Mar 29 Watch South African opera singers' lives documented in new film By PBS News Hour Some of the world’s best young opera singers hail from the impoverished black townships of South Africa. Three of those singers are now in the United States to perform at the American Documentary Film Festival, where a documentary about their… Continue watching
Mar 28 Watch One of Africa's biggest stars uses empowering song to lift up women and girls By PBS News Hour Benin-born Angelique Kidjo has made the empowerment of women and girls a part of her music and life's work for decades. The Grammy winner has attracted a global following with her mix of African and Western music styles and lyrics… Continue watching
Mar 28 Angélique Kidjo's voice reflects her soul By Anne Azzi Davenport Grammy-winner Angélique Kidjo is out with a new album, "Eve," and an autobiography, "Spirit Rising: My Life, My Music." With the preface by Desmond Tutu and the foreword by Alicia Keys, "Spirit Rising" shows something about her reach and twined… Continue reading
Mar 27 Watch Architect with humanitarian focus wins top architecture prize By PBS News Hour This year’s recipient of architecture’s top award — the Pritzker Prize — has designed innovative structures for people suffering from hardship and disaster for more than 20 years. Japanese architect Shigeru Ban helps his profession focus more on serving those… Continue watching
Mar 27 Pritzker Prize winner used paper to build cathedral, concert hall and homes for refugees By Victoria Fleischer Paper, a traditional material for home interiors in Japan, is not exactly a typical architectural construction material anywhere else. But this year’s winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize has shown that he can create beautiful structures for shelter, culture and… Continue reading
Mar 26 Setting a new bar for the price of musical instruments By artsdesk No musical instrument has sold for $45 million, but Sotheby’s announced today that they are starting off the sealed bidding this spring for the ‘Macdonald’ viola by Antonio Stradivari at just that price. Stradivari string instruments are known in the… Continue reading
Mar 26 Pew examines news industries in latest State of News Media report By Colleen Shalby Pew Research Center’s 11th State of the News Media report, released Wednesday, looks at these changes and examines consumer, ownership, investment and technology trends of the various news industries over the past year. Continue reading
Mar 25 Teju Cole gives 'Lagos the upper hand' in his new novel By Ruth Tam Three years after novelist Teju Cole penned the highly acclaimed “Open City” about a young man’s meditation on post-9/11 New York, he returns with "Every Day Is for the Thief,” a reflection in words and photographs on the city of… Continue reading
Mar 24 Weekly Poem: C. D. Wright reads 'Obscurity and Legacy' By artsdesk C. D. Wright's poem "Obscurity and Legacy" is published in "Lines in Long Array: A Civil War Commemoration: Poems and Photographs, Past and Present." In recognition of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the Smithsonian's National Poetry Gallery commissioned… Continue reading