The Making Movies boys like to call themselves a band that makes American music with an asterisk. *Their music encompasses all the Americas.

The core of the band is Panamanian-bred Enrique Chi (on vocals, guitar and songwriting quill) and bassist brother Diego. Growing up in the suburbs of Kansas City, they routinely felt like outsiders; but they’d return to Panama and get teased as gringos. Rounded out by a Mexican percussionist and American drummer, they began fusing the here with the there: classic rock, blues rock, psychedelic and bits of punk with cumbia, salsa, mambo, Cubano and more.

Their endlessly energetic music has drawn raves from middle America to Central America and parts beyond — several chart-climbing albums on the Billboard Latin charts; a Grammy nod for a protest song with fellow Panamanian Rubén Blades; further collaborations with members of Los Lobos, Ozomatli, iconoclastic guitarist Marc Ribot and even the indie-folk group Hurray for the Riff Raff.

Their sound is dirty and shimmering, angry and joyful, rootsy and ethereal, intense and maravilloso. Look that Spanish word up, or just let Making Movies teach you what it means.

— Jason Markusoff