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  • Thursday, March 19, 2015

    Buena Vista Social Club's Lost and Found, a collection of previously unreleased tracks out next week, opens with a live version of "Bruca Manigua," featuring Ibrahim Ferrer on vocals. A video of Ferrer performing the song live in concert in 2000 premiered yesterday on the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy. "This video, shot in front of a sold-out crowd in Paris, finds the spry Ferrer, then 72, in fine form," says Speakeasy, "his voice strong and supple as he sings the 1930s Cuban standard accompanied by lush, joyous horn parts and polyrhythmic percussion." Watch the performance here.

    Journal Topics: Artist News, Video
  • Wednesday, March 18, 2015

    Robert Plant, Kronos Quartet, and Toumani & Sidiki Diabaté have been nominated for Songlines Music Awards. Plant’s label debut, lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar, and Kronos Quartet's 40th-anniversary release A Thousand Thoughts are nominated for Cross-Cultural Collaboration of the Year. Kora master Toumani Diabaté and his son Sidiki are up for Best Group of the Year for their album Toumani & Sidiki. All of these albums were included among Songlines' Best Albums of 2014. Songlines will release a compilation album featuring all nominated artists. Winners will be announced on May 1.

    Journal Topics: Artist News
  • Tuesday, March 17, 2015

    Rhiannon Giddens has announced European tour dates for the summer, featuring music from her debut solo album, Tomorrow Is My Turn. The shows begin June 30 at Islington Assembly Hall in London with stops in Paris, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Stuttgart, and Dublin, culminating at the Cambridge Folk Festival on August 1. Tickets go on sale starting this Friday, March 20. Giddens and the band kick off a US tour at the Big Ears Festival on March 28.

    Journal Topics: Artist News, On Tour
  • Tuesday, March 17, 2015

    Trio Da Kali is a group of musicians from the Mande culture of southern Mali who come from a long line of distinguished griots. Formed of voice, ngoni, and balafon, the Trio aims to bring a contemporary twist to ancient and neglected repertoires. Its debut EP is now available digitally from World Circuit, distributed in North America by Nonesuch Records.

    Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist News
  • Tuesday, March 17, 2015

    Punch Brothers performed two songs from their new album, The Phosphorescent Blues, on CBS This Morning: Saturday: "Boll Weevil" and "Magnet." You can watch both songs here. "Formed in 2006, each of the five musicians were well-known for their musical skills," says the show, "but together, they have become a force beloved by critics and audiences worldwide."

    Journal Topics: Artist News, Television, Video
  • Monday, March 16, 2015

    Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters announce their 2015 North American tour. Kicking off May 24 at the Sasquatch! Festival in George, WA, the dates include his return to Bonnaroo and finish off in Philadelphia June 17. Tickets go on sale starting this Friday. Each ticket to the non-festival shows will include a CD of the band’s latest album, lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar. The Pixies open five of these shows, and JD McPherson five. Citi cardmembers have access to presale tickets for the Santa Barbara and LA shows starting Wednesday.

    Journal Topics: Artist News, On Tour
  • Monday, March 16, 2015

    Punch Brothers stopped by NPR to give a Tiny Desk Concert. The concert opens with a special surprise for Thile, who happened to be celebrating a birthday that day, followed by a performance of four songs from their new album, The Phosphorescent Blues. Thile, "along with this versatile and talented group, rocked our world," says host Bob Boilen. "Punch Brothers mixes bluegrass, pop and classical music. It's a tough combination to imagine, and an even harder one to make work, but this band ... makes the unimaginable contagious and fun. They push boundaries and make music like no one else." Watch the Tiny Desk Concert here.

    Journal Topics: Artist News, Radio, Video
  • Monday, March 16, 2015

    Buena Vista Social Club's Lost and Found, a collection of previously unreleased tracks, is due out next week. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it: the album is streaming in full all this week as an NPR First Listen at npr.org. "It was nearly 20 years ago, back in 1997, that the Buena Vista Social Club became an improbable worldwide sensation: a group of mainly elderly (and some younger) Cuban musicians, performing traditional son music for an album produced by Ry Cooder," writes NPR's Anastasia Tsioulcas. "If it turns out that this is the year we do say a final goodbye to the Buena Vista collective, Lost and Found provides a gorgeous reminder of what made it so famous to begin with — and what we'll all be missing."

    Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist News
  • Friday, March 13, 2015

    This lucky Friday the 13th, Robert Plant kicks off Latin American tour in Mexico and Lollapalooza Chile ... Laurie Anderson performs in Nashville ... Bombino plays New Zealand WOMAD ... Jeremy Denk, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields tour California ... Richard Goode plays Beethoven in Amsterdam ... Kronos Quartet is in Wisconsin ... Audra McDonald performs in Tucson ... Brad Mehldau, Mark Guiliana close out Mehliana tour in Tokyo and Seoul ... Punch Brothers are on CBS and PBS ... and more ...

    Journal Topics: On Tour, Weekend Events
  • Thursday, March 12, 2015

    The Nonesuch Records CD/DVD release of Louis Andriessen's opera La Commedia has won the Caecilia Prize by the association of Belgium's classical music press. The film opera, a collaboration with director Hal Hartley, is based on Dante’s Divine Comedy, with additional texts from the 16th-century German theologian Sebastian Brant, the 17th-century Dutch dramatist Joost van den Vondel, and the Old Testament’s "Song of Songs." The recording is a finalist in the 2015 International Opera Awards; the winners will be announced on April 26.

    Journal Topics: Artist News
  • Wednesday, March 11, 2015

    Composer Nico Muhly was the guest on NPR's On Point with Tom Ashbrook. His in-depth conversation with Ashbrook touches on a number of aspects of his work, not least his first large-scale opera, Two Boys. Nonesuch released the recording of Two Boys—recorded live during the Met's 2013 production with conductor David Robertson and director Bartlett Sher—in September. You can listen to the On Point interview here.

    Journal Topics: Artist News, Radio
  • Tuesday, March 10, 2015

    Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Olivia Chaney makes her album debut with The Longest River, available April 28 on Nonesuch Records. On the album, Chaney balances her original compositions with a selection of covers she has newly arranged that illustrate the broad sweep of her taste, from jazz to Purcell to folk. "Her voice holds the purity, tension, dignity and sorrow of a heritage full of songs about lost love and cruel fate," says the New York Times. "Ms. Chaney is thoroughly grounded in the past, from medieval music to [Joni] Mitchell. But in her quiet way, she’s radical." The Longest River is available to pre-order with an instant download of the album tracks "Imperfections" and "The King's Horses."

    Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist News