Sam Smith’s Writing’s on the Wall confronts the last taboo of the canon: Bond’s hypermasculinity.
Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s last collaboration The Seven Deadly Sins, first performed in 1933, in circumstances not dissimilar than those we face today. Pictured: Meow Meow.
Victorian Opera
Victorian Opera this week stages The Seven Deadly Sins, the final collaboration between Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. First staged in 1933, it is a masterpiece by two of the most revolutionary artists of Weimar Germany.
Music notation itself has changed from the early modern period to the present day.
Provenance Online Project/flickr
Technological advances in music production have all but obliterated the need for popular music to be transcribed into musical notation. So why is musical literacy still important?
On the Banks of the Tigris is a story of culture triumphing over an oppressive regime.
Fruitful Films
Award-winning documentary film On the Banks of the Tigris explores the influence of Iraqi Jewish musicians in the cultural life of Iraq and paints a portrait of a country that was once a thriving multicultural centre.
Singing in a choir really can change your life for the better. And yes, anyone can do it
If you want to fast-track your child’s development, forget CDs, books that beep, and toys that whirr. Play music with them, with the emphasis being on “play”.
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New research shows shared music-making with toddlers may have benefits above and beyond those of reading.
The real force of Star Wars is to be found in its music, an aural cocktail of orchestral pieces punctuated with lightsabers, hyperspace leaps, and a hint of droid.
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
For all the speculative commentary as to what the new Star Wars trailer reveals plot-wise, its true “force” is surely located in the various sounds that infuse this perfectly constructed teaser.
French Minister of Culture Frédéric Mitterrand presents Estonian composer Arvo Pärt (centre) with the highest decoration in France, Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, in 2011.
Wikimedia Commons
Whether it’s the Islamic State, the Ku Klux Klan – or, yes, even American political parties – groups use music in many of the same ways, for many of the same reasons.
Has Chris Brown been made a scapegoat for domestic violence?
Marcel Antonisee/EPA
Chris Brown may be denied entry into Australia due to his violent past. Is this political posturing, or genuine support for survivors of domestic abuse?
Jockeying for power in the rap world: earlier this summer Drake and Meek Mill traded barbs.
Drake (on left): Steve Marcus/Reuters; Meek Mill: Kevork Djansezian/Reuters
Taking a lyrical swing at another rapper is part and parcel of the genre. So why the profound backlash when Meek Mill accused Drake of not writing his own lyrics?
Donald Trump provoked the ire of REM frontman Michael Stipe this week after he played an REM hit on the campaign trail. In this push-pull between politicians and musicians, let’s revisit the music.
We’ve learned a lot about how music can help with pain and a score of other clinical problems. But with chronic pain affecting a quarter of us, it’s an area that has received too little attention.
Hearing HITnRUN as a ‘concept album’ rather than a collection of tracks, gives a different feel to the more awkward moments.
AAP Image/NPG Records
For some, this album will be a good-natured happy-go-funky tour through Prince’s famously diverse stylistic interests. Others will find some of the tracks poorly executed, or a bit passé.
James Franco as Alien, gangsta and gangsta rapper, from Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers (2012)
miguelvaca/flickr
There is a muscular, tattooed man holding a machine gun. He is in front of an expensive sports car, with gold chains around his neck and what looks like a Rolex on his wrist. The man is standing proudly…