Music

Folk Music Shares African Tradition Of People Being Able To Fly

February 21, 2020 - 5:15pm

Folk music in the past and present has preserved the memories of enslaved peoples, shared their stories of longing and taking action for freedom and inspired the current work toward human rights and social justice.

Round Two

February 21, 2020 - 11:30am

As a student at the Paris Conservatory, Hector Berlioz had experienced at least one run-in with its feisty director, Luigi Cherubini. In his autobiography, Berlioz tells of a second encounter.

He had applied for a professorship of harmony at the Conservatory and received word that Cherubini wanted to see him....

Inside Sajaegi, K-Pop's Open Secret

February 21, 2020 - 10:30am

Last fall, Malvo, an indie K-pop artist, was walking to the parking lot after a long day. He had just finished a show at a university festival near Seoul, South Korea. In the lot, a middle-aged man approached the musician, saying he had a "marketing opportunity" for Malvo and...

City Scenes: Inside The History Of A Storied Kansas City Venue

February 21, 2020 - 9:30am

Frank Hicks' initial plan was to open a motorcycle repair shop and parts business, a side job to the body shop he ran down in East Bottoms — an outpost along the Missouri River marked with train tracks, warehouses and industrial businesses in Kansas City, Mo.

To attract more...

The Lessons To Be Learned From Forcing Plants To Play Music

February 21, 2020 - 5:00am

The music sounds, at first, like it belongs in a power yoga studio: electronic and rhythmic, rising and falling like breaths. But then a higher pitch juts into the mix, and the strains of sound diverge, becoming faster-paced and a bit more like electronic dance music. The rise and swell...

Chris Dave And The Drumhedz: Tiny Desk Concert

February 21, 2020 - 4:00am

"If you've never been to a Drumhedz show... ...we're gonna take you on a quick journey as if you're going through a record store," Chris Dave told the NPR Music offices at the top of his set, "picking up different genres of music and putting it in your bag."...

The Portent

February 20, 2020 - 11:30am

Because it was politically sensitive, Giuseppe Verdi’s new opera Un ballo in maschera made the Italian censors nervous. They forced Verdi to change the action to someplace farther from home.

He chose seventeenth-century Boston. The King of Sweden became the Governor of Boston.

When Un ballo in maschera came to...

Alt.Latino Playlist: The Changing Seasons Of Life And Love

February 20, 2020 - 10:01am

Listen to this playlist on Spotify or Apple Music.

We're either in for an early spring here in Washington, D.C., or the unseasonably warm weather is just a fake-out before the snow rolls in. Either way, it's a good enough reason to turn to music that inspires...

Archers Of Loaf Returns With 'Raleigh Days,' Its First Song In Over 20 Years

February 20, 2020 - 9:00am

When Archers of Loaf reunited in 2011 for a series of shows, members of the '90s indie-rock band looked downright elated onstage. Eric Bachmann, in particular, fed off the energy of the crowd with a giddiness that contrast his gruff exterior. But rather than blithely dive into the...

From Their Desks To Ours: Tiny Desk Concerts From Our 5 Tiny Desk Contest Winners

February 20, 2020 - 9:00am

In 2014, we created a music contest in hopes of discovering unknown artists we otherwise might not get to hear. Each year since, thousands of unsigned musicians from across the country have sent us videos of themselves performing their original songs in true NPR Music fashion: behind a desk. Our...

The Po' Ramblin' Boys On Mountain Stage

February 20, 2020 - 8:00am

Birthed in the shadow of Dollywood at the tourist mecca that is Ole Smoky Moonshine Distillery in Gatlinburg, Tenn., The Po' Ramblin' Boys play a spirited and aged brand of straight-ahead, Monroe-style bluegrass.

Driving a 1965 GM tour bus, the fast and furious five-person band (whose members...

All Ears: Some New Ways To Hear Distortion

February 20, 2020 - 6:00am

The acorn must crack in order for the seedling to sprout. That's the energy I felt when I saw Rashad Becker, a German mastering engineer and artist, perform his own music live at London's multi-venue MODE Festival back in September. The setting was a gutted building in the middle...

Synonymous With Soul, Percy Sledge Transcended The Muscle Shoals Sound

February 20, 2020 - 4:02am

Morning Edition's series One-Hit Wonders / Second-Best Songs focuses on musicians or bands whose careers in the United States are defined by a single monster hit, and explains why their catalogs have much more to offer.

In this edition, NPR Music's Senior Director, Lauren Onkey, argues on behalf of...

Elisapie: Tiny Desk Concert

February 20, 2020 - 4:00am

Watching Elisapie perform, her intensity is undeniable. I feel it in her gaze, in her deep, soulful bellow. Elisapie is a Canadian singer and songwriter born in Salluit, on the northern tip of Quebec. Her lyrics, most often sung in her native Inuktitut as well as English and French, touch...

Musician Plays Her Violin During Brain Surgery

February 19, 2020 - 6:37pm

As doctors in London performed surgery on Dagmar Turner's brain, the sound of a violin filled the operating room.

The music came from the patient on the operating table. In a video from the surgery, the violinist moves her bow up and down as surgeons behind a plastic...

Pop Smoke, Rising New York Rapper, Dead At 20

February 19, 2020 - 3:42pm

Bashar Jackson, better known as the Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke, died Wednesday morning in Los Angeles during what appeared to be a home invasion. He was 20 years old.

While the Los Angeles Police Department would not identify Jackson by name as the victim in Wednesday morning's shooting, NPR...

Broken Windows

February 19, 2020 - 11:30am

On February 20, 1816, a combination of miscalculations and mishaps had brought about a disastrous debut for Rossini’s operaThe Barber of Seville. At the end of the contentious first act, Rossini sat at the piano and applauded the singers, but some in the audience thought he was praising his own opera, which made...

Still Saving The Day: The Most Influential Dance Party In History Turns 50

February 19, 2020 - 11:05am

It started somewhat humbly on Saturday, Feb. 14, 1970. Valentine's Day.

David Mancuso, a 25-year-old upstate-to-New-York transplant, was in need of money to pay the landlord of his downtown Manhattan loft, not yet The Loft, at 647 Broadway. A rent party, in the tradition of Great Migration-era Harlem sessions...

Madison McFerrin's Hypnotic Music Will Pull You In

February 19, 2020 - 10:56am

Madison McFerrin is almost like a hypnotist: She creates expansive, atmospheric grooves that grow and bloom, layer by layer. It's the kind of music pulls you in before you even realize just how much is going on. And she does it all with just her laptop, a loop station...

In 'Counterpoint' Bach Helps An Art Critic Mourn A Mother Whose Criticism Lingers

February 19, 2020 - 8:44am

How can one mourn a parent whose harsh judgments frame childhood? This question haunts Philip Kennicott's Counterpoint: A Memoir of Bach and Mourning.

Kennicott is the Washington Post's senior art and architecture critic. His book poses a second, equally challenging set of questions. "What does it mean to truly...

Menu

Listen Live

Program Schedule

Program Notes

Program Schedule

Music Playlists

Program Schedule

Music Playlists

Folk Music Shares African Tradition Of People Being Able To Fly

Round Two

Inside Sajaegi, K-Pop's Open Secret

City Scenes: Inside The History Of A Storied Kansas City Venue

The Lessons To Be Learned From Forcing Plants To Play Music

Chris Dave And The Drumhedz: Tiny Desk Concert

The Portent

Alt.Latino Playlist: The Changing Seasons Of Life And Love

Archers Of Loaf Returns With 'Raleigh Days,' Its First Song In Over 20 Years

From Their Desks To Ours: Tiny Desk Concerts From Our 5 Tiny Desk Contest Winners

The Po' Ramblin' Boys On Mountain Stage

All Ears: Some New Ways To Hear Distortion

Synonymous With Soul, Percy Sledge Transcended The Muscle Shoals Sound

Elisapie: Tiny Desk Concert

Musician Plays Her Violin During Brain Surgery

Pop Smoke, Rising New York Rapper, Dead At 20

Broken Windows

Still Saving The Day: The Most Influential Dance Party In History Turns 50

Madison McFerrin's Hypnotic Music Will Pull You In

In 'Counterpoint' Bach Helps An Art Critic Mourn A Mother Whose Criticism Lingers

Search form

The Ideas Network

Program Schedule

Program Notes

NPR News & Classical Network

Program Schedule

Music Playlists

All Classical Network

Program Schedule

Music Playlists

Subscribe To WPR Newsletters