Music

Meet Instrument Designer John Vassos, Who Gave the Hohner Harmonica a Sleek New Look

Over 1 million people have made the pilgrimage to the ecologically sensitive spot since 2015.

Justin Bieber Ruined This Idyllic Icelandic Canyon

Over a million people have tromped the edges of Fjaðrárgljúfur since Biebs danced on its edge in a 2015 video

American actor Doris Day with mutt co-star Hobo on the set of director Charles Walters's film, 'Please Don't Eat the Daisies'.

Doris Day's Biggest Hit Is a Song She Could Have Done Without

"Que Sera, Sera" is synonomous with the actress and singer who died on Monday at age 97, though she was never a fan of the tune she called 'a kiddie song'

152 Nassau

The Site of Country Music's First Recorded Hit Is Set to Be Demolished

152 Nassau Street in Atlanta was home to the first country music recording hit made before the genre even had a name

The Awakening, February 20, 1915 Chromolithograph

Nine Women’s History Exhibits to See This Year

Museums around the country are celebrating how the contributions of remarkable women changed everything from human rights to mariachi music

"My job as an artist is to inspire and heal," he says. "Around the election, my listeners were so distraught and I was distressed, too... so I felt compelled to create a piece of music ["Marigolds"] that would heal and educate."

Kishi Bashi on Turning Hard History Into Memorable Music

Plus, listen to an exclusive debut of 'Marigolds' off his new album, 'Omoiyari'

In 1904, Joseph Kekuku, inventor of the Hawaiian steel guitar, left Hawaii to perform on the American West Coast. Newspaper critics called him the “world’s greatest guitar soloist.”

How the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Changed American Music

The season finale of Sidedoor tells the story of an indigenous Hawaiian instrument with a familiar sound and unexpected influences

Rhiannon Giddens is joined by Canadian-American musician-songwriter Allison Russell (Po’ Girl, Birds of Chicago), Leyla McCalla (Carolina Chocolate Drops) and Amythyst Kiah (Amythyst Kiah & Her Chest of Glass) for the new album Songs of Our Native Daughters.

Why These Four Banjo-Playing Women Resurrected the Songs of the Enslaved

The new Folkways album "Songs of Our Native Daughters" draws spiritually from slave narratives and other pre-19th-century sources

Installation view of "Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock and Roll"

From Buddy Holly to Lady Gaga, the Met's New 'Play It Loud' Exhibit Features the Instruments of Rock and Roll Greats

The show includes more than 130 guitars, drum kits and keyboards, as well as vintage costumes, posters and concert footage

Skrillex's Grammy-winning “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” could help researchers discourage the spread of mosquito-borne diseases

Playing Skrillex May Help Ward Off Mosquito Bites

The EDM artist’s mix of very high and low frequency beats discourages the insects from biting victims, having sex

The 404th AFS Band pictured in Fort Des Moines

Seventy-Five Years Ago, the Military’s Only All-Black Female Band Battled the War Department and Won

The women of the 404th Armed Service Forces band raised morale and funds for the military, but they had to fight discrimination to do so

Queen Liliʻuokalani (above in Honolulu in 1917) “was one of the most successful composers . . . so much so that her repertoire remains at the forefront of those performed by Hawaiian musicians today,” says the Smithsonian's John Troutman

How the Music of Hawaiʻi’s Last Ruler Guided the Island’s People Through Crisis

A prolific composer, Queen Liliʻuokalani created some of the most popular Hawaiian tunes and compositions of all time

Scientists Played Music to Cheese as It Aged. Hip-Hop Produced the Funkiest Flavor

Researchers played nonstop loops of Led Zeppelin, A Tribe Called Quest and Mozart to cheese wheels to find out how sound waves impacted flavor

Gladys Bentley’s powerful voice, fiery energy on the piano and bold lyrics made her a star of New York City nightclubs.

The Great Blues Singer Gladys Bentley Broke All the Rules

For the Smithsonian’s Sidedoor podcast, host Haleema Shah tells the story of an unapologetically gay African-American performer in 1920s and 30s

The team's findings could have implications for the treatment of human communication disorders

Meet the Singing Mice of Central America

The vocal critters could help scientists better understand the mechanics of human conversation

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Attention Music Lovers, Here's Why You Need to Visit Kentucky This Spring

Home to the 144-mile U.S. 23 Country Music Highway, eastern Kentucky has produced more country music stars per capita than any other U.S. region.

Giddens with her beloved cherry, maple and rosewood minstrel banjo, a replica of a design by the 19th-century Baltimore luthier Levi Brown.

Rhiannon Giddens' 21st-Century Sound Has a Long History

Inspired by long-lost folk melodies, gospel, opera and bluegrass, the electrifying singer and banjo player gives fresh voice to old American traditions

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A Smithsonian Year of Music

A special report pulling together our coverage of music within the Smithsonian collections and around the world

At Gobbler’s Knob, Punxsutawney Phil is proudly lifted like Simba high overhead by his top-hatted Groundhog Club handler. Will it be six more weeks of winter or an early spring? Only the groundhog knows.

Play a Groundhog Day Song on a Continuous Loop

Like Bill Murray, wake up to Groundhog Day everyday with the Smithsonian Folkways' groundhog playlist

Amazing Grace captivates, says the Smithsonian's Christopher Wilson from the National Museum of American History. It is 90-minutes of "living the genius of Aretha and the passion of the tradition she embraced and represented."

Aretha Franklin’s Decades-Old Documentary Finally Comes to Theaters in 2019

The 2019 nationwide release, 47 years after it was made, means audiences at last will see the Queen of Soul’s transcendent masterpiece

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