In the eyes of bluegrass musician and advocate Jon Weisberger, the fight for his music's survival is not one between preservation and progress, but to ensure that both have a home in the genre.
In Brazil, there's been a resurgence of Tropicalia — the anti-authoritarian, anarchic music that emerged under the military junta of the 1960s. It's back and fused with rap and lyrics fighting for Brazil's poor and marginalized.
Many of the year's best challenged America's record on race, critiqued widespread cultural erasure, or broke conventions of genre, gender and identity within the space of rap itself.
You might think that Sánchez's Spanish-French-Cuban-Canadian-Israeli quintet would go haywire with so many rhythmic accents in play, but critic Kevin Whitehead says the composer pulls it all together.
His precise technique and big ears made him the "Michael Jordan" of his instrument. These days, he doesn't tour any more, but he's still making albums for his own label.