Tokischa: Tiny Desk Concert

From Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, Tiny Desk is celebrating Latinx Heritage Month with an El Tiny takeover, featuring Jessie Reyez, Susana Baca and more musicians from all corners of Latinidad.

Stefanie Fernández | October 12, 2022
Tokischa came to NPR with a set of arrangements which, a conversation after the performance, she called "a little more Tiny," reworking her dembow tracks in a melange of other Caribbean and Latin American genres. True to her identity as an artist whose performance is aimed squarely at disarming respectability politics, she doesn't sanitize the originals. Instead, her performance subverts expectations by foregrounding her celebration of female sexual autonomy, queerness and desire against a backdrop of popular folk genres. The juxtaposition succeeds uncannily, the kind of artistic strength that lands on the ears of people in power like a threat.

The dembow avant-gardist has incensed conservative pundits in the Dominican Republic and abroad. Her unfiltered expression has sparked moral panic and, elsewhere, drawn justifiable criticism. She opens with "Perra" — a collaboration she originally recorded with J Balvin and the video for which was criticized for racist imagery against Black women and was eventually deleted from YouTube. It's a surprising choice for an opener, even more so as a demure bossa nova. Tokischa lilts the song's chorus and playfully points to the audience.

Her distinctive voice and flow pair deftly with the switch-ups across Caribbean genres, from a bachata version of "Hola" to reggae on "Somos Iguales" and a mambo "Delincuente," the latter complete with a call-and-response that features an NPR audience for the first time probably ever responding "bellaca" ("horny").

"ESTILAZO" is completely transformed, the crisp house original slowed to a languid son backed by a tumbao piano riff in the neighborhood of "Chan Chan." The lyrics — among them "Lesbianismo entre mujeres, larga vida homosexual," ("Lesbianism between women, long homosexual life") and "Música con letras sucias, una suciedad divina" ("Music with dirty lyrics, a divine filthiness") — build like a manifesto, recasting what oppressors have deemed perverse as divine instead.

Each song is a surprise, and most of all the closer, "Kilos De Amor," a currently unreleased corrido. The genre experiments aren't just an El Tiny detour, but a signifier of an artist who both deeply knows where she comes from and who isn't afraid to see how far she can go.

SET LIST
"Perra"
"Hola"
"Somos Iguales"
"Delincuente"
"ESTILAZO"
"Kilos De Amor"

MUSICIANS
Tokischa: vocals
Abdiel Serrano: guitar
Galdy Santiago: percussion
Jesús Laboy: percussion
Orlando Brinn: keyboard
José Lopez: bass

TINY DESK TEAM
Producers: Anamaria Sayre, Felix Contreras
Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Creative Director: Bob Boilen
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Michael Zamora, Alanté Serene
Audio Assistant: Neil Tevault
Production Assistant: Jill Britton
Tiny Desk Team: Suraya Mohamed, Kara Frame, Marissa Lorusso, Hazel Cills, Ashley Pointer, Fi O'Reilly
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann

#tokischa #tinydesk #eltiny #nprmusic

[taidasgb]

Amo como los tiny desk convierten temas tan explicitos en musica de ascensor

[luisbolanos]

Me encanta el profesionalismo de los músicos, yo estuviera cargado de la risa 😂 😂

[amj.composer]

I'm learning Spanish and let's just say this was very educational

[jamesvisible]

Yo considero que esto debería ser examen obligado a cualquier músico. Se llama súper abstracción musical. Si puedes con esto, puedes con todo.

[amazingvman]

Me dio mucha risa, no voy a mentir, jamás me imagine un Tiny Desk de Tokisha

[GioBouc]

The English subtitles are a monumental work to make it sound less sordid than it really is

[MissMichele]

She's clearly doing this to get the reactions you are all giving her in the comment section. I respect her provacative style, and I laughed throughout the whole video. Maybe a touch-up on the vocal style, but other than that, I feel refreshed. Thank you Tokisha!

[javierorozco]

Admiro el autocontrol de los músicos ese es el verdadero talento de la sesión

[AnitaconSwingOficial]

Música para ambientar la comunión de mis primitos🥰

[bryantvargasaguero]

La mejor parte es la de 🎶🎶 guau guau, guau, guau guau, guau 🎶🎶 lloré por horas después de escucharlo, directo al corazón

[eldiego]

Le puse 5 minutos de esta sesión a la tumba de mi abuela, revivió y apago el celular.
Gracias Tiny Desk.

[poptemporanea]

Amo los comentarios de este video, los subtítulos en inglés, la cara de poker de los músicos. Es un poema hermoso.

[mangooo]

Cuando Tokischa dijo WOOH WOOH WOOH WOOH WOOH WOOH WOOH WOOH WOOH WOOH WOOH WOOH! yo sentí eso en lo mas profundo de mi alma.

[carpenter]

La profundidad de la letra, le toca el alma a cualquiera, esto es arte.

[juanpabloorozco]

A huge applause to the person who booked Tokischa. It's certainly the most funny tiny desk session ever. Well played 👏

[baby_boy]

Tengo que admitir que al terminar de oírla, me senti como una tierna oveja de él señor ☺️

[Dylannj]

la puse de alarma y ahora me levanto 8 años antes

[nicob.m.]

when she say wof wof wof, men i really feel that

[hoolieangi]

la persona que puso los subtitulos en inglés, mis respetos jajja

[pedrotorres-wjyy]

Los músicos tiene la misma tranquilidad que los músicos del Titanic, hasta el final con clase 🧐