Chuwi: Tiny Desk Concert

Chuwi: Tiny Desk Concert with tags npr, npr music, national public radio, live, performance, tiny desk, tiny desk concert, tony desk, tiny concert

This Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, NPR Music celebrates artists from all corners of Latinidad with an 'El Tiny' takeover.

Anamaria Sayre | September 25, 2025

The song that opens Chuwi’s Tiny Desk is quick, coy and questioning. In staggered vocals, keys and percussion, the Puerto Rican band gently tells a story about a life well-lived, but something lingers. “Que me faltara,” they all sing. What am I missing? This is a common theme throughout Chuwi’s music — that the members love their family, their island, their home — but, like many Puerto Ricans, they still seek something better: “un guarapo de jengibre y un Puerto Rico libre.”

Chuwi is a collection of family and friends from Isabela, Puerto Rico. (If you caught any of Bad Bunny’s historic residency, Chuwi was the backing band every night for “WELTiTA.”) They come from the western side of the island where bomba, plena and salsa are injected into people’s veins. The band harmoniously incorporates all of these influences into its sound, trading ocean blues and sunset pinks for playful jazz breaks and tasteful synthesizer effects. Chuwi’s members build a landscape of their home wherever they go, making it feel as though the something missing is and always will be irrefutably theirs.

SET LIST

“Falta Algo”

“Tikiri”

“Tierra”

“Guerra”

“Chuwi Navidades en Cataño”

MUSICIANS

Lorén Aldarondo: vocals

Wilfredo “Willy” Aldarondo: vocals, bass, tres cubano, percussion

Wester Aldarondo: keys, piano, percussion, background vocals

Adrián López: percussion, background vocals

Jan Angelo Marrero Báez: French horn, background vocals

Jorge Gabriel López: percussion, background vocals

Abneris Jasmin: background vocals

Carolina A. López Soto: background vocals, electronics

TINY DESK TEAM

Producer: Anamaria Sayre

Director/Editor: Kara Frame

Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell

Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter

Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant

Audio Engineer: Josephine Nyounai

Production Assistant: Dhanika Pineda

Photographer: Grace Raver

Series Editor: Lars Gotrich

Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed

Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson

#tinydesk #nprmusic #chuwi

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