Kaina's 'It Was A Home' samples the mood and music of her childhood
NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Kaina about her new album, It Was A Home. Much of it serves as a tribute to her family and the home she grew up in in Chicago.
Music
For Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, there are no rules to composing for film
Greenwood is nominated for an Oscar for writing the music for The Power of the Dog. He also recently scored Spencer and Licorice Pizza. Originally broadcast Feb. 7, 2022.
Entries We Love: Grace Blackford, 'After Every Dark Night'
Five-time Tiny Desk Contest entrant Grace Blackford returns to share a powerful reflection on grief and growth.
Entries We Love: Allison Mahal, 'Autopilot'
Allison Mahal's soothing vocals are a bittersweet contrast to the melancholy of the song in her Tiny Desk Contest entry.
Entries We Love: WillMattSam, 'Lemon Zinger'
With warmth, humor and a compelling list of lemonade alternatives, this trio's Tiny Desk Contest entry, "Lemon Zinger," manages to turn some lemons into pretty good lemonade.
On 'PAINLESS,' Nilüfer Yanya doesn't play nice
The singer-songwriter's second album is sparing and remarkably tough, weighted by an instrumental sound that matches Yanya's darker impulses and solidifies her status as a bona fide rock star.
As performing artists denounce or stay allied with Putin, history offers some lessons
While Russian artists and institutions grapple with how they are viewed internationally, American cultural organizations make what amounts to foreign policy decisions.
New opera teaches a classical music class in the ongoing fight for civil rights
Tamar-kali, who composed the music for Mudbound and Shirley, has a new project: an opera that you can watch online.
Anna Netrebko, a Russian star tied to Putin, is out at the Metropolitan Opera
The famed New York opera house said Thursday that the soprano will not appear there this season or next, after she declined to distance herself from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Entries We Love: florid, 'mirror flower'
This Tiny Desk Contest entry is full of poetic lyrics, but the artist who performs as florid could quiet a crowded room just by singing the word "of."