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Music

Bob Dylan by John Cohen, 1962

Poetry Matters

Is Bob Dylan a Poet?

As the enigmatic singer, songwriter and troubadour takes the Nobel Prize in literature, one scholar ponders what his work is all about

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Cuba

What to Read, Watch and Download Before Your Trip to Cuba

Know before you go

MythBusters’ Adam Savage and a team of makers from Baltimore made these letters, which lit up every time someone posted to social media using the hashtag #sxsl.

Here’s What You Missed At the White House’s First-Ever South By South Lawn Festival

On Monday, artists, musicians, tech enthusiasts and other innovators gathered in the president’s backyard to celebrate a bright future

A new study investigates booze in bars.

Loud Sounds Can Make Your Drink Seem Stronger

The scientific reason that clubbing and cocktails go hand in hand—but shouldn’t always

New Research

Listen to the First Computer-Made Tune on Alan Turing’s Synthesizer

From code-breaker to musical innovator

Cool Finds

You, Too, Could Own a Copy of the Voyager Golden Record

Ozma records is producing a box set of the album sent into the cosmos to reach out to potential extraterrestrial life

Al Capone's criminal record in 1932. Despite a litany of charges, he ended up being nabbed for tax evasion.

Cool Finds

This Letter Tells What Al Capone Was Up to in Alcatraz

Two words: prison band

The Voice of Tomorrow Choir on the front porch of the new National Museum of African American History and Culture

Breaking Ground

What You Need to Know About the September 24 NMAAHC Grand Opening

Entry Passes are all gone for today, but there is plenty to see and do on the National Mall

9th Wonder is a GRAMMY Award-winning producer, DJ, college lecturer, and social activist.

Breaking Ground

The Music Is Turned Up High at the Freedom Festival (PHOTOS)

Where to go and who to hear as the celebrations begin at the concert on the National Mall “Freedom Sounds”

Alaska's yellow-cedar forests are slowly dying as climate change takes root.

Anthropocene

This Music Was Composed by Climate Change

Dying forests make magnificently melancholy listening

George Clinton donated to the museum his Parliament Funkadelic Mothership.

Breaking Ground

The New Exhibition on Black Music Could Give Other Museums a Run for Their Money

The collections in the show “Musical Crossroads” at the African American History Museum are near encyclopedic in their scope

The hate crime that killed Matthew Shepard was the impetus for a new choral work.

Trending Today

A New Choral Work Was Inspired by the Death of Matthew Shepard

“Considering Matthew Shepard” finds hope inside a story of hate

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Breaking Ground

The Musical Lineup for the Opening of the African American History Museum Is Announced and It’s Great

The ‘Freedom Sounds’ Festival includes D.C. Go-Go band Experience Unlimited, Public Enemy, The Roots, Living Colour and more

Breaking Ground

The Powerful Objects From the Collections of the Smithsonian’s Newest Museum

These artifacts each tell a part of the African-American story

Michael Jackson performs in Kansas City, Kansas during the "Victory" tour in 1984.

Breaking Ground

Michael Jackson’s Costumes Show Why Nobody Can Beat the King of Pop When it Comes to Style

Outfits from the Jackson’s “Victory” tour will be part of an inaugural exhibition at the African American History Museum

Free timed-entry passes to the new museum, which opens September 24, are available beginning August 27 at 9 a.m., EDT

Breaking Ground

How to Get Timed-Entry Passes for National Museum of African American History and Culture

It’s finally time to plan your trip to NMAAHC

Redd Velvet (born Crystal Tucker) started her career as a classically trained singer. In her early 40s she moved to Memphis and switched to the blues.

Keeping the Blues Alive

Is blues music a thing of the past? A festival in Memphis featuring musicians of all ages and nationalities shouts an upbeat answer

While on tour in the 1980s and 1990s, Ray Charles played this Yamaha KX88 electronic keyboard MIDI controller, customized with Braille.

Cool Finds

How the Library of Congress Is Digitizing Its Braille Music Collection

It’s not as simple as putting it through a scanner

One of Johnny Cash's last cars, whose design was inspired by the song "One Piece at a Time."

American South

Explore Johnny Cash’s Tennessee Ranch-Turned Museum

Complete with a car built “one piece at a time”

Grab a book, grab a mic, get down.

Cool Finds

Finland’s Hot New Karaoke Bar Is a Public Library

Don’t stop believin’ in the power of music

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