Alt.Latino: A Tejano masterclass with El Gato Negro, Ruben Ramos

Alt.Latino: A Tejano masterclass with El Gato Negro, Ruben Ramos

From NPR Music by NPR

June 10, 2026 · 27 min

About this episode

Ruben Ramos discusses his life and the history of Tejano music.

Ruben Ramos' life story mirrors the history of what we now know as Tejano music. His family's musical roots in Texas go back to 1918, and as a boy he was brought into the family bands, first as a drummer and then as a vocalist. He's been playing big band-inflected Tejano music now for more than six decades, and just released a tribute album tracing that musical lineage, called 'Los Días de Calor.' In this episode, Felix chats with "El Gato Negro" Ramos about the history of Tejano music across the twentieth century, and how his own story fits inside of it. This podcast episode was produced by Noah Caldwell. Suraya Mohamed is the executive producer of NPR Music. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

People in this episode

Host: Felix

Guest: Ruben Ramos

Topics covered

  • Tejano music
  • Ruben Ramos
  • musical lineage
  • family bands
  • music history

Keywords

  • Tejano music
  • Ruben Ramos
  • Los Días de Calor
  • music history
  • family bands
  • big band

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NPR Music, NPR

Books & works: Los Días de Calor

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