Edmar Castaneda: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Edmar Castaneda is the sort of musician who isn’t afraid to challenge the established order. He’s carving out a place for himself in Latin jazz on an instrument you don’t often hear in his chosen genre: the Colombian harp. He’s adapted intricate traditional fingerpicking techniques to play jazz melodies along with the Afro-Cuban tumbao (bass line). As you can see and hear for yourself in this Tiny Desk Concert, he can switch between rural Colombian dance music and jazz with a twist of his wrist. Literally.