Music & Culture

Music & Culture

Pandemic Promotes Unexpected Music Collaborations

5:37pm January 04, 2021

by Clay Masters

The pandemic has affected many musicians' lives. While they've been forced off busy touring schedules and out of concert halls, some have completed projects for which they needed some extra time.

Music & Culture

U.K. Man Gets Carried Away While Watching Celine Dion TV Concert

6:08am January 04, 2021

Thomas Dodd was enjoying the show with a few drinks. A couple days later, some unexpected mail arrived. He doesn't remember the details, but he apparently legally changed his name to Celine Dion.

Music & Culture

The Music Of The Northern Lights

7:47am January 03, 2021

Alaskan-born composer Matthew Burtner has recorded the sound of the northern lights and created a piece of music called Auroras.

Queue Listen Now

Music & Culture

The Best Music From 2020

7:47am January 03, 2021

by Felix Contreras

Alt.Latino host Felix Contreras looks back at some of the best music released in 2020.

Dale Ann Bradley (left), Tina Adair, Gena Britt and Deanie Richardson (center) of the bluegrass band Sister Sadie do their impression of the rock band Queen.

Music & Culture

Bluegrass Band Sister Sadie Embodies Tradition, But Bends It Too

12:17pm January 01, 2021

by Jewly Hight

This fall, the bluegrass supergroup Sister Sadie became the first all-female band ever to win the top prize at the International Bluegrass Music Association awards.

Queue Listen Now

MF DOOM, who always performed behind his signature mask, told NPR in in 2003, "The music first, then everything else."

Music & Culture

MF DOOM, Intricate And Enigmatic Rapper And Producer, Dead At 49

7:32am January 01, 2021

by Lars Gotrich

Daniel Dumile, the rapper and producer best known as MF DOOM, died Oct. 31, according to Facebook message posted Thursday by his wife.

Rapper And Producer MF DOOM Dead At 49

7:02am January 01, 2021

by Andrew Limbong

The enigmatic rapper MF DOOM has died, according to a statement from his wife posted onto social media. Doom was known for his multiple personas and love of wordplay.

Queue Listen Now

John Lennon (by Steve Morley), Tracy Chapman (by Bryan Bedder), Simon & Garfunkel (by David Redfern)

Music & Culture

Here's To New Beginnings: A Playlist For 2021

5:00am January 01, 2021

by Raina Douris

Congratulations! You made it! Now that 2020 is over and 2021 has begun, here's a playlist that's about the hope of a new day.

John Prine performs in California in 2014.

Music & Culture

In Memoriam 2020: The Musicians We Lost

3:03pm December 31, 2020

The sheer volume of loss felt by the music world in 2020 is almost overwhelming. Here is NPR's tribute to dozens of the musicians — founders and innovators across genres — who died this year.

Queue Listen Now

A shot of jazz pianist Claude Bolling and friends, taken on a beach in Cannes, France in 1969.

Pianist Claude Bolling, Creator Of Popular Jazz/Classical Suites, Has Died

1:57pm December 31, 2020

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

The French jazz pianist was best known for his 1975 collaboration with classical flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal. It stayed on the Billboard charts for more than ten years.