Funk is a music genre that originated in Rio and is inspired by social consciousness. Women have been overlooked in the genre, but a new generation of women funk artists are changing that.
Tag: music
The Live Aid benefit concert was a dual-venue concert held on this day in 1985, in London, England, and Philadelphia, United States. It was organized by musician Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia. The event aimed to bring together the world’s top musicians and engage a global audience […]
The Brazilian singer Nega Jaci has performed a new version of the well-known samba “Mulheres,” by Martinho da Vila, adapted by two Brazilian women to remove the sexist tone of the original lyrics.
The Marchas Populares, Lisbon’s summertime carnival parades, are a spectacle of dancing and music — but a shortage of money, free time and men who want to dance are endangering this midsummer tradition.
Male dominance and violence is often encouraged in popular Latin American music, and particularly in genres like salsa or bachata. The more memorable the songs, the bigger the harm they will have done to generations of women.
“There is no Napoli on common sense?”
Welcome to Worldcrunch’s LGBTQ+ International. We bring you up-to-speed each week on a topic you may follow closely at home, but can now see from different places and perspectives around the world. Discover the latest news on everything LGBTQ+ — from all corners of the planet. All in one smooth scroll! This week featuring: TW: […]
Queer artists are finding their voices in the thumping beats and dance-hall rhythms of reggaeton, a genre that has historically been anything but inclusive.
With the electric guitar in full revival thanks to the pandemic, the mythical Fender brand is reviving the glory days of rock and roll stars. Taking advantage of free time during lockdown, many Americans discovered their passion for the classic six-string.
Theaters, museums and cinemas welcomed “essential services” on their stage floors to make a point about the industry’s struggles during the latest COVID lockdown.
The exhibition “Electro” in Düsseldorf is an unlikely tribute to a joyful and uninhibited club culture, with curators forced to contend with limits of a museum setting … and another COVID lockdown.
The Omicron variant is again forcing event organizers to weigh whether to cancel, postpone or forge ahead in the face of superspreader risks.
Tehran authorities have drafted a list of “luxury” imports it will block, citing both financial and religious motivations.
Popularized by raucous music videos, sometimes considered quasi pornographic, this phenomenon has its origins in the ancestral Afro-descendant dances and advocates the liberation of the body.
Hologram idols are the new stars of the entertainment industry in China, performing in live concerts and in front of audiences of millions. It’s not just tech companies that are happy about the boom, the leadership in Beijing is too for more political reasons.
Some might ask: Why is there such a thing as International Country Music Day? Turns out the American musical genre has pockets of popularity around the world, from twanging sounds in Japan to South Africa to line dancing in France.
Billie Eilish and Demi Lovato represent a new kind of performance artist for our confessional times.
Johnny Hallyday is perhaps the most American icon France has ever produced. Dubbed the “French Elvis’, the late rocker put a je-ne-sais-quoi touch on a quintessentially U.S. musical genre, gave himself a Yankee stage name and wore leather and faded Levi’s. And bien sûr, his motorcycle of choice was a Harley-Davidson. Still, Hallyday, who died […]
C / G / A flat / E flat … Any French traveler hearing these instantly-recognizable four notes would know to listen up and pay attention, as the official jingle for the country’s SNCF railway company typically precedes announcements of trains leaving or arriving, platform changes, and all too often … delays. But back in […]
The University of Oxford is planning to change its curriculum to focus on fewer white composers and more non-European music. But does it really make sense to bury Beethoven and Brahms?
What’s the deal with strongmen and their horses? Whether its Kim Jong-un galloping through the snow or shirtless Vladimir Putin on horseback mountain or Nicolas Maduro striking an el vaquero pose on the ranch, power-hungry world leaders tend to have an equestrian thing going on. Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, however, is taking it to another […]
Movie houses, music venues and art galleries are showing signs of life after a long lockdown. They’re also having to be creative with how they reopen, as certain health restrictions still apply.
PARIS — Grandioso, say the Italians. Kolossalt for the Swedes. The Berkeley student newspaper called it monumental, while a Buenos Aires daily was stamping it patrimonio de la humanidad. The world’s popular music critics and other sundry writer types (wink!) have spent the past few weeks trying to size up something that is much more […]
Social distancing measures and face masks will impact not only the atmosphere in theaters and concert halls, but also the bottom line.
Rock hero Dave Grohl, of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame, has described live music performances during the COVID-19 lockdowns as: “unflattering little windows that look like doorbell security footage and sound like Neil Armstrong’s distorted transmissions from the moon.” One month later, in some corners of the world, authentic, in-person live music is ready to […]
In classical music capitals like Vienna, Salzburg and Berlin, and around the world, artists find themselves in precarious positions with COVID-19 shutdowns. But maybe there’s a sweeter tune tomorrow?
CHENNAI — Twenty-six-year-old Arivu’s small room, on the fourth-floor terrace of an apartment in suburban Chennai, is as lively as his music. It is in this room that Arivu shot his now iconic rap song “Sanda seivom”, which effortlessly rips the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens apart. Pictures of Ambedkar and Buddha are looking over him and an ektara (the instrument) standing tall. “It was a gift from the Tata Institute for Social Sciences when I recently visited them,” Arivu says. “I intend to learn to play it and even use it in my rap.” A single […]
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Unmistakably Austrian
When I was a young man, a major folklore festival came through my hometown in eastern France, with musicians and dancers in colorful costumes from all over Europe. Spotting this photo 58 years later, I knew right away what I didn’t know when I took it: this perfectly rotund tuba player almost certainly hailed from […]
Burk Uzzle’s image of loving (and muddy) couple at Woodstock has become a symbol for the 1960s hopes for a better future.
On January 10, 2016, two days after his 69th birthday and the release of his final album, Blackstar, the great David Bowie was gone. The shape-shifting rock icon behind songs such as “Space Oddity,” “Starman,” “Heroes’ and “Let’s Dance” was also a major creative force in film, fashion and technology, constantly pushing the boundaries of performance-based disciplines. Born David Robert Jones, his chameleon career is reflected in the many flamboyant alter egos he used over the years. We made this OneShot to mark his death and celebrate what would have been his 72nd birthday on January 8. Ashes to ashes […]
PARIS — How do we decide what is the world’s top museum? Its size, prestige, collection, the number of visitors — and the way it showcases its brand. The Louvre remains champion. The latest music video from the world’s most famous musical couple, Jay-Z and Beyoncé, is shot amid the museum’s timeless masterpieces and along […]
-Essay- MUNICH — Artists are now using anti-Semitism and Islamism to shock, and that’s not surprising. But if both listeners and rappers started to finally take music seriously, this could change. Since Germany’s top music prize, the Echo awards, honored the rappers Kollegah and Farid Bang, there has been a misunderstanding that both sides of […]
Techno scene in Belarus faces a youth tempted by emigration, pricey vinyls and the KGB lurking in the shadows. But the nights in Minsk are still something truly remarkable.
With each passing day, war with North Korea seems to draw closer. Kim Jong Un continues to test his arsenal; Donald Trump issues new threats and nicknames his nemesis “Rocket Man“; Kim responds in kind, saying the U.S. president’s speech yesterday at the United Nations was “the sound of a dog barking.” Some say the […]
-Essay- BOGOTA — “Despacito,” the title of this summer’s hit song by Luis Fonsi, means “slowly” in Spanish. Listening to it is like drinking an unsavory broth. Slowly. It’s my own silly fault really for being exposed to it, namely by opening a Spotify account and asking my children, aged 9 and 6, to create […]
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Costume Curiosity
As the conductor of a traditional French choir, I was invited several times to the international music festival in Llangollen, in Wales, where I got to see costumes from around the world. Here, a singer from my choir studies a woman in a rural Welsh costume that includes an apron and a tall felt hat.
SpongeBOZZ’s new album quickly shot up the German hip-hop charts, but his irreverence is telling, part of a growing trend to treat World War II as distant history.
In Indonesia, the heavy metal band Voice of Baceprot is turning and banging heads. But critics say this is not what Muslim girls should be doing.
We all have favorite songs we listen to again and again. But there are few things as entertaining as hearing our favorite singers belt their hit tunes in another language. Love “Heroes’ by the late David Bowie? How about listening to it again … in German? Or the Johnny Cash classic “Ring Of Fire” in […]
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Iran’s Next Target: Justin Bieber
TEHRAN — Iran has had enough of Justin Bieber and the Great Satan corporate powers turning out such sinful teenage beats. The Islamic Republic has a plan to purge itself of the Western pop music scourge, by developing a national music awards program that will encourage local talent and hopefully restore home-grown Iranian song to […]