(headline image: professional walnut setar MOS-4) The Persian setar (سهتار) occupies a distinctive place in Iranian classical music and in adjacent musical cultures influenced by…
British writer and musician John Phillpott looks at the life and times of Huddie Ledbetter – the legendary Lead Belly – examining his legacy and…
(headline image: Making The Accordion Great Again: Liberty Bellows exhibition – Photo by Angel Romero) Few instruments move as fluidly through working-class dance halls, classical…
British writer and musician John Phillpott digs deep in the Mississippi mud and unearths the legacy of W. C. Handy, the legendary Father of the…
(headline image: Camac 34 string Telenn harp) Harp history reaches back to the earliest urban cultures and continues to evolve in the present day. Visual…
(headline image: Sam Bennet – Photo from The James Madison Carpenter Collection, Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, AFC 1972/001 Photo…
(headline image: Berimbau) The berimbau is a single-stringed musical bow that functions as both instrument and cultural emblem. Though now most closely associated with Brazil,…
On Friday, June 27, at Festival MED 25, dedicated this year to Cabo Verde, not only did more people arrive, but we were also greeted…
(Headline image: a photo of a Ukrainian bandura. Trembita brand.) Ukrainian music is more than mere art, it is the living voice of a nation,…
Loulé cast aside its provincial character and, for three days, became a vibrant musical capital of the world. Around 25,000 people gathered to celebrate another…