Aug 16 Aretha Franklin, queen of soul, dies at 76 By Mesfin Fekadu, Hillel Italie, Associated Press Legendary singer Aretha Franklin died Thursday. Continue reading
Aug 02 Watch 3:06 How art connects us to our ancestors and ourselves Growing up in a family with Chinese, Dutch-Indonesian and Native American ancestry, Kayla Briët says the first medium that really allowed her to express her identity was music. Briët offers her Brief but Spectacular take on storytelling through art, language… Continue watching
Jul 13 Watch 8:05 Lost recordings uncover John Coltrane’s timeless talent By Jeffrey Brown, Anne Azzi Davenport The lost recordings of jazz titan John Coltrane have been rediscovered and shared with the world. Jeffrey Brown visits the jazz great’s recording studio where the mystery began to take a listen to "Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album,"… Continue watching
Jul 06 Watch Dave Chappelle sing the PBS NewsHour theme song By Dan Cooney Comedian Dave Chappelle sat down recently for an interview with the PBS NewsHour's Jeffrey Brown about his career in comedy, his four Netflix specials and the boundaries of humor. He also sang this. Continue reading
Jun 01 16 songs that never leave our summer playlists By Joshua Barajas These songs conjure up memories and refuse to take the summer off. Continue reading
May 29 Watch 9:00 This school in India proves music can change lives By Fred de Sam Lazaro In a remote Himalayan community in India, admission to a school set up by a Canadian Jesuit priest meant more than a meal ticket for the children on the lowest rung of the traditional social hierarchy; each student was also… Continue watching
Apr 20 Avicii, Swedish DJ and producer of electronic dance music, dies at 28 By Mesfin Fekadu, Associated Press Avicii, the Grammy-nominated electronic dance DJ who performed sold-out concerts for feverish fans around the world and also had massive success on U.S. pop radio, died Friday. Continue reading
Apr 19 Watch 3:36 Why artists are responsible for moving society forward Composer and artist Samora Abayomi Pinderhughes wants to make music that makes listeners live differently. Pinderhughes gives his Brief but Spectacular take on his responsibility as an artist. Continue watching
Apr 16 Watch 8:01 For Mali’s Tuareg, music speaks of suffering and the Sahara By Monica Villamizar The music of Mali's Tuareg people is music of resistance. Master traders of the Sahara desert for millenia, they've never enjoyed significant political power, and their musical culture reflects that frustration and struggle. But times have been tough for these… Continue watching
Mar 01 Watch 3:11 Why learning to play music helps kids learn everything else better By PBS News Hour After performing with a world-renowned orchestra, Stanford Thompson returned to Philadelphia to start Play on, Philly!, a free, afterschool music program for young children in under-resourced neighborhoods that helps them go back into the classroom and become better learners. Thompson… Continue watching