Music

This Cleveland DJ Popularized Rock 'n' Roll

Dancing – and dancing shows – became a teenage craze in the 1950s, spurred by figures like Cleveland DJ, Alan Freed

Esperanza Spalding’s Pop Culture Loves

She may not own a television, but the Grammy-award winning musician definitely has her favorite books and films

AI is now able to synthesize new sounds from old ones, and even compose original music

AI Is Edging Into the Art World in Psychedelic Ways

The team at Google is using neural networks to create tools that they hope will inspire and channel creativity

“Love Symbol #2”

Prince Now Has His Own Shade of Purple

The Pantone Color Institute has debuted “Love Symbol #2,” a deep purple based on the late star's custom-made piano

Kim Novak and Sammy Davis Jr.'s relationship endangered both of their careers.

Hollywood Loved Sammy Davis Jr. Until He Dated a White Movie Star

A decade before the Supreme Court ruled in favor of interracial marriage, the Rat Packer risked losing his career—and his life

Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, the first two commercially popular country music acts, got their national start at the Bristol Sessions.

How the Bristol Sessions Created Country Music

Ninety years ago, a yodeller named Jimmie Rodgers laid down two of the tracks he would be remembered for

A Brooklyn Basketball Court Is Named After Notorious B.I.G.

Previous attempts to honor the rapper were stymied by community board members who took offense to Biggie’s lyrics, criminal history and even his weight

Christylez Bacon at the Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

Christylez Bacon on Finding His Voice through Music

The Grammy-nominated artist takes inspiration from weaving together seemingly disparate musical forms

A page from Holst's lost "Folk Songs From Somerset"

Lost Manuscripts From Composer of “The Planets” Found in New Zealand

No one is sure how the handwritten scores by Gustav Holst ended up in the archives of the Bay of Plenty Symphonia

Sony Will Start Pressing Vinyl Records After a 28-Year Hiatus

The company stopped producing vinyl records in 1989

Lining up at the Big Top for the 2017 Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Step Right Up to the Big Top Circus Tent at the 50th Annual Folklife Festival

The day the circus rolled into Washington, D.C., and other tales from the Smithsonian’s hot summer party on the National Mall

Mount Aragats in Aragatsotn, Armenia.

Why This Composer Made Melodies Out of Mountainsides

This forgotten Armenian musicologist literally drew the landscapes into his folksong scores

Bob Fosse was a mean dancer himself–here he is playing the snake in 1974's "The Little Prince."

Choreographer Bob Fosse Is the Forgotten Author of Modern Musicals

Fosse's signature style influenced everything from Michael Jackson to today's musicals

When The Slants filed for trademark protection, they got more than they bargained for.

Offensive Terms Are No Longer Exempt From Trademark Protection

A Supreme Court ruling affirms a reclaimed slur

“I felt that I was always connected to the world and the people of the world, and that activism was in me from a very young age,” Ono says.

The Long and Winding Road of Yoko Ono’s Art

A Hirshhorn exhibition of four works opens the same week Ono is credited, 46 years later, as a co-writer of the chart-topping ballad “Imagine.”

Demetrius Shipp Jr. as Tupac Shakur in All Eyez On Me.

The Musical Legacy Behind the Tupac Biopic 'All Eyez on Me'

Curator Dwandalyn Reece from the Smithsonian’s African American Museum investigates

iForest is an immersive sound experience located at The Wild Center in the Adirondacks.

This Forest Will Sing to You

iForest at The Wild Center combines an immersive sound experience with the lush beauty of the Adirondacks

Bob Dylan has finally delivered his Nobel Prize lecture.

Dylan Finally Delivers on Nobel Prize Lecture

The reclusive singer-songwriter muses on literature and music in characteristic style

Why Does Every American Graduation Play ‘Pomp and Circumstance’?

The song was written for a British king’s coronation and its name is a Shakespeare reference. What gives?

The interior of the 1876 Glaciarium

The First Artificial Skating Rinks Looked Pretty But Smelled Terrible

Before the technology to reliably freeze water existed, the first rinks used pig fat and salts

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