Senegalese soul, English surf-psych rock, German slow dancing … Only on Worldcrunch’s weekend playlist!
Categories
Tag: music
Categories
Song Du Jour #13, Fleetwood Mac
Categories
Worldcrunch’s Weekend Staff Playlist #8
French yé-yé, American jazz, Scottish punk, Irish accoustic, Portuguese metal and Brit pop… It’s this weekend’s Worldcrunch staff playlist.
Categories
Worldcrunch’s Weekend Staff Playlist #7
Last week in Albuquerque, New Mexico, several people formed a heart to raise awareness on heart diseases — Photo: Marla Brose/Albuquerque Journal/ZUMA Our staff playlist this weekend is love-themed, obviously. Because this Saturday, like every Feb. 14 since the year 842, the world will remember the Oaths of Strasbourg, in which Louis the German, ruler […]
Categories
Learning And Playing Music Makes You Smarter
Musical education, not only at a young age but also into adulthood, could have a significant and lasting impact on the development of the brain as well as on speech awareness, a study published in the The Journal of Neuroscience reveals. According to the researchers from Canada’s Rotman Institute, practicing music before the age of […]
An interview with the 43-year-old Latino singer reveals a more serene relationship with fame, fatherhood and a growing thirst for tango.
Categories
Worldcrunch’s Weekend Staff Playlist #6
Our staff playlist for this weekend involves an interesting mix of Brit rock’n’roll, Mandapop, Brazilian samba and some sort of Russian techno. Enjoy!
Categories
Song Du Jour #3, Lust For Life
British film director Toby Tobias told Metro today that Iggy Pop, who will star in his upcoming movie Blood Orange as — guess what — a rock’n’roll legend, was “such a gentleman” that he saved an injured stray cat while on set in Ibiza. We thought this deserved a few spins of his “Lust For […]
Last week, the great beatnik bard Bob Dylan gave his first interview in three years to AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons’ magazine — a peculiar choice until you consider that the AARP publication actually has the largest magazine circulation in the U.S. The interview proves, if it’s even necessary, that at age 73 […]
Categories
Playlist: 2014 Music Farewells
From rock’n’roll pioneers to soul legends and flamenco gods, here’s Worldcrunch’s tribute playlist to 16 of the great musicians who died in 2014. Joe Cocker — Night Calls Phil Everly, Everly Brothers — All I Have To Do Is Dream Paco de Lucia — Impetu & Panaderos Tommy Ramone, The Ramones — I Don’t Want […]
Categories
The Mother Of Music
It’s in this picturesque town hall of St. Gilgen, on the shores of Lake Wolfgangsee, that the birth of Anna Maria Walburga Pertl was registered in 1720. The name rings no bell? Well then, you’ll recognize her son’s: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
KARLSRUHE — Both of Annette Röser’s parents suffered from dementia, and she remembers a precious means of connecting with their hidden world was music. Her mother’s eyes would light up when Röser played folk songs or “Memories of Heidelberg.“ Röser’s experience with her late parents led her to found SingLiesel Verlag, a German-language publisher specialized […]
Categories
Worldcrunch’s Weekend Staff Playlist #5
Well, well, well, could it be Friday again? Time for our fifth weekend staff playlist, then. Can you guess this week’s theme? Quick hint: It involves going around people’s houses, hiding stuff, and a fair amount of arguments. No, it’s not the NSA.
Categories
Worldcrunch’s Weekend Staff Playlist #4
The weekend is almost upon us, which means it’s time for our weekend staff playlist. And if this week’s edition seems farewell-themed, it’s because our business developer Garrett is setting off to conquer new horizons — so we’re all feeling a bit nostalgic. So long, Mister G!
Bidding farewell to those who died this past month.
When Grandmaster Flash wrote “The Message” and The Notorious B.I.G. turned out “Juicy,” it was not just a way to share a glimpse of everyday life in New York’s toughest neighborhoods, but also escape it. “It’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from goin” under” Grandmaster Flash raps, urging himself […]
What’s the difference between pop singer/general nuisance Justin Bieber, and Sexion D’Assaut, a French rap group from the Paris region? According to Google Translate: none. There’s a perfectly rational explanation behind the mix-up: Google Translate is a participatory platform, where users can suggest alternate translations just by clicking on the “Improve this translation” button. The […]
Have you ever wondered if someone, somewhere in the world, once went through their playlist and selected the exact same song at the exact same moment you did? If you and a complete stranger, for a few minutes, shared a musical communion without knowing it? Spotify’s first “Artist in Residence” Kyle McDonald has. To answer […]
Categories
Global Charts #8
It’s Friday AND it’s Halloween! Time to check out what the world has been listening to between spooky playlists this week. Worldcrunch Pick: King Horror, “Loch Ness Monster” France: David Guetta feat. Sam Martin, “Dangerous” Mexico: Calvin Harris feat. John Newman, “Blame” Uganda: Korede Bello, “Cold Outside” Lebanon: Marwan Khoury, “Law” Vietnam: Taylor Swift, “Shake […]
There are around 20 to 25 metal bands active across Egypt. Though their concerts are increasingly rare and their audiences small, the fans they do have are passionate about the music, Cairo-based website Mada Masr reports. “I was a metalhead since I was born,” Sherif Tarek, 24, told Mada Masr. “I’m a very hardcore metalhead.” […]
Categories
Small Tibetan Boy, Big Tibetan Trumpet
In a Tibetan refugee camp in central Nepal, we came across this little boy having a blast with a dungchen, or Tibetan horn.
Categories
Global Charts #7
It’s almost the weekend! Time to see what the world’s been listening to this week. Worldcrunch: Outsiders, “Summertime Blues” Austria: Meghan Trainor, “All About That Bass” Dominican Republic: Mozart La Para, “Pa Gozar” Swaziland: M.anifest & HHP, “Jigah” Saudi Arabia: Ismaeel Mubarak, “Shoog” Macau: Jinny Ng, “Love Is Not Easy” Source: Hot Music Chart
Categories
Global Charts #6
This week, people in Turkmenistan are dancing to Kiesza. In Uganda, they’re listening to Korede Bello. We’re looking forward to the weekend with this band from Birmigham: Worldcrunch: Black Sabbath, “War Pigs” Spain: Sia, “Chandelier” Panama: MAGIC!, “Rude” Uganda: Korede Bello, “Cold Outside” United Arab Emirates: John Legend, “All Of Me” Turkmenistan: Kiesza, “Hideaway” Source: […]
In an article published on Immersive, a new website that enables easily produced and elegant storytelling, Paris-based writer and musician Ilan Moss delivers a fascinating account of Italy’s “Trallaleri” singers. This ancient form of European polyphonic singing can still be found in the quiet streets of the port city of Genoa. Trallalero is usually performed […]
Categories
Global Charts #5
It’s Friday! Why not check out what the world is listening to? Worldcrunch: The Human Beinz, “Nobody But Me” Bulgaria: Indila, “S.O.S.” Paraguay: Nicky Jam, “Travesuras” Botswana: Meghan Trainor – All About That Bass Bahrain: MAGIC!, “Rude” Papua New Guinea: Enrique Iglesias, “Bailando” (feat. Sean Paul, Descemer Bueno & Gente de Zona) Source: Hot Music […]
DUSSELDORF — Something happened on a Friday night in the atrium of Düsseldorf’s most beautiful hotel that caused DJ Antoine“s normally enviably good mood to sour. He was talking about a few of the items he’d bought now that he earned the kind of money to buy beautiful things. Then, somewhere between the very expensive […]
Categories
The Popularity Of Repetitive Music Explained
There might be a reason why everyday radio tunes tend to sound the same: most humans prefer repetition over variation in their music. According to an online TED lesson by Elizabeth Hellmuth Marguli, the director of the Music Cognition Lab at the University of Arkansas, hearing the same loops and songs over and over again […]
Photo: Sachyn Mital James Murphy, the 44-year-old American musician of LCD Soundsystem fame, announced at the start of the 2014 U.S. Open that he was teaming up with IBM to create an algorithm that would turn raw data from tennis matches into music. Now that the tournament is over and Serena Williams and Marin Cilic […]
Categories
Global Charts #4
Well look at that: It’s Friday again! Time to check out some of the songs currently topping the charts around the world. Turkmenistan: Anna Sedokova – “Chto Ya Nadelala” Qatar: Nico & Vinz – “Am I Wrong” Argentina: Gustavo Cerati – “Crimen” Egypt: Hassan El Shafei feat. Abla Fahita – “Mayestahlushi” France: Lilly Wood & […]
MOSCOW — It’s a typical summer night at Gorky Park on the bank of the Moskva River. The day has been heavy and humid, nearly 30° C (86° F), and then out of nowhere the clouds rolled in. The lightning started 30 minutes ago. It’s been like this for weeks in Moscow — scorching sun […]
Categories
Global Charts #3
It’s Friday — time to check out some of the songs topping charts around the world: Portugal: Anselmo Ralph – “Unica Mulher” Venezuela: Enrique Iglesias feat. Descemer Bueno and Gente de Zona – “Bailando” Mozambique: Taylor Swift – “Shake It Off” Israel: Sia – “Chandelier” Sri Lanka: Troye Sivan – “The Fault In Our Stars” […]
Photo: Bosley Facebook page BALTIMORE — Soul and funk are two of the few music genres that have never really gone out of fashion. Which may partly explain why the Baltimore-based band Bosley, by combining both styles with talent, was just elected best band of their city in this month’s issue of Baltimore Magazine. Bosley […]
Categories
Global Charts #2
It’s Friday! Time to check out some of the songs topping charts around the world: Greece: Taylor Swift, “Shake It Off” Bahamas: Ariana Grande feat. Iggy Azalea, “Problem” Botswana: John Legend, “All Of Me” Bahrain: MAGIC!, “Rude” Taiwan: G.E.M., “Like You” Source: Hot Music Charts
India and Pakistan are arch enemies whose ongoing Kashmir conflict shows no signs of ending. So will the film kiss between a beloved Pakistani actress and an India heartthrob be censored?
A Thai psychedelic band called Khun Narin Electric Phin Band is set to release its first album Aug. 26, on Innovative Leisure records. But who are the people behind this obscure name? Not much is actually known about the musicians apart from what’s told on the band’s record cover. And this story is a special […]
Categories
Melbourne’s Musical Commutes
Inspired by the Black Cab Sessions in London and the Take-Away shows in Paris, the Australian project Tram Sessions puts bands on Melbourne trams for the pleasure of commuters. Since 2010, the small team, equipped with cameras and recording devices, brings various musicians and bands such as Vance Joy or Passenger onto public transportation to […]
Who’d have thought Lebanon’s cedars could actually root out loud for their own preservation? The country’s Ministries of Environment and Education have helped a team of bioacoustic engineers extract the natural sounds emitted in the Barouk Forest by a cedar tree, the endangered national symbol of Lebanon. They then let Beirut-based DJ ESC work his […]
Like hip hop in American cities, funk carioca was born in Brazil’s inner cities, and now has arrived in one of Rio’s most prestigious theaters. Yet police remain wary of what’s behind the beats.
Photo: Mathi et Mathi. No one quite masters the art of whining and complaining like the French, which means the world’s ultimate râleurs and blasés find the deepest kind of pleasure in cursing. Some French musicians have now taken it to the next level, singing songs essentially based around the use of the word “merde”, […]
Two guitars, a bass and a set of drums. Brazilian post-rock band HAB might follow the standard rock line-up, but their percussive, minimalist and repetitive music sounds nothing like the usual pop/rock quartet you might hear on the radio. Their eponymous debut album, released earlier this year, features very little effects and only one track […]