Music Archives | Northwest Public Broadcasting

A Melting Pot Of Traditions: Violinist Regina Carter Talks With Lara Downes

By NPR News April 11, 2021

When Duke Ellington famously coined the phrase "beyond category," he was talking about freedom — of choice, of expression, of belonging. He meant following your heart and your instincts into an artistic territory without borders. And that's the place where violinist Regina Carter makes her home. Read More

Northwest Native Brandi Carlile Talks Ambition, Avoidance And Finally Finding Her Place

By NPR News April 7, 2021

"Queer people love country music," singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile says. "... We just don't think that it's going to open its doors to us. And when it does, it's wildly satisfying." Austin Hargrave/AUGUST

Growing up poor in Washington state, singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile learned about harmony and rhythm while performing as a backup singer for a friend's dad, who worked as an Elvis impersonator. Continue Reading Northwest Read More

‘We Will Never Break’: In Iraq, A Yazidi Women’s Choir Keeps Ancient Music Alive

By NPR News April 6, 2021

Rana Sulaiman Halo (center), performs with a traditional daf drum with the Ashti (Peace) Choir. Emily Garthwaite/INSTITUTE for NPR

With its dirt roads and drab dwellings, the camp can be a bleak place. But the beat of a daf, a drum sacred to Yazidis, throbs underneath loud, energetic singing, rising over shouts of children in a trash-strewn playground. Continue Read More

Tina Turner’s Life Explored In New Documentary

By NPR News March 30, 2021

Tina Turner and her children, photographed in 1967. Courtesy of HBO

Near the end of HBO's new documentary, Tina, the movie implies the legendary singer has made a decision: after this film rolls out, Tina Turner just might be done appearing in public and talking about her life. It's an odd message, coming from a woman whose life story and experiences have inspired at least four books, an Oscar-nominated biopic, a Broadway musical and, now, Read More

Bach’s Favorite Instrument You’ve Probably Never Heard Of: The Long-Lost Lautenwerck

By NPR News March 28, 2021

Johann Sebastian Bach playing the organ, not the lautenwerck, circa 1725. From a print in the British Museum. Rischgitz/Getty Images

No lautenwerks survived the 19th century. Picture extremely delicate harpsichords — in fact, lautenwercks are alternately called lute-harpsichords. Their strings are made of guts, originally from sheep (like lutes), which gives lautenwercks a warm, intimate tone distinct from brassy, metal-strung harpsichords. Read More

Women’s History Music Moment: Mary Terey-Smith

By NWPB Music March 19, 2021

The conductor Mary Terey-Smith made music history here in the Pacific Northwest, as a result of a political revolution half a world away. This Hungarian-born music talent, student of Kodaly at the legendary Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, hadn’t been out in the working world very long when the 1956 Hungarian Revolution turned her into a refugee. Read More

On A Remote Island, A Music School Flourishes

By NPR News March 15, 2021

As pianist Mahani Teave was poised to launch her international career, she remembered the moment when the first piano arrived on her remote island. It was 1992, she was nine years old and the instrument landed on Rapa Nui, or Easter Island as it was named by Europeans. Best known for its mysterious, sentinel-like stone statues, the island lies some 2000 miles off the coast Read More

With Her Recording Series ‘Rising Sun,’ Lara Downes Re-Centers Black Composers

By NPR News March 9, 2021

Lara Downes. Her recent album, Phenomenal Women, featured recordings of compositions by Black female composers whose legacies have been overlooked by the classical establishment. CREDIT: Max Barrett/Courtesy of the artist

Lara Downes will release a mini-album every month, for as long as she can keep it up, to highlight overlooked and forgotten compositions by Black artists in the classical music tradition. In honor of Women's History Month, its latest entry focuses on some overlooked and under-appreciated bodies of work by women composers and performers. Read More

Gustavo Dudamel And L.A. Philharmonic Reunite For Socially Distanced Virtual Concert Series

By NPR News March 5, 2021

Gustavo Dudamel during a press conferece on Sept. 30, 2009 in LA, around the time he was named the music director of the LA Philharmonic. Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images

The concerts the LA Phil recorded last summer and fall are featured on the Sound/Stage series, which streams on its website. The first season opened with an episode called "Love in the Time of COVID," complete with overhead shots of the lonely Hollywood Bowl and Los Angeles, and a reading of a Pablo Neruda poem. Read More

Andra Day On Portraying Billie Holiday’s Signature Voice And Power

By PBS Newshour March 4, 2021

Andra Day portrays Billie Holiday in "The United States versus Billie Holiday" movie

Andra Day’s performance in the film earned the singer the Golden Globe for best actress in a drama. She is the second Black performer to ever win the award, following Whoopi Goldberg’s win in the category in 1985 for “The Color Purple.” Continue Read More

Bunny Wailer, Iconic Reggae Singer And Wailers Co-Founder, Has Died At Age 73

By NPR News March 2, 2021

Bunny Wailer photographed in London in 1988. CREDIT: David Corio/Redferns/Getty Images

Singer, songwriter and percussionist Bunny Wailer, an icon of reggae music, died in Kingston, Jamaica, on Tuesday morning. He was 73 years old. Wailer was a founding member of The Wailers, alongside Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. Continue Read More

Why We’re Drawn To Billie Holliday’s Story

By NPR News February 27, 2021

Singer Billie Holiday records her penultimate album "Lady in Satin" at the Columbia Records studio in New York City, in 1957. CREDIT: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

All the lights in the house would go dark. The wait staff would turn still. The audience, often largely white, would either wait, in discomfort, or leave, knowing what was to come. On stage, a single spotlight illuminated the jazz artist’s face. And then Holiday, the glamorous jazz singer, would end her set with “Strange Fruit,” a song of protest against lynchings. There Read More

Why A Musician Breathed New Life Into A 17,000-Year-Old Conch Shell Horn

By NPR News February 14, 2021

An artist's rendition of the conch of Marsoulas being played in a cave where it was found by researchers in the early 20th Century. CREDIT: G. Tosello

A horn made from a conch shell over 17,000 years ago has blasted out musical notes for the first time in millennia. Archaeologists originally found the seashell in 1931, in a French cave that contains prehistoric wall paintings. They speculated that the cave's past occupants had used the shell as a ceremonial cup for shared drinks, and that a hole in its tip was just Read More

Remembering Flory Jagoda, Who Preserved Sephardic Jewish Music And Language

By NPR News February 12, 2021

Singer and instrumentalist Flory Jagoda (left) performing with viola da gamba player Heather Spence at an event in Potomac, Md. in 2012. Jagoda died on Jan. 29. CREDIT: Dayna Smith/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Singer, songwriter, guitarist and accordionist Flory Jagoda worked hard to preserve the music and language she inherited from her Sephardic Jewish ancestors in her adopted American home. Named a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2002, she died on Jan. 29 at age 97 in Alexandria, Va. at a long-term memory care facility, according to an Read More

Chick Corea, Jazz Fusion Pioneer, Has Died Of Cancer At 79

By NPR News February 11, 2021

Chick Corea, seen here performing in Turin, Italy in 2018, died Feb. 9. Giorgio Perottino/Getty Images for OGR

The keyboardist, composer and bandleader Chick Corea — one of the most revered figures in contemporary jazz, but whose work spanned fusion to classical — died on Feb. 9 at age 79. Continue Reading Chick Corea, Jazz Fusion Pioneer, Has Died Of Cancer At Read More

‘Sisters With Transistors’ Highlights Pioneers Of Electronic Music

By NPR News February 10, 2021

Maryanne Amacher, an artist and composer, is one of the women featured in the new documentary Sisters with Transistors. CREDIT: Peggy Weil/Courtesy of the artist

In the 1920s, the Russian physicist Leon Theremin debuted an electronic instrument that could be played without any physical contact. Players stood in front of a box and waved their hands over antennas, summoning otherworldly sounds seemingly from thin air. The theremin might have been regarded as a passing novelty if not for the late Clara Rockmore, a virtuoso who helped Read More

Mary Wilson, Founding Member Of The Supremes, Dies At 76

By NPR News February 9, 2021

Mary Wilson, one of the co-founders of The Supremes, died Monday at the age of 76, her publicist announced. Wilson "passed away suddenly" at her Henderson, Nev., home, the singer's longtime friend and publicist Jay Schwartz said in a statement. No cause of death was given. Read More

Dolly Parton Says She Turned Down Presidential Medal Of Freedom — Twice

By NPR News February 2, 2021

Last fall, former President Barack Obama told Stephen Colbert that he was "shocked" Dolly Parton hadn't gotten a Presidential Medal of Freedom during his time in office. "That was a screwup," he said. "I think I assumed she had already got one." Read More

New Music Mix: Margo Price, The Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Hand Habits, More

By NPR News January 27, 2021

Clockwise from upper left: Margo Price, Anna Fox Rochinski, Miss Grit, Anna B Savage, Daníel Bjarnason, Hand Habits Courtesy of the artists

From Hand Habits to a violin concerto that includes whistling, this week's All Songs Considered has some surprises along the way. Hand Habits is the music of Meg Duffy. On their new EP dirt, we hear the climactic tune "4th of July," filled with Meg's intriguing guitar. It was also the guitar that attracted me to Miss Grit, the music of Korean American Margaret Sohn. She Read More

When The Giants Of Indian Classical Music Collided With Psychedelic San Francisco

By NPR News January 23, 2021

Tabla player Zakir Hussain (left) accompanies sarod player Ali Akbar Khan and his wife and collaborator Mary Khan. Courtesy of the Owsley Stanley Foundation

Since his first American concert, Zakir Hussain has become perhaps the most famous tabla player in the world. He now lives in California, and he says it was this performance 50 years ago that showed him that Indian classical music could be played in the West in its purest form. "It really set the tone of how I would present myself to my fellow musicians — whoever I was Read More

What Is The Sound Of Grief? Composer Osvaldo Golijov Puts It To Music

By NPR News January 19, 2021

Composer Osvaldo Golijov (second from right) and three of his colleagues on Falling Out of Time: vocalists Wu Tong, Nora Fischer and Biella da Costa. CREDIT: David O'Connor/Courtesy of the artists

Osvaldo Golijov is a MacArthur "genius" composer who's written for Yo-Yo Ma, Kronos Quartet and soprano Dawn Upshaw. But in 2012, he was accused of plagiarism, and he disappeared from the scene. Only now, nearly a decade later, is Golijov reemerging — with a work that could not have a more timely subject: it's a meditation on grieving and loss. Read More

Betto Arcos Shares The Power Of Community In ‘Music Stories From The Cosmic Barrio’

By NPR News January 18, 2021

Music journalist Betto Arcos gathers his favorite reports from prolific career in Music Stories from the Cosmic Barrio. Erik Esparza/Courtesy of the author

For over a decade, arts journalist Betto Arcos has been a familiar voice to public radio listeners, bringing them the sounds of the world — be it from a samba school in Rio or an amphitheater in Colombia, profiling artists who play unusual instruments or create cross-cultural mashups. More than 140 of those reports are collected in his new book, Music Stories from the Read More

Labess Shows Music Has No Boundaries With This Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

By NPR News January 16, 2021

This Algerian and Canadian band proves that music has no boundaries even in times of isolation. Recording its set from France and Colombia, Labess blends flamenco and Gypsy jazz-influenced North African chaabi into energetic soul music with a nonstop beat. Read More

NPR’s Classical Music Editor Previews 2 Albums You’ll Want To Hear

By NPR News January 13, 2021

Baritone Will Liverman's upcoming album is devoted to Black composers past and present. CREDIT: Cedille records

In 2021, I'm looking forward to, fingers crossed, live music. I really miss the roar of a symphony orchestra in concert or a soaring soprano on the opera stage. But artists are still making albums, even in lockdown, like British composer Max Richter. His upcoming album is a follow-up to last year's Voices. This new one is Voices, Part 2 which will be released in April. Read More

Car Concerts Offer Choirs A Way To Rehearse And Perform During The Pandemic

By NPR News January 11, 2021

Tim Shantz conducts Luminous Voices' first car concert on Oct. 4, 2020. Kenton Smith

For members of Luminous Voices, a professional choir ensemble in Alberta, Canada, rehearsing and performing safely during the pandemic has meant getting into their cars, driving to an empty parking lot and singing with each other's voices broadcast through their car radios. Read More

Lil Nas X Says Children Are His Core Audience Right Now, And That’s OK

By NPR News January 5, 2021

Lil Nas X, the Grammy-winner behind "Old Town Road," has written and released his first children's book, C Is for Country. Kayla Reefer/Courtesy of the artist

A little boy decked out in a pink rhinestone cowboy outfit travels around a farm and points out things that bring him joy. "A is for adventure. Every day is a brand new start. B is for boots — whether they're big or small, short or tall. C is for country," the story goes. This is the basic premise of the new kids book C Is for Country written by Lil Nas X, the Read More

101 Songs You Turned To In 2020 To Help Navigate A Tumultuous Year

By PBS Newshour January 3, 2021

"It sounds like a friend now instead of an enemy," John Prine says of his singing voice.

As 2020 came to a close, we asked artists and authors about the songs that helped them survive a strange and devastating year. We also posed that question to you, and compiled a playlist of 101 songs that you played over and over again this year. Some songs offered an escape. Some infused joy and despair. Read More

Music And Mayhem: A Diary Of Classical Albums For A Troubled 2020

By NWPB News January 3, 2021

The dance of death, an ancient image that inspired Thomas Adès to compose his Totentanz. CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons

While streams dominated this chaotic, sorrowful year, musicians continued to lay down official statements in the form of albums. And as the pandemic exploded, the economy cracked, the protests thundered and politics grew even more partisan, the arresting albums listed below became the soundtrack to my 2020 – the best in troubled times. In the order they were released are Read More

You Might Be Ready To Forget 2020. This Short Film with ‘Auld Lang Syne’ Reminds Why You Shouldn’t

By NPR News January 1, 2021

Produced by a diverse group of filmmakers assembled by 1504, a studio based in Birmingham, Ala., For The Sake Of Old Times pairs the performance of "Auld Lang Syne" with archival footage from 2020, particularly of the summer's racial justice protests. Read More

In Memoriam: Musicians We Lost In 2020

By NPR News December 31, 2020

John Prine performs in California in 2014. CREDIT: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

We lost icons in every genre: founders and innovators and steadfast traditionalists. The world of jazz, so reliant upon elders to anchor its constantly developing notion of history and legacy, bore an especially heavy burden. Continue Reading In Memoriam: Musicians We Read More

‘Brother Robert’ Book Reveals True Story Of Growing Up With Blues Legend Robert Johnson

By NPR News December 29, 2020

Blues legend Robert Johnson has been mythologized as a backwoods loner, his talent the result of selling his soul to the devil. Wrong and wrong again, according to Johnson's younger stepsister, who lives in Amherst, Mass. She tells his true story in Brother Robert: Growing Up with Robert Johnson, a memoir about growing up with her brother she published in June. Read More

Cello Plus Piano Equals Jan Vogler, Alessio Bax And Beethoven For A Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

By NPR News December 28, 2020

For this Tiny Desk (home) concert, we pay a visit to the doctor's office. Actually, the venue is called Rare Violins of New York and it's something of a second home to cellist Jan Vogler, who pops in frequently to have the experts give his 1708 Stradivarius cello a thorough checkup. Read More

‘Rompan Todo’ Explores A Turbulent History Of Latin America Through Rock Music

By NPR News December 26, 2020

Sergio Arau (center) poses with fellow Botellita de Jerez bandmates. They were one of the most influential groups in the '80s after rock re-emerged in Mexico following 15 years of censorship and repression. CREDIT: Lourdes Grobet

Break Everything — Rompan Todo in Spanish — begins in the early '60s in Mexico, where bands like Los Teen Tops started covering American hits. Others, including Mexico's Los Locos del Ritmo and Uruguay's Los Shakers also inspired many young musicians across Latin America to play their own version of rock. Read More

In ‘Soul,’ Jon Batiste’s New Orleans-Inspired Jazz Music Helps Bring Pixar’s First Black Lead To Life

By NPR News December 26, 2020

Jon Batiste performs during the National CARES Mentoring Movement's 2nd Annual for the Love of Our Children Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on Jan. 30, 2017 in New York City. Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for for National CARES Mentoring Movement

Pixar's new animated film Soul is the story of Joe Gardner, a middle school school music teacher with big dreams about performing jazz onstage. "Music is all I think about, from the moment I wake up in the morning to the moment I fall asleep at night," he says. "I was born to play." Read More

Borromeo String Quartet Marks Beethoven’s 250th Year With A Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

By NPR News December 20, 2020

The humorous side of Beethoven's personality seeps into his music, such as the false stops and musical giggles that fuel his two-minute-long Presto from the Quartet Op. 130, which opens this performance. For contrast, the Borromeos follow with a serious movement from later on in the same piece, the prayerful Cavatina, which Beethoven said even got him choked up. Read More

On ‘McCartney III,’ Paul McCartney Is A One-Man Show Again

By NPR News December 19, 2020

Paul McCartney has released McCartney III, the latest in a trilogy of solo recordings that stretches back to 1970. CREDIT: Mary McCartney

Back in 1970, as the book was closing on The Beatles' time together, Paul McCartney came out with a release that established him as an artist in his own right — and a versatile one, who played every instrument on the album simply titled McCartney. In 1980, he followed it up with McCartney II — another kind of do-it-yourself solo album, released as another band of his, Read More

In His 250th Year, Beethoven’s Legacy Is One Of Life, Liberty And Pursuit Of Enlightenment

By NPR News December 18, 2020

Ludwig van Beethoven charted a powerful new course in music. His ideas may have been rooted in the work of European predecessors Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Josef Haydn, but the iconic German composer became who he was with the help of some familiar American values: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That phrase, from the Declaration of Independence, is right out Read More

All Songs Considered Says: Consider Celebrating Beethoven’s 250th Birthday

By NPR News December 15, 2020

There's far more to this enduring figure than the famous Fifth Symphony. And to find out, we've invited writer Jan Swafford to join us for an all-Beethoven "take-over" edition of All Songs Considered to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth. Read More

Charley Pride, Country Music’s First Major Black Star, Dies Of Coronavirus Complications At 86

By NPR News December 13, 2020

Pride died Saturday from complications of COVID-19 in Dallas. The baritone-voiced singer was the first Black man inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Continue Reading Charley Pride, Country Music’s Read More

Composer John Luther Adams On The Arctic Sounds That Shaped His Work

By NPR News December 12, 2020

The Pulitzer winner has released his first memoir, "Silences So Deep: Music, Solitude, Alaska." It's a personal account of Adams' formative decades making art in the Artic. Continue Reading Composer John Luther Adams On The Arctic Sounds Read More

A Jazz Piano Christmas: 2020

By NPR News December 9, 2020

Pianist Kenny Barron performs as the audience looks out at the Opera House at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.. CREDIT: Felix Contreras

This year's edition of "A Jazz Piano Christmas" features REDWOOD, Cory Henry and Kenny Barron. We're celebrating the holidays with swing from the East Coast jazz scene. Continue Reading A Jazz Piano Christmas: 2020Read More

He Lived Near Idaho, With Fewer COVID Restrictions Than Washington. Now He’s Dead

By NWPB News December 7, 2020

As the number of COVID-19 cases skyrockets nationwide, the extent of the public health response varies from one state — and sometimes one town — to the next. The incongruous approaches and the lack of national standards have created confusion, conflict and a muddled public health message, likely hampering efforts to stop the spread of the virus. The country’s top Read More