Music of the Americas: Summer in the Southern Cone

Wednesday, February 4, 10 am

Pájaros Kiltros is inspired by the nature, people, and landscapes of the Chiloé Archipelago in the Chilean Patagonia. Their music incorporates elements of world music, folk, progressive rock, and jazz. With three albums released to date, they have performed on important stages in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, and China. 

They sent us two songs. Today, we share "Pajarita," a melodious, flirtatious, and nostalgic love song. It was inspired by a little bird preening its feathers in a fountain at dawn.

Thursday, February 5, 10 am

Leandro Díaz Keller is an Argentine guitarist and composer who has released several albums including Animista, featuring original music for seven-string guitar, and Iniciático, which includes original music with the ensemble Bagual, which he directs. 

From Buenos Aires, he sent us this video of "Oxum del Paraná," an original composition for seven-string guitar .

Friday, February 6, 10 am

João Arruda is a singer, percussionist, guitarist, and composer based in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Born in Campinas, São Paulo, he has built a career dedicated to the preservation and creative reimagining of Brazilian and Latin American popular music. He has released over 15 albums and has performed across Brazil, Latin America, and Europe. He participates in several artistic groups, composes soundtracks for theater, films, and documentaries, and works as a cultural producer, curator, and producer in numerous musical projects. 

His compositions and arrangements create a dialogue between traditional forms and contemporary creation, combining violas, percussion, and collective singing. His voice is part of the soundscape, blending with the voices of nature. Committed to organic sonorities, he is also a farmer working with syntropic agriculture and reforestation, bringing concepts of regeneration, interdependence, and care for the land into the core of his musical work.

From the countryside near Caldas and with Levi Ramiro on viola de cabaça, a traditional guitar made of a large gourd, he sent us two songs. Today, we share his and Ramiro's "Mãe nas manhãs."

The MetLife Foundation Music of the Americas concert series is made possible by the generous support of Presenting Sponsor MetLife Foundation.

The 2025–2026 series is also supported, in part, by the Howard Gilman Foundation, Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, The Augustine Foundation, the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, and The Amphion Foundation.