The hard numbers of sales, downloads, streams, and billboard charts seem to do all the work for us. But do these measures tell us anything meaningful about music’s nature and value in 2015?
The carol ‘Silent Night’ has been translated into 140 languages and renditions have been sung by everyone, from Bing Crosby to Chewbacca. This is the story behind its success.
Jazz evolved from the fringes of American society into one of the most influential, and enduring, musical movements of the 20th century. How did it get from what it was to what it is now?
Why should African graduates be honoured with a Latin song when the continent has plenty of its own music and ways of celebrating?
Direct Relief/Flickr
A Latin song takes centre stage at graduation ceremonies around the world, including in South Africa. Isn’t it time the continent used its own methods to celebrate major events?
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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