A billboard in Nairobi for Safaricom, Kenya’s largest mobile service provider, featuring veteran rapper and producer Jua Cali.
Andrew J Eisenberg
The political economy of music distribution goes unchecked. Despite increased digital revenues, also across Africa, music markets remain characterised by bottlenecks between musicians and audiences.
Marcantonio Raimondi’s 1505 engraving may show Leonardo da Vinci playing an instrument called a lira da braccio.
Cleveland Museum of Art.
A lot has been said about Leonardo and music, much of it speculation. But what do we know for sure?
The burnt ruins of the St. Mary Baptist Church, one of three that recently burned down in Louisiana.
AP Photo/Gerald Herbert
When three African American churches were burned down in southern Louisiana, the man accused was said to be linked to black metal, a subgenre of heavy metal with a history of violence.
Like a finely tuned jazz musician.
Africa Studio/Shutterstock
We often spend time thinking about how we can change ourselves rather than rejoicing in what makes us truly unique.
Learning how we respond to rhythm can lead to therapeutic applications.
Omar Lopez/Unsplash
Why and how do we groove? Researchers are investigating how we respond to music, with applications for therapy.
The Walker Brothers performing in 1965.
Starstock/Photoshot
The music of Scott Walker was central to the Golden Age of songwriters. It has inspired a multitude since, from David Bowie to Thom Yorke.
Gurindji singers Thomas Monkey Yikapayi, Ronnie Wavehill Wirrpa and Topsy Dodd Ngarnjal sing ‘Wanji-wanji’.
Brenda L Croft
Wanji-wanji’s lyrics have remained unchanged over thousands of kilometres and the past 150 years.
Preliminary drawing of title page for ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ (New York: Harper & Row, 1963), 26:7, The Maurice Sendak Collection.
Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut Library. © The Maurice Sendak Foundation.
The book took eight years from conception to publication. In the earliest dummy, the monsters that millions have grown to love actually started out as horses.
Funky pigeon.
Stockphotomania/Shutterstock
Can animals find the beat in music and dance along?
Stokkete/Shutterstock
People with auditory implants often experience music as horrible buzzes and beeps. New research may be able to help.
First page of Liszt's opera Sardanapalo, GSA 60 / N4. Photo © Klassik Stiftung Weimar
Should unfinished art remain so?
A cover song can both enhance and diminish the legacy of the original artist.
PrinceOfLove/Shutterstock.com
Some covers are recorded as a nod to the legacy of the original, only to end up becoming the definitive version of the song.
At some point, jazz went from the music of youthful rebellion to that of the cultured elite.
Freedom Master/shutterstock
Jazz used to be experienced on a dance floor. But over time, it became something to dissect and analyze.
Shutterstock
Unlike many of his predecessors, the US president is no vulture of culture.
A performance at one of hip hop scenes in Wijilan, Yogyakarta.
The Conversation Indonesia/Edi Dwi Riyanto
Theoretically, nothing is “authentic” in hip hop culture.
Virtual Reality technology opens up new experiences and possibilities in music for people with disabilities.
Performance Without Barriers
Tailored VR technology is helping creating digital musical instruments that musicians with disabilities can play.
Our favourite way of listening to music might have a bigger environmental impact than we think.
patat/ Shutterstock
Some of our favourite music formats might not be as environmentally friendly as we think.
Amy Shark performing at the ARIA awards in November 2018.
JOEL CARRETT
It was a year when both men and women bared their emotions through music.
Imagine this with a sound track – sunset near Turtle Rock, Joshua Tree National Park.
NPS / Hannah Schwalbe
From bird songs to wind patterns, sound is a key but often underappreciated element of natural places. Learning how to listen to nature can alert us to changes in the environment before we see them.
Members of South Korean boy band Bangtan Boys, or BTS, arrive for the Asia Artist Awards 2018 in Incheon, South Korea, 28 November 2018.
Kim Hee-Chul/EPA
K-pop has claimed its share of the world market. It is about time that I-pop gives its best to do the same.