Music

Connie Britton (pictured) and Hayden Panetierre star as country singers of different generations on the ABC series Nashville.

Music & Culture

'Nashville' Soundtrack Stands On Its Own

2:08pm January 09, 2013

by Ken Tucker

A new album of original songs from the Golden Globe-nominated TV series about Music City reflects the tastes of the show's musical producer, T-Bone Burnett, as well as the vocal talents of stars Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere.

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Rapper Amkoullel had one of his songs banned by Mali's government, which controls the southern part of the country. It's even worse in the north, where militants linked to al-Qaida have outlawed virtually all music.

Music & Culture

Despite Censorship, Mali's Musicians Play On

6:47pm January 08, 2013

by Tamasin Ford

Last year in Mali, militants linked to al-Qaida took control of the northern part of the country. They have banned all music except for Quranic verse — but some artists are finding ways to fight back.

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Bikini Kill performs in Washington, D.C., in the 1990s.

Music & Culture

Bikini Kill Rises Again, No Less Relevant

4:24pm January 08, 2013

by Sarah Ventre

The punk group that helped define the riot grrrl movement of the early 1990s hasn't reunited — but its members have teamed up to give those who weren't listening the first time around a second chance to appreciate the music and the message.

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars in the science-fiction thriller Looper.

Music & Culture

'Looper': A World Of Musical Clicks And Pops

2:19pm January 08, 2013

by NPR Staff

The score of the time-travel thriller has little in common with the slick orchestral scores of science-fiction classics. Composer Nathan Johnson found his source material by immersing himself in the sounds of the film.

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Joe Barry was a pioneer of "swamp-pop" in the early 1960s.

Music & Culture

The Unsung Pioneer Of Louisiana Swamp-Pop

1:50pm January 08, 2013

by Ed Ward

In the early 1960s, Joe Barry combined Cajun and country music into a whole new sound. In honor of a new anthology of Barry's music titled A Fool to Care, critic Ed Ward tells the forgotten musician's story.

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John Schlesinger's 1971 film Sunday Bloody Sunday has just been released on Blu-ray. The film's complex love triangle starred Peter Finch, Murray Head and Glenda Jackson.

Mozart's Starring Role In 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'

1:35pm January 07, 2013

by Lloyd Schwartz

The 1971 John Schlesinger film, recently released on Blu-ray, tells the story of a love triangle and makes moving use of a trio from the opera Cosi fan tutte as the film's musical theme.

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Professor Longhair performs at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, circa 1970.

Music & Culture

Preserving The Home, And History, Of New Orleans' Piano Professor

2:10pm January 05, 2013

by Gwen Thompkins

Any New Orleans piano player worth his fingers owes a debt to Henry Roeland Byrd, aka Professor Longhair. The late musician's home is still standing on Terpsichore Street, but it's in serious disrepair.

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Music & Culture

Emel Mathlouthi: Voice Of The Tunisian Revolution

9:59am January 05, 2013

by Betto Arcos

With all that's going on in the Middle East now, it's easy to forget that the Arab Spring began just two years ago in Tunisia. A video of one of Mathlouthi's songs went viral and became an anthem for protesters in her homeland during the December 2010 uprising. Her debut album is out now.

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Music & Culture

Remembering 'Rescue Me' Singer Fontella Bass

12:04pm January 04, 2013

Bass died on Dec. 27, 2012. We'll listen back to a Fresh Air interview from March 1995, in which she spoke about performing at funeral homes as a girl in St. Louis and how secular music wasn't allowed in her childhood home.

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The singer Skin of Skunk Anansie performs at Brixton Academy in London last month. She wrote the foreword to Laina Dawes' What Are You Doing Here?: A Black Woman's Life and Liberation in Heavy Metal.

The 'Life And Liberation' Of A Black Female Metal Fan

10:15am January 04, 2013

by NPR Staff

Writer Laina Dawes has loved heavy metal ever since she got her first Kiss album at age 8. But the metal community hasn't always loved her back, as she explains in her book What Are You Doing Here?

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