artists with the opportunity to flex their raw vocals live. It is also an incubator for up-and-comers edging toward their big break — an opportunity that childhood friends Ca7riel and Amoroso did not take for granted when they were invited to do an 'El Tiny Desk' takeover during Latinx heritage month. The 17-minute show, uploaded Oct. 4, 2024, marked the Buenos Aires singers' fast track to fame. With more than 27 million YouTube views to date, it became the No. 1 Tiny Desk video released in 2024. 'What you see there is something authentic. It's not watered down, it's not thought through,' says Amoroso. 'We simply are who we are with our friends, playing music and having a good time.' Backed by a jazz ensemble, the two trap MCs-turned-rock stars wooed audiences with their spitfire lyrics and catchy tunes from their first joint album, 'Baño María,' released last year. ' I told them right when they finished playing: 'That's one of the best ones, if not the best one I've ever seen, and I've never said that before,' says Anamaria Sayre, NPR host and Tiny Desk producer. One of the reasons why Sayre believes the video went viral has a lot to do with Tiny Desk's viewership. Outside the U.S., Argentina has the second-highest viewership of Tiny Desk performances. 'Their energy is so dynamic and so specific that it automatically made them magnetic to me,' says Sayre. ' Anyone's gonna be drawn to [them], no matter who they are, Argentine or otherwise.' Now with the EP 'Papota,' which is a colloquial Argentinian term for anabolic steroids, Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso look to humorize the external hullabaloo that has surrounded their rapid ascent to stardom. Tracks like the jazz number 'Impostor' emphasize the high expectations that followed their Tiny Desk performance, with the lyrics satirically condemning it as a curse: 'Ahora que vamos hacer / El Tiny Desk me jodio' ('Now what are we going to do?/Tiny Desk f— me'). 'Tiny [Desk] did not f— us,' admits Ca7riel. 'But within every joke there's a bit of truth,' he adds, noting that the pair have experienced few tranquil moments in the last couple of months, as they are often spotted in public. 'If I were to say I was happy all the time because of the Tiny Desk, it would be like a film without conflicts,' says Amoroso. 'We always have to share the conflicts.' The album's lead bubblegum pop single, '#Tetas,' pokes fun at trendy buzz words in English: crypto, glow up, vibe check, dab, chad and hashtag. The line 'Si quieres sеr alguien, no puedes ser tú / Tienes que ser alguien que no seas tú' — 'If you want to be somebody, you can't be you / You have to be someone that isn't you' — takes aim at the heavily curated nature of users' social media personalities. This fate seems to befall the singers in the accompanying music video, as they take on polished boy-band personas. 'We have our cellphones with us all the time,' says Ca7riel. 'We are receiving so much information, like we have to be fit, we have to eat well, we have to speak in English. Those are things that our cellphones are telling us.' Other new songs include 'Re Forro,' an upbeat tune that describes becoming a monster despite having everything. There's also a feel-good pop jingle, 'El Día del Amigo,' that nods to the pair's long-standing friendship that began in elementary school. The two were often confused as brothers for their similar last names, which are off by one letter: Catriel 'Ca7riel' Guerreiro and Ulises 'Paco Amoroso' Guerriero. 'We've been friends our whole lives and have shared a lot of hours. I think that's what helps make all of this feel so real,' says Paco Amoroso. The release of their 'Papota' EP also follows the pair's eclectic short film of the same name, directed by Argentine actor-director Martín Piroyansky. As the film's story goes, Ca7riel & Amoroso enter a cafe still sporting their distinct Tiny Desk attire — a blue fur hat and puffy mini heart vest. In comes 'Gymbaland' (played by YouTuber Martín Bossi), a leechlike Latin music producer who promises the budding stars a 'Latin Chaddy' award — a nod to the esteemed Latin Grammy. 'We played around with the idea of Tiny Desk going against the Miami Latin music industry and the Latino producer that promises you success [and] awards,' says Amoroso. The short film previews Ca7riel & Amoroso's career as they buy into the sham promise of fame, a change demonstrated by their enlarged pecs and chiseled chins, details evoking the album's steroid title. Their partnership nearly falls apart as they vie for the Latin Chaddy — although true friendship prevails with a makeshift Tiny Desk session, paying homage to the pivotal moment on the concert series. 'With Tiny Desk, we feel that we hacked the system and we were able to do music that we enjoyed without having to go through that,' says Amoroso.
