Music & Culture

Meet Ray BLK, Britain's Rising Star

Rita Ekwere, also known as Ray BLK, is the first unsigned artist to win the BBC Sound Of poll. She tells NPR's Lakshmi Singh why it's important for her to highlight social justice issues in her music.
On gospel recordings such as 1987's One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, Aretha Franklin captured something sacred in the sound of black life.

The Sound Made Flesh

by Ashon Crawley

Franklin's gospel recordings presented black life itself as a sacred practice. On albums like Amazing Grace, she is less individual genius than willing instrument of the world that created her.
Aretha Franklin performs at the Fillmore West in San Francisco on March 5, 1971.

Aretha's Bridge

by Daphne A. Brooks

Amidst an instantly historic performance in 1971 that led to one of her best-known albums, Aretha Franklin's rendition of a single song carries inside it the weight of pop, soul and gospel history.