Even though COVID-19 rates have made it unsafe to experience music in person right now, Red Bull’s Estados Unidos de Bass is bringing live performances from a diverse lineup of Latin artists to our computer screens. Streaming from five cities—San Francisco, Miami, Austin, New York and Los Angeles—the three-week fest stars Colombian-American singer Kali Uchis and spotlights a variety of independent artists from each locale.
Representing the Bay Area is La Doña, a singer and rapper recently who stepped out as a solo act after getting her start on trumpet in her family’s band. La Doña’s style is a refreshingly San Francisco mix of reggaeton, rancheras and hyphy. While repping her culture and bringing the party, her songs also give voice to her community’s struggles with gentrification and police brutality—most recently, the Vallejo Police Department’s shooting of Sean Monterrosa, whom she honored in a tribute.
La Doña performs on the Dec. 4 stream along with Turbo Sonidero, a San José DJ and founder of the popular cumbia party and Chicano music festival Sonido Clash. On Dec. 5, Estados Unidos de Bass’ Bay Area features Los Rakas, the Panamanian-American rap duo from Oakland whose genre-mixing, bilingual style was ahead of its time when they emerged in the turfing scene over a decade ago. They perform with the Sazon Libre DJ crew, whose tropical bass party has been going strong on Twitch during the pandemic.
Details for Estados Unidos de Bass can be found here.
