Musical History
The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center Calls Upon Its Community to Share the Power of Music
As an antidote for these times, 43 songs honoring joy, sorrow, rage and resistance
Newly Discovered Gainsborough Portrait Reveals Likeness of Overlooked Composer
The acclaimed British artist's painting of Czech musician Antonín Kammel may be worth upward of $1.3 million
Listen to the First Song Ever Recorded on This Ancient, Harp-Like Instrument
Tharun Sekar, a luthier based in southern India, has painstakingly recreated the long-lost yazh
How a Stint in Hamburg Helped Catapult the Beatles to Superstardom
A trove of letters and photographs associated with the band's time in Germany is set to go up for auction next month
Hear a 16th-Century Concert Recreated by a 'Musical Time Machine'
Researchers modeled the acoustics of Linlithgow Palace in Scotland to transport listeners back to a 1512 performance
Women Resistance Fighters of WWII, the Secret Lives of Ants and Other New Books to Read
These April releases elevate overlooked stories and offer insights on oft-discussed topics
A Brief History of the Harmonica
How the world’s handiest instrument took over American music
A Quest to Return the Banjo to Its African Roots
The Black Banjo Reclamation Project aims to put banjos into the hands of everyday people
Hear the Musical Sounds of an 18,000-Year-Old Giant Conch
The shell was played for the first time in millennia after being rediscovered in the collections of a French museum
A New Museum in Nashville Chronicles 400 Years of Black Music
The culmination of two decades of planning, the National Museum of African American Music opened its doors last month
How Black Composers Shaped the Sound of American Classical Music
A new project seeks to elevate artists like Harry T. Burleigh and Florence Price, whose work has been ignored by white audiences
Why the Newly Released 1980s Album 'Sons of Ethiopia,' by the Ethiopian D.C. Band Admas, Is Going Viral
Admas draws from and rearranges “golden era” Ethiopian music with then-fairly-new synthesizer and drum-machine rhythms.
From the 'Sidedoor' Podcast: How a Woman-Led Record Label Spread Songs of Protest and Revolution
This episode from the sixth season of the Smithsonian's "Sidedoor" podcast delves into the history of Barbara Dane's revolutionary Paredon Records
The True History Behind 'One Night in Miami'
Regina King's directorial debut dramatizes a 1964 meeting between Cassius Clay, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown
Musician Sunny Jain Reflects on Jainism, Jazz and the Punjabi Dhol Drum
While the originations of the dhol are not known with complete certainty, what is known is that it is a sound that has migrated
Kid Ory Finally Gets the Encore He Deserves
The childhood home of the musician who put New Orleans jazz on the map will soon open to the public
'The Great Gatsby,' Songs by Ma Rainey and Other Classic Works Are Now in the Public Domain
Canonical books, songs and films became free to use in 2021
How Elvis Helped America Eliminate Polio
The rock star's much-publicized vaccination inspired reluctant U.S. teens to get inoculated
How Young America Came to Love Beethoven
On the 250th anniversary of the famous composer’s birth, the story of how his music first took hold across the Atlantic
The Soviet Spy Who Invented the First Major Electronic Instrument
Created by a Russian engineer, the theremin has delighted and confounded audiences since 1920
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