Music News : NPR

After The Flames, Notre Dame's Centuries-Old Organ May Never Be The Same Again

The pipe organ of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, one of the most famous in the world, was spared from the cathedral fire on April 15, but major restoration needs to be done on the instrument. Stephane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Stephane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images

Deceptive Cadence

After The Flames, Notre Dame's Centuries-Old Organ May Never Be The Same Again

April 21, 2019 • Chief organist Olivier Latry looks ahead at the church's extensive renovation process after the Notre Dame cathedral fire on April 15.

After The Flames, Notre Dame's Centuries-Old Organ May Never Be The Same Again

Listen · 5:29 5:29

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/715271953/715616306" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Lil Dicky's 'Earth' Video Is Band Aid For The Internet

An animated Lil Dicky holds a skunk, voiced by Wiz Khalifa, in the star-studded video for "Earth." YouTube screenshot by NPR hide caption

toggle caption

YouTube screenshot by NPR

Lil Dicky's 'Earth' Video Is Band Aid For The Internet

April 19, 2019 • How did this guy manage to create a music video that rivals this year's Coachella lineup, recalling the infamous '80s supergroup that also hoped to heal the world with song?

Caroline Shaw's Love Letter To The String Quartet

Caroline Shaw's album, Orange, is devoted to music for string quartet. Kait Moreno/Nonesuch Records hide caption

toggle caption

Kait Moreno/Nonesuch Records

Review

Deceptive Cadence

Caroline Shaw's Love Letter To The String Quartet

April 19, 2019 • On Orange, an album devoted entirely to her work, the young, Pulitzer-winning composer salutes a centuries-old genre.

Caroline Shaw's Love Letter To The String Quartet

Listen · 3:54 3:54

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/700361912/715266738" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Kevin Abstract Shares 'Ghettobaby' EP On The Road To New Album

Kevin Abstract is sharing new music from his album ARIZONA baby in pieces. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

New Music

Kevin Abstract Shares 'Ghettobaby' EP On The Road To New Album

April 18, 2019 • The Texas rapper is sharing his album, ARIZONA baby, three songs at a time. Ghettobaby adds three songs to the tracklist.

The All-Female Big Bands That Made History During World War II

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm in the 1940s. Courtesy of Rosalind Cron hide caption

toggle caption

Courtesy of Rosalind Cron

Music Interviews

The All-Female Big Bands That Made History During World War II

April 17, 2019 • NPR's Audie Cornish talks with Christian McBride of Jazz Night in America about the forgotten all-female big bands that toured the United States during World War II.

The All-Female Big Bands That Made History During World War II

Listen · 4:56 4:56

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/714405107/714413469" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Madonna's New Single, 'Medellin,' Is A Self-Aware Nostalgia Trip

Madonna and Maluma pair up for "Medellin," Madge's first single in four years. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption

Courtesy of the artist

New Music

Madonna's New Single, 'Medellin,' Is A Self-Aware Nostalgia Trip

April 17, 2019 • The track, recorded with Colombian singer Maluma, channels "Despacito," with a nod toward Madonna's 1986 song "La Isla Bonita."

Kevin Morby Drops New Song, Video In Advance Of 'Oh My God'

Kevin Morby in a scene from his video for the song "OMG Rock N Roll." YouTube screen grab by NPR hide caption

toggle caption

YouTube screen grab by NPR

All Songs Considered

Kevin Morby Drops New Song, Video In Advance Of 'Oh My God'

April 17, 2019 • The new track, "OMG Rock N Roll," is playful but sets a portentous scene that, Morby says, is ultimately about gun violence in America.

Beyoncé Surprise-Drops Live Coachella Album; Netflix Doc Now Streaming

Béyonce performs onstage during the 2018 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival. Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Coachella hide caption

toggle caption

Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Coachella

Beyoncé Surprise-Drops Live Coachella Album; Netflix Doc Now Streaming

April 17, 2019 • The recording of her historic 2018 performance, titled Homecoming: Live Album, includes new songs and arrives just as a documentary about the concert begins streaming on Netflix.

Beyoncé Surprise-Drops Live Coachella Album; Netflix Doc Now Streaming

Listen · 4:04 4:04

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/714248612/714488274" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Readjusting Your Reality: Ellen Reid Wins Music Pulitzer For 'p r i s m'

Ellen Reid's opera p r i s m has won this year's Pulitzer Prize for music. James Matthew Daniel hide caption

toggle caption

James Matthew Daniel

Deceptive Cadence

Readjusting Your Reality: Ellen Reid Wins Music Pulitzer For 'p r i s m'

April 15, 2019 • The young composer's opera, which debuted at the Los Angeles Opera, was inspired by her own experience as a survivor of sexual assault.

Pulitzer Prizes Honor Journalists Under Threat With New Crop Of Winners

Courtesy of the Pulitzer Prizes

Arts & Life

Pulitzer Prizes Honor Journalists Under Threat With New Crop Of Winners

April 15, 2019 • Judges sought to support the media "even if some wrongly degrade [it] as the enemy of the very democracy it serves." Honors went to The Advocate in Baton Rouge, La., Florida's Sun-Sentinel and others.

Listen: Beck and Pharrell Team Up For 'Saw Lightning'

Beck's new album, Hyperspace, is due out sometime later this year. Citizen Kane Wayne/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption

Citizen Kane Wayne/Courtesy of the artist

All Songs Considered

Listen: Beck and Pharrell Team Up For 'Saw Lightning'

April 15, 2019 • The track is the first single from Beck's just-announced album, Hyperspace, due out sometime later this year.

Watch It Live: The 2019 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert

The 2019 NEA Jazz Masters NEA hide caption

toggle caption

NEA

Jazz Night In America: Video Episodes And Shorts

Watch It Live: The 2019 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert

WBGO and The Kennedy Center

April 15, 2019 • Stanley Crouch, Bob Dorough, Abdullah Ibrahim, and Maria Schneider are recipients of the 2019 Jazz Masters award — the highest honor the U.S. gives to a jazz musician or advocate.

Watch BTS Further Its Quest For World Domination On The 'SNL' Stage

BTS performing live on SNL. YouTube screen grab by NPR hide caption

toggle caption

YouTube screen grab by NPR

All Songs Considered

Watch BTS Further Its Quest For World Domination On The 'SNL' Stage

April 14, 2019 • The multilingual boy-band juggernaut, SNL's first musical guest from South Korea, performed kinetically choreographed renditions of "Boy With Luv" and "MIC Drop."

After Coachella Premiere, Childish Gambino's Film 'Guava Island' Is Streaming

Donald Glover in a still from Guava Island, which he stars in with Rihanna. The film premiered at Coachella, where Glover's musical act Childish Gambino headlined on Friday. courtesy of Amazon Prime Video hide caption

toggle caption

courtesy of Amazon Prime Video

After Coachella Premiere, Childish Gambino's Film 'Guava Island' Is Streaming

April 13, 2019 • Following a major year for the "This Is America" rapper, Guava Island is a modestly stunning — and at times unnerving — extended music video about music's power to unite amid tyranny and greed.

After Coachella Premiere, Childish Gambino's Film 'Guava Island' Is Streaming

Listen · 3:56 3:56

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/713028614/713097777" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Thutmose Experiments With Genres While Honoring His Nigerian Roots

Thutmose's debut project Man On Fire is out now. Sam Gold/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption

Sam Gold/Courtesy of the artist

Music Interviews

Thutmose Experiments With Genres While Honoring His Nigerian Roots

April 12, 2019 • Nigerian-born, Brooklyn-based rapper Thutmose named himself after an ancient Egyptian pharaoh — a nod to the kingly responsibility he feels for his family and his music.

Thutmose Experiments With Genres While Honoring His Nigerian Roots

Listen · 4:20 4:20

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/712778089/712862552" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

'Songwriters Are Not Treated Fairly': Nile Rodgers On Streaming's Present And Future

Nile Rodgers, photographed in November 2018 in London. Dave J Hogan/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Dave J Hogan/Getty Images

'Songwriters Are Not Treated Fairly': Nile Rodgers On Streaming's Present And Future

April 12, 2019 • The famed musician and current chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame talks to NPR about a recent letter he and many other songwriters sent to the head of Spotify.

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for GLAAD

10 Coachella Performances Worth Watching On YouTube This Weekend

April 12, 2019 • Looking to avoid the hefty price tag of a festival pass? Reluctant to experience Coachella anywhere but on a couch? We've got you covered.

White Singers In Hungary Claim To Be African-American, For An Opera

Performers rehearse in January 2018 for the controversial Hungarian State Opera production of George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess. Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images

White Singers In Hungary Claim To Be African-American, For An Opera

April 11, 2019 • The Gershwin estate stipulates that Porgy and Bess should be performed by an all-black cast. The Hungarian State Opera in Budapest reportedly asked its mostly white cast to say that they are black.

A World Leader, Hip-Hop Peers Celebrate Nipsey Hussle's Life In Los Angeles

Rapper Nipsey Hussle, photographed in Atlanta on Dec. 10, 2018. Prince Williams/WireImage hide caption

toggle caption

Prince Williams/WireImage

A World Leader, Hip-Hop Peers Celebrate Nipsey Hussle's Life In Los Angeles

April 11, 2019 • On Thursday, Los Angeles celebrated the life of the rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was murdered on March 31 there.

Trump Posted A Video With Music From A Batman Movie. Warner Bros. Had It Taken Down

President Trump tweeted a video promoting his campaign that used music from the Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises without permission. Trump and first lady Melania Trump are seen here at a premiere of the film in 2012. Stephen Lovekin/FilmMagic hide caption

toggle caption

Stephen Lovekin/FilmMagic

Politics

Trump Posted A Video With Music From A Batman Movie. Warner Bros. Had It Taken Down

April 10, 2019 • As a dramatic score plays, words appear on the screen: "First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they call you racist." The video used music from The Dark Knight Rises without permission.

Beyond The Summer Of Love, 'Get Together' Is An Anthem For Every Season

The Youngbloods circa 1967. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

American Anthem

Beyond The Summer Of Love, 'Get Together' Is An Anthem For Every Season

April 10, 2019 • The song was everywhere during the 1967 gatherings in San Francisco. After it was used in a public service announcement, it became an anthem for the rest of the world.

Beyond The Summer Of Love, 'Get Together' Is An Anthem For Every Season

Listen · 7:15 7:15

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/711545679/711693301" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript