Music

Music

An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times. I think that is true of painters, sculptors, poets, musicians. How can you be an artist and not reflect the times? That to me is the definition of an artist.

Nina Simone

Nina Simone: An Artist's Duty Is to Reflect the Times
Monday, 02 December 2019 10:34

Nina Simone: An Artist's Duty Is to Reflect the Times

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Chris Guiton discusses Nina Simone's Mississippi Goddam Every now and then a song comes along that defines an epoch. “Mississippi Goddam” by jazz and blues singer-songwriter Nina Simone was one such song. The song was Simone’s impassioned response to the racist murder of civil rights activist Medgar Evers in Jackson,…
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Béla Bartók: folk music, censorship and anti-fascism
K2_PUBLISHED_ON Wednesday, 23 October 2019 15:54

Béla Bartók: folk music, censorship and anti-fascism

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Michael Jarvie discusses the life and work of Béla Bartók If you’ve ever seen Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining you will have heard some of Bartók’s characteristic ‘night music’ – in this instance the eerie third movement of his magnificent Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. During his lifetime he…
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Calum Baird: Modern Man
K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 17 September 2019 09:30

Calum Baird: Modern Man

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Chris Guiton reviews Calum Baird's latest release Calum Baird’s new single Modern Man is a potent take on male identity. The Edinburgh-based singer-songwriter and political activist writes about socialist and progressive themes in a deceptively simple folk music style. He describes Modern Man as a “critique of masculinity as a…
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The Bread and Roses Songwriting and Spoken Word Award 2020
K2_PUBLISHED_ON Friday, 13 September 2019 16:03

The Bread and Roses Songwriting and Spoken Word Award 2020

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Mollie Brown introduces the Bread & Roses Songwriting and Spoken Word Award 2020, and 'the instinctive joy of taking control of cultural production' The Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) and Culture Matters are pleased to announce the third edition of their successful Bread & Roses Songwriting and Spoken Word Award. The…
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Attica Blues: The Power of Music
Tuesday, 10 September 2019 14:57

Attica Blues: The Power of Music

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Chris Guiton discusses the Attica prison riot of September 1971, and Archie Shepp's creative response to it In September 1971, the bloodiest prison riot that the United States has ever experienced took place at the Attica Correctional Facility in Attica, New York. Archie Shepp, one of the great American jazz…
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Jazz and Justice
Monday, 26 August 2019 13:23

Jazz and Justice

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Daniel Rosenberg reviews Jazz and Justice: Racism and the Political Economy of the Music by Gerald Horne. Capitalism turns art into product, which is put on the shelf with other products. Here you have something that is really precious, that really mirrors the human experience, it speaks to the human…
Gerald Horne Charlie Parker Charles Mingus Fats Waller Gigi Gryce Vi Redd Mary Lou Williams Sonny Rollins Dave Brubeck
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Happy 100th birthday, Pete Seeger
Friday, 19 April 2019 08:01

Happy 100th birthday, Pete Seeger

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Jenny Farrell honours Pete Seeger as we near what would have been his 100th birthday There are few people more famous in the political song movement than Pete Seeger. Along with his contemporaries Paul Robeson, Woody Guthrie and others, Seeger represented the might of song in highlighting the common cause,…
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