January 25, 2023

Top 10 Tiny Desk concerts by Hispanic Artists

Life can be hard sometimes, but there’s a very cozy place on the web that’s always there for us: Tiny Desk. This project was started by NPR music editor Stephen Thompson and the musician and host of the show, Bob Boilen. Both claim to have had the idea of creating these series after being at a bar listening to Laura Gibson and not hearing the music over a noisy crowd. They joked they should ask Laura to perform at the radio behind Boilen’s desk.

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And so in 2008, the project that started as a joke, began. The duo asked Laura to perform at the radio of NPR music behind Bob Boilen’s desk, they recorded the session and NPR posted the video a few days later. After almost 15 years of these amazing videos where the artists play a very intimate and profound set (oftentimes with acoustic or different musical arrangements) of the songs we already know and love. They’re still on and they’re still a thing. Their only rule? No fancy PA systems, all musical equipment has to fit behind the iconic desk.

During the pandemic the project merged a bit and gave us Tiny Desk concerts (from home). On these occasions the artists reunited with their bands and performed in a very tiny desk way to gift us with their music.

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These concerts have been around for so long that they’re part of pop culture, they’ve had all types of styles and musicians and they’re a way to promote culture and diversity. Hispanic artists have also been part of these series, both as invited guests and as special guests for the Hispanic heritage month series. At OCHO we enjoy these relaxing and fun videos very much, so we decided to ask our team which was their favorite Tiny Desk concert by a hispanic artist, here are the ones we ranked at our top 10.

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1 - Natalia Lafourcade