Music & Culture

Amanda Shires' new album is called Down Fell the Doves.

Music & Culture

Violinist Amanda Shires Picks Up The Pieces

6:38pm August 04, 2013

by NPR Staff

Shires has had a rough year: First she was sidelined by a broken finger, then her 150-year-old violin was broken while she looked on. She discusses her recovery and her new album, Down Fell The Doves.

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As kids, Jorma Taccone, Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer were all obsessed with hip-hop and TV shows like Yo! MTV Raps.

Music & Culture

Samberg, Taccone And Schaffer: Three's Not A Lonely Island

5:09pm August 04, 2013

As the brains behind the hip-hop parody group responsible for digital shorts like "D--- in a Box," Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer have produced some of the funniest Saturday Night Live material in recent memory. Here, they talk about comedy, Yo! MTV Raps and adolescence.

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Fred Onovwerosuoke founded the St. Louis African Chorus 20 years ago.

Music & Culture

Songs Of Africa: Beautiful Music With A Violent History

10:00am August 04, 2013

by Neda Ulaby

Part of understanding African sacred music means thinking about its colonial context. It's the music of oppressed people combined with the music of their oppressors. For decades, Fred Onovwerosuoke has collected and arranged this music for choral groups.

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British rockers Led Zeppelin pose in front of their private plane, dubbed "The Starship," in 1973.

On The Road To Rock Excess: Why The '60s Really Ended In 1973

9:58am August 04, 2013

by NPR Staff

In the new book What You Want Is in the Limo, author Michael Walker argues that a peak year in the careers of Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper and The Who also marked a cultural shift — from the peace, love and understanding of 1960-era music to '70s rock decadence.

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Music & Culture

The High, Heavenly Voice Of David Daniels

9:19am August 03, 2013

by NPR Staff

Daniels is one of the world's most celebrated countertenors: male vocalists who sing in a range usually associated with women. Hear a sneak preview from the new opera Oscar, starring the famous countertenor as Oscar Wilde.

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Cedric Mangum (left) leads a shout band as a junior member looks on.

Music & Culture

Shout Bands Stir Up Tubular Fervor In Charlotte

1:42pm August 02, 2013

by John Burnett

In the Bible, Psalm 150 tells the faithful to praise the Lord with trumpet, harp, tambourine, stringed instrument and cymbal. In the United House of Prayer for All People, it's all about the trombones. No one knows exactly how trombones ended up in church, but it's an intensely vocal sound.

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The Wu-Tang Clan. Clockwise from left: Ol' Dirty Bastard, the GZA, the RZA, Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah. Center, from left, Method Man and U-God.

Music & Culture

The Wu-Tang Clan's 20-Year Plan

2:26pm July 31, 2013

by Frannie Kelley

The group's 1993 debut was the opening shot of an audacious plan to open the music industry to hip-hop made way outside the mainstream.

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Adrian Younge (left) and Ghostface onstage at the Seattle stop of their tour last week.

Music & Culture

The Ghostface Killah Rises Again

2:26pm July 31, 2013

by Frannie Kelley

A high-concept collaborative album by a veteran rapper and a film composer knits together hip-hop and soul music.

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Dr. Dre (right) with Snoop Dogg, who played a starring role on Dre's The Chronic. Here they pose after a 1993 performance in Chicago.

Music & Culture

'The Chronic' 20 Years Later: An Audio Document Of The L.A. Riots

2:25pm July 31, 2013

by Frannie Kelley

Our series about rap's greatest year begins with the album that drew directly on cultural and social upheaval to make one of the most popular rap albums of all time.

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Maxwell's, in Hoboken, N.J., hosted Bruce Springsteen, Nirvana and the Replacements, to name a few.

Music & Culture

Maxwell's, The Beloved New Jersey Venue, Closes

5:32pm July 30, 2013

by Joel Rose

The club, which booked bands like R.E.M., the Replacements and Yo La Tengo before and after they hit the big time, is shutting down while "people still love us," says an owner.

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