Music & Culture

Music & Culture

Remembering Sylvia Moy And Her Contributions To R&B

4:49pm December 29, 2017

Sylvia Moy is one of the notable people who died in 2017. Moy contributed greatly to American R&B music. She was the producer who helped Stevie Wonder continue his career at Motown after his voice changed.

Leon Ware attends the 2016 ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on June 23, 2016 in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Music & Culture

In Memoriam 2017: The Musicians We Lost

2:59pm December 29, 2017

From virtuoso players and visionary composers to charismatic bandleaders and golden-eared producers, explore the musical voices who left us this year.

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People in front of the Bataclan during ceremonies across Paris marking the second anniversary of the terror attacks of November 13, 2015.

Music & Culture

French Network Postpones Romance Film Set Against Backdrop Of A Terrorist Attack

1:31pm December 29, 2017

by Andrew Flanagan

The premiere of the project, produced by the France 2 channel, has been put on hold until producers can consult families and survivors of the Bataclan music hall attack that killed 90 people.

Back To The Basics - Musical Form

1:29pm December 29, 2017

Peter goes "Big Picture" with an exploration of just about every composer's most important building block: musical form.

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Amelia Randall Meath and Nicholas Sanborn of Sylvan Esso perform at the NPR Music showcase during 2017's SXSW.

Music & Culture

30 Must-Read (Or Must-Revisit) NPR Music Articles From 2017

11:18am December 29, 2017

by Andrew Flanagan

The mystery of a "missing" classic rocker, a record collector who desires just one album, Austrians who bungled their way to celebrity, a fake genre we invented ... the gang's all here.

Wayne Shorter performs at the 2017 Detroit Jazz Festival.

Music & Culture

Wayne Shorter: Artist In Residence At The Detroit Jazz Festival

5:10pm December 28, 2017

by Nate Chinen

This episode focuses on a highlight of the saxophonist's banner year: the time he spent as artist in residence at the Detroit Jazz Festival.

Left to right: Jon Weisberger, Chris Jones and Ned Luberecki perform at the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2015.

Music & Culture

A Bigger Tent: A Frank Conversation About Diversity And The Future Of Bluegrass

4:57pm December 28, 2017

by Jewly Hight

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.

Tropicalia Music Still Speaks To Young Marginalized Urban Brazilians

4:39pm December 28, 2017

by Philip Reeves

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.

Music & Culture

Across the Blue Ridge #106 - Wayne Henderson & Presley Barker, Guitar Wizards

4:00pm December 28, 2017

by Paul Brown

We kick off the new year with a great selection of old time and bluegrass songs and tunes.

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Music & Culture

21 Hip-Hop Albums That Reflected The Politics Of Race, Space And Place In 2017

3:07pm December 28, 2017

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.