Music & Culture

Music & Culture

Meridian Brothers collaborate with an imaginary salsa band on new album

8:11am August 06, 2022

NPR's Scott Simon speaks to musician Eblis Alvarez about his new album, "Meridian Brothers and El Grupo Renacimiento." It's an imaginary collaboration with a fake 1970s Colombia salsa band.

Music & Culture

Her father's wartime piano accompanied joyful moments

8:11am August 06, 2022

by Scott Simon

Loretta Berning remembers her father and a cherished Victory Vertical piano made during World War II for our StoryCorps Military Voices Initiative.

Deaton Chris Anthony reconfigures the sound of nostalgia

4:57pm August 05, 2022

by Miguel Perez

The new album from Deaton Chris Anthony, Sid the Kid, conjures a glitchy, abrasive, digital nostalgia from his childhood in Kansas.

Music & Culture

Maggie Björklund, 'Lysglimt'

4:41pm August 05, 2022

by Lars Gotrich

The Danish pedal steel guitarist's "Lysglimt" truly stokes the imagination's fire.

Music & Culture

'Renaissance' places Beyoncé at the very center of pop music right now

1:26pm August 05, 2022

by Ken Tucker

The escapist aesthetic of Renaissance is its own kind of statement — Beyoncé's way of asserting the primacy of Black musical forms throughout American pop history.

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Remembering Irish musician and folklorist Mick Moloney

1:26pm August 05, 2022

by Terry Gross

Moloney recorded or produced more than 70 albums of Irish music and is credited with bringing traditional Irish music to a wider audience. He died July 27. Originally broadcast in 2006 and 2009.

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Music & Culture

What if you were forced to listen to 'It's a Small World' for an hour straight?

6:25am August 05, 2022

Disney World's "It's a Small World" ride broke down and dozens of people were stuck on their boats listening to animatronic characters sing to them over and over. One person said it was like torture.