Music News

Iowa City librarian Jason Paulios reviews recently donated CDs. Paulios says donations of old music give the library greater freedom to purchase new stuff, as well as license digital versions directly from smaller artists.

Music & Culture

A Unique Digital Music Service, For Locals Only

1:30pm August 28, 2013

by Clay Masters

Just as e-books have begun working their way into libraries, librarians are grappling with how to embrace digital music. At the Iowa City Public Library, an unusual licensing arrangement with local artists is having some success.

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The Renaissance Street Singers give a performance at the Winterdale Arch, near the West 81st Street gate in Central Park.

Music & Culture

Atheists Take Old Hymns Out Of The Chapel And Into The Streets

10:16am August 26, 2013

by Joel Rose

For 40 years, the Renaissance Street Singers have given free public performances of sacred music. But they insist that their mission is not religious in nature.

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The hook in Vanilla Ice's song "Ice Ice Baby" was based on a passage from "Under Pressure" by David Bowie and Queen, but the rapper denied the similarity at first.

Music & Culture

Haven't I Heard This Song Before?

9:12pm August 23, 2013

by Jacob Ganz

A pinch of melody, a dash of groove. Pop music is built on making a song sound just new enough to be intriguing. So what happens when one song sounds a little too familiar?

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The episode of Piano Jazz with Bill Evans was later issued as a commercial album.

Music & Culture

Marian McPartland, 'Piano Jazz' Host, Has Died

4:23pm August 21, 2013

by Felix Contreras

As the host of a weekly public radio program pairing conversation and duet performances, McPartland brought many jazz greats to an audience of millions. For more than 40 years, she offered an intimate perspective on the elusive topic of improvisation.

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Tupac Shakur on the set of Poetic Justice.

Music & Culture

20 Years Ago, Tupac Broke Through

7:37pm August 20, 2013

by Sami Yenigun

In January of 1993, Tupac Shakur was 21 years old. He was about to drop his contradictory second album, which would launch him to superstardom.

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If someone like Lang Lang were starting out now, the energetic concert pianist could nail every piano competition without the judges ever hearing a note, according to a new study.

How To Win That Music Competition? Send A Video

5:13am August 20, 2013

by Shankar Vedantam

A new study shows that judges base musical performances more on sight than on sound.

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Music & Culture

William Tyler Speaks 'Truth' Through His Guitar

7:35am August 18, 2013

by Clay Masters

After years spent working as a Nashville sideman, the 33-year-old guitarist is making his name as an instrumental soloist. While his songs lack lyrics, they're not short on backstory.

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Riad Abdel-Gawad creates new Sufi music by translating sacred chants to the violin.

Music & Culture

Sufi Mystics Get A Modern Soundtrack

7:35am August 18, 2013

by John Burnett

The ancient spiritual practice of Sufism incorporates all kinds of activities, including music, to achieve a state in which the practitioner loses the ego. Riad Abdel-Gawad creates new Sufi music by translating sacred chants to the violin.

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Sister Joseph Andrew Bogdanowicz (right), vicaress general and music director for Dominican Sisters of Mary. On the group's new album, she plays organ and composed three selections.

Music & Culture

Life As Prayer: The Singing Nuns Of Ann Arbor

6:31pm August 13, 2013

by John Burnett

In the cloistered world of classical music recordings, there is great interest in choral music by Catholic nuns these days. On Mater Eucharistiae, the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, are "able to bring other people into that space of prayer when we're singing."

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Music & Culture

Jack Clement Worked With Some Of Country Music's Best

5:45pm August 09, 2013

We remember recording producer Cowboy Jack Clements, who died Thursday in Nashville at the age of 82. In the 1950s, he helped record Elvis, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison when he worked at Sun Records in Memphis. He also discovered Jerry Lee Lewis and began a life-long friendship with Johnny Cash. Clement later provided the signature sound to one of Cash's biggest hits, "Ring of Fire."

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