Accessibility links
Arts & Life Art and entertainment commentary plus interviews, book reviews, movie reviews, music reviews, comedy, and visual art. Subscribe to podcasts and follow trends in music, painting, art, architecture, photography, and design.

Arts & Life

Review

Music Reviews

Issa Bagayogo's 'Timbuktu'

A CD from Mali's Issa Bagayogo attempts to combine traditional African roots music and modern pop sounds into songs that don't sound like throbbing dance-club tunes. Reviewer Banning Eyre says Timbuktu strikes a magical balance between roots authenticity and 21st century hip.

Issa Bagayogo's 'Timbuktu'

Listen · 4:10
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1141068/141068" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Peabody Award-Winning Stories

Stories of Love & Marriage

NPR listeners contribute stories commemorating the life and history of the World Trade Center. Some of the most surprising were about weddings. The Sonic Memorial Project uncovered tales of romance and marriage that took place 1,377 feet above sea level.

Stories of Love & Marriage

Listen · 12:47
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/3057070/138076" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Lost & Found Sound

Conrad's Garage

Frank Conrad's garage near Pittsburgh is widely considered to be the birthplace of modern broadcasting. For 94-year-old Harry Mills, memories of Conrad's earliest broadcasts still ring with excitement. Hear the story of radio's early days on All Things Considered. It's part of NPR's continuing Lost and Found Sound series.

Conrad's Garage

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1134125/134125" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Evildoers

The Darker Side of Bert

Regular watchers of Sesame Street may have noticed that the Muppet character Bert sometimes has certain grumpy tendencies. And consumers of Internet satire have long known about the "Bert is Evil" Web site. Linda Wertheimer explains.

The Darker Side of Bert

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1131249/131249" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Theater

'The Producers': Mel Brooks Begs Robert Siegel For A Tony

Host Robert Siegel talks with director Mel Brooks about his hit Broadway musical, The Producers. Brooks would really REALLY like to win a Tony Award.

'The Producers': Mel Brooks Begs Robert Siegel For A Tony

Listen · 8:19
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1122941/122941" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Lost & Found Sound

Lost and Found Sound: Grateful Dead Revived

In today's installment from the Lost & Found Sound series we hear the music of the Grateful Dead re-invented in the studio by the a cappella soul singers, The Persuasions. Their new CD, Might as Well... The Persuasions Sing Grateful Dead, has just been released. (12:30)

Might As Well: The Persuasions Sing Grateful Dead is distributed by BMG and Arista.
Find out more at: http://www.npr.org/programs/lnfsound/stories/001020.stories.html

Lost and Found Sound: Grateful Dead Revived

Only Available in Archive Formats.

Lost & Found Sound

Lost And Found Sound: <I>The Mother Ship</I>

In today's installment of "Lost and Found Sound," we hear a story from writer Tracy Johnston about a sound she collected years ago while traveling in Africa. She was visiting northern Nigeria with a friend who was returning to his grandfathers' village. And she was struck by the greetings people exchanged. It was not just what people had to say, asking about every member of the family, the cattle and all your possessions, but also how it was delivered. There was a joy and love in their expressions -- something she listens to every once in a while to once again feel that sense of connectedness. (6:15)

The music used as part of the piece was the following, Miriam Makeba - "SANGOMA" (South African) (Warner Bros. Records) CUT 17 - "UMAM' UYAJABULA" ("Mama is Happy")

The music that followed the piece is listed below.

Lost And Found Sound: The Mother Ship

Only Available in Archive Formats.

Lost & Found Sound

Lost and Found Sound: Manicurists

The Kitchen Sisters, Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva, with Laura Folger present a sonic montage that allows Vietnamese immigrant women to tell about their experiences in coming to the United States.

Lost and Found Sound: Manicurists

Listen · 20:22
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1073505/521707642" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Lost & Found Sound

Lost and Found Sound

In our latest installment of our occasional Lost and Found Sound series, producer Yair Reiner presents Jack Foley: Feet to the Stars. Jack Foley is a Hollywood legend---he did his job best by not letting anyone know he existed. But Foley's legacy lives on in every film and television program we watch---it's there in the footsteps of the star walking down a street, in the rustle of a dress, in the pounding of horse-hoofs. Foley made these sounds and many more on his stage at Universal studios. Foley was there on the studio's maiden voyage into sound pictures. At first, he and his team of sound men had only one chance to get all the sound right. Foley figured out that by projecting the film and recording the sound effects in sync, he would get the best effect---and he would do each effect one at a time, till the various sounds were all put together with the film--a method today called Foley. Foley's stage looked more like a garage than a recording studio---dirt, gravel, and lots of junk everywhere. These were the tools of his trade. Foley's voice was never recorded and there are no pictures of him at his work---but he is remembered by those who worked with him.

Lost and Found Sound

Only Available in Archive Formats.