Music & Culture

Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor-Joy in the film The Menu.

What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend viewing, listening and reading

5:00pm December 30, 2022

Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: The Menu, dancer Kim Hale, "Girlfriend" by Matthew Sweet, Drink Masters and more.

'Weird Al' Yankovic wants to 'bring sexy back' to the accordion

1:21pm December 30, 2022

by Terry Gross

It's "a very sensual instrument," the parody artists insists. A new over-the-top "biopic" tells the story of Yankovic's life — sort of. Originally broadcast Nov. 16, 2022.

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Music & Culture

An appreciation of the work by some of the musicians who died in 2022

7:53am December 30, 2022

by A Martínez

Morning Edition presents a montage of some of the musicians who died in 2022.

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Works from 1927 are about to become part of the public domain

5:08am December 30, 2022

by Phil Harrell

Every new year a crop of books, music and films become part of the public domain in the U.S. Jennifer Jenkins of Duke University shares a few of the works from 1927 coming our way.

British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood waves to the audience after presenting her fashion collection at Milan Fashion Week in 2012. Westwood, an influential fashion maverick who played a key role in the punk movement, died Thursday at 81.

Vivienne Westwood, influential punk fashion maverick, dies at 81

9:48pm December 29, 2022

by The Associated Press

Westwood's fashion career began in the 1970s with the punk explosion, when her radical approach to urban street style took the world by storm.

Joey DeFrancesco arrives for the 60th Grammy Awards on January 28, 2018, in New York. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

Music & Culture

Jazz Night In America remembers the artists we've lost

5:38pm December 29, 2022

Jazz Night In America's video tribute to the artists lost in 2022.

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Music & Culture

Remembering cello player Abdul Wadud, and other jazz greats who died in 2022

1:17pm December 29, 2022

by Kevin Whitehead

Wadud, saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, organist Joey DeFrancesco, trombonist Grachan Moncur III, trumpeter Jaimie Branch and saxophonist Ronnie Cuber are among the notable musicians who died in 2022.

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Music & Culture

Lyrics from 'Blind' by hip-hop singer-songwriter SZA will stay with you

5:10am December 29, 2022

We asked music critic Kiana Fitzgerald, a frequent contributor to NPR Music: Was there a lyric from 2022 that stayed with you all year? She chose a line from the SZA song "Blind."

Burna Boy performs in Philadelphia, having brought his signature sound to the world.

The Burna Boy philosophy: 'Anybody not comfortable with my reality is not my fan'

5:01am December 29, 2022

Burna Boy opens up about his connection to his fans, his home, and the ways he makes sense of who he is as a person and who he is as a performer.

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Singer Theophilus London attends The Shops at Target event at the IAC Building on May 1, 2012 in New York. London's family has filed a missing persons report with Los Angeles police and are asking for the public's help to find him.

Theophilus London's family files a missing persons report for the rapper

11:07pm December 28, 2022

by The Associated Press

Theophilus London's family and friends believe someone last spoke to the missing musician in July in Los Angeles. Now they have filed a