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Music

Johnny Gandelsman (violin), Colin Jacobsen (violin), and Nicholas Cords (viola) performing with fellow Silk Road Ensemble musicians

Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble Celebrates Our Differences Through Song

“Sing Me Home” is a multicultural feast for the ears

Cool Finds

‘The Shining’ Looks to Raise Hairs and Octaves in Its Opera Debut

The Minnesota Opera will debut its take on the horror novel in a new production by Pulitzer-prize winning composer Paul Moravec

Montruex's Freddie Mercury statue

Europe

Break Free in Freddie Mercury’s Montreux

Visit the Swiss town where Queen’s frontman recorded some of his greatest hits

Swiss yodeling choir Jodlerclub Echo during a competition.

Switzerland

How to Yodel Like a Local

The Swiss tradition is much more than a simple yodel-ay-ee-oooo

The page of The Consolation of Philosophy once stolen from The Cambridge Songs

Cool Finds

‘Lost’ Medieval Music Performed for the First Time in 1,000 Years

Researchers and musicians at Cambridge reconstruct songs from ‘The Consolation of Philosophy’

ArcAttack's lightning guitarist wears a protective Faraday suit.

Future Is Here Festival

When Electricity and Music Collide, the Tesla Coils Sing

The band ArcAttack delivers a high-voltage performance with a side of science education

Prince designed and used this 1989 custom-made Yellow-cloud electric guitar, built by the Minneapolis firm Knut-Koupee. It features his personal symbol at the top and on the side of the fingerboard.

Trending Today

Beyond Raspberry Berets: What Prince Left Behind

From portraits to guitars, The Artist’s legacy lives on at the Smithsonian

One of a series of psychedelic concert posters done by artist Wes Wilson between 1966 and 1968 for concert promoter Bill Graham of San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium

How a Psychedelic Concert Poster Rocked the World

C’mon baby light my flier

Smithsonian Best Small Towns 2016

The 20 Best Small Towns to Visit in 2016

In honor of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, our top picks this year are all towns close to America’s natural splendors

The leaders of the March on Washington link arms.

Trending Today

Lawyers Who Made the Birthday Song Public Domain Take Aim at Civil Rights Anthem

A group of filmmakers want to remove the copyright from “We Shall Overcome”

Run-DMC-JMJ on the rooftop of Russell Simmons's apt

Breaking Ground

Vintage Photos Recall the Early Days of Hip-Hop, Before It Became a Billion-Dollar Industry

More than 400 images from the 1980s to the early 2000s detail the “standout moments” of the rise of Run DMC, Grandmaster Flash, Jay Z and many more artists

Wayne Shorter and McCoy Tyner at Shorter's April 29, 1964 session for "Night Dreamer" at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

These Rarely Seen Images Show Jazz Greats Pouring Out Their Hearts

Frank Wolff’s gritty portraits, the hallmark of Blue Note Records, became a visual catalog of jazz in action

Don Cheadle stars as Miles Davis in the new film Miles Ahead.

Smithsonian Jazz Expert Gives Liner Notes to the New Miles Davis Biopic

The American History Museum’s James Zimmerman dives into Miles Davis’ sound and style

Cool Finds

Three Surprising Finds from the New Alan Lomax Archive

A new online database shares more than 17,000 recordings from the folk music archivist

David Baker directing the SJMO in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall

Jazz Legend David Baker’s Soaring Legacy

Smithsonian’s maestro, a founding director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, has died at the age of 84

Digital Skin by Mateo Mounier

See Dozens of Dazzling New Light Installations in Baltimore This Week

Light City Baltimore is a massive, site-specific festival, launched in hopes of becoming an annual spectacle

A self-portrait made by Johnny Rotten on the walls of the studio where the Sex Pistols recorded their first demos.

Cool Finds

Johnny Rotten’s Graffiti Made These Buildings Historic Landmarks

The Sex Pistols’ home and recording studio are now protected as a cultural heritage sites

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