https://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/blog/smithsonian-year-music/RSS feed for Smithsonian Year of MusicenThu, 13 Jun 2019 14:48:28 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-year-music/2019/06/13/towering-figure-music-pete-seegers-centennial/An interview with Curator and Producer Jeff Place about Pete Seeger, the celebrations for Seeger's 100th birthday, and the retrospective album recently released by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Thu, 13 Jun 2019 14:48:28 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-year-music/2019/06/13/towering-figure-music-pete-seegers-centennial/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-year-music/2019/05/15/marian-anderson-interview/Smithsonian Music interviews Curator Leslie Ureña, of the National Portrait Gallery, about the upcoming exhibition, "One Life: Marian Anderson."Wed, 15 May 2019 18:49:21 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-year-music/2019/05/15/marian-anderson-interview/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-year-music/2019/04/18/lee-mingwei-music-and-sonic-blossom/In anticipation of the National Portrait Gallery’s presentation of IDENTIFY: Sonic Blossom by Lee Mingwei, the artist discusses the role of music in his practice with the Portrait Gallery’s associate curator of photographs, Leslie Ureña.Thu, 18 Apr 2019 19:16:03 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-year-music/2019/04/18/lee-mingwei-music-and-sonic-blossom/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-year-music/2019/04/18/japan-jazz-and-movies-freersackler-april/On April 6, in honor of this year’s National Cherry Blossom Festival, the Freer Gallery of Art will host the third after-hours event in our new Freer Film Fridays series. The evening will include food, drink, and a performance by up-and-coming jazz drummer Tomohiro Mori’s trio—all leading up to a classic Japanese movie about dueling jazz drummers, The Stormy Man.Thu, 18 Apr 2019 19:14:10 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-year-music/2019/04/18/japan-jazz-and-movies-freersackler-april/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-year-music/2019/04/18/reflections-puerto-rican-plena-post-hurricane-maria/Some musical genres are just particular—particular to a region or a community, without aspiring to be universally relevant or to commercially conquer new audiences. I think of the plena this way, an island-born genre that is performed throughout the Puerto Rican diaspora to nourish a collective sense of identity, memory, and feeling. It is a rhythmic, tambourine (pandero/pandereta) and voice-based genre that was created to share local stories (often described as a spoken newspaper). Its beat, mobile instrumentation, and participatory singing make it perfect for processions, as well as impromptu concerts and protests. The plena is a genre with songwriters who really have something to say about the historical and contemporary experiences of Puerto Ricans on and off the island. It is similar to other regional genres, like the gaita zuliana from Venezuela or Trinidad’s calypso, which are deeply steeped in the political and social contexts of their listeners. Thu, 18 Apr 2019 19:11:53 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-year-music/2019/04/18/reflections-puerto-rican-plena-post-hurricane-maria/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-year-music/2019/04/18/music-white-house-18th-21st-centuries/A guest post by Elise Kirk, author of Music at the White HouseThu, 18 Apr 2019 19:05:14 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-year-music/2019/04/18/music-white-house-18th-21st-centuries/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-year-music/2019/04/18/louis-armstrong-first-great-jazz-soloist/August 4, 2016 marked the 115th birthday of music icon Louis Armstrong. Armstrong’s immediately recognizable style and playful sense of humor helped to make him one of the single most important—if not the most important—figures in American music history. Here are three key aspects of Armstrong’s life and music.Thu, 18 Apr 2019 18:57:48 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-year-music/2019/04/18/louis-armstrong-first-great-jazz-soloist/