Swine flu: dancing in the face of the virus

"There is a long tradition of folk music reacting quickly to events and commentating on them for those who don't pay much attention to the mainstream media and the flu-inspired songs are delivered in the accordion-based cumbia style which is popular across the Americas."

For the full story and additional videos please see, Telegraph.

'Drumming'

"Steve Reich's "Drumming" is widely considered a masterpiece of minimalism by both critics and fans. Minimalism flourished in symphonic music in the 1960s and '70s. Composers like Reich broke music down to its most elemental forms — a single chord, even a single tone or a simple pulse — and then weaved those elements back together to create a new musical structure, often using the same motif over and over again. Performance Today's Mark Mobley spoke to Reich and prepared this report."

For the full story, please see NPR.

In a digital age, vinyl albums are making a comeback

"Neil Schield knows the grim state of the music business as well as anyone; last May, he was laid off from a company at the vanguard of digital music distribution. But this month, Schield began an unlikely second act: He opened a brick-and-mortar record store in Echo Park, with racks of tasteful inventory carrying price tags as high as $100 -- all presumed liabilities in an age when "digital" and "free" seem to rule the day."

For the full story, please see the Los Angeles Times.


Photo by Tony Case.

The Twitter opera plot contest is back...

"The unfeasibly popular Twitter #operaplot contest is back, courtesy of the blogger and Tweeter the Omniscient Mussel (follow her as missmussel). Billed as "the most fun opera nerds can have in 140 characters" the game involves creating a witty, brilliant, and accurate precis of an opera plot (my favourite from the first iteration of the competition was a rendering of the entire Ring cycle as in the form of a set of tennis tournament scores)."

For the full article, please see the Guardian.

Steve Reich: Minimalism In The Mainstream

"Composer Steve Reich won the Pulitzer Prize for music Monday, taking the award for his 'Double Sextet.' In honor of Reich's career, here's a look at another of his most celebrated works."

For the full article, please see NPR

Contemporary World Music Online

The Music Library would like to introduce you to its newest online streaming audio database Contemporary World Music Online. Contemporary World Music Online covers a variety of genres not limited to reggae, worldbeat, neo-traditional, world fusion, Balkanic jazz, African film, Bollywood, Arab swing, fado, flamenco, klezmer, zydeco, gospel, and gagaku. The database currently contains 14,235 track and continues to grow. Contemporary World Music Online can be located under the Streaming Audio and Video section of the Music Library's homepage. We hope you will enjoy listening to this wonderful addition to our collection!

YouTube's Un-Harmonic Convergence

"The conductor Michael Tilson Thomas is rehearsing an orchestra. He tells the oboes to play out. He asks the strings to emphasize the third and fourth beats of each measure, which are getting muddy. He makes a joke. Everybody laughs, even though not everyone speaks English. This is not uncommon in an orchestra. Music, after all, is a universal language -- particularly classical music, since you can play it without needing words."

For the full story, please see the Washington Post.