One of the most simultaneously life-affirming and heart-wrenching stories in the history of the genre we call The Blues is the story of Satan and Adam….

When jazz singers “scat” they use the voice to improvise, making sounds that express the emotion of their music much like jazz instrumentalists create solos on a trumpet or trombone….

“Bajo Sexto y Accordeon” is a rollicking conjunto/tejano song found on the recent Smithsonian recording “Taquachito Nights: Conjunto Music from South Texas….”

A “fais do-do” is an energetic “Cajun hoedown,” a community event full of music, good folks and great food, that takes place on a Saturday evening at a public dancehall and may very well go all night….

A Pow Wow is a Native American/First Nations social and cultural gathering, a time for Native American tribes — sometimes just one tribe, but more often many — to sing, dance, socialize and respect their communal traditions….

When we say hip hop is everywhere, we mean everywhere….

In the middle of the summer far up north in Scandinavia the days grow longer and longer and people get ready for a party….

Mari Boine, who you'll see in this video, is Norway's best known Sami vocalist. Her otherworldly "joik" vocals and her outspoken support of the Sami people have made her a formidable artistic and political presence in Scandinavia.

Schuplattler a style of traditional Bavarian folk dancing in which dancers stomp their feet, clap their hands and slap the soles of their shoes (Schuhe), their thighs and their knees with their hands flat (platt).

Adriano Celentano is a delightfully dynamic Italian singer-songwriter-comedian who has sold over 150 million albums worldwide, and has starred in dozens of films….

Is Carlos Nuñez really a “Spanish Irishman…?”

Let’s meet Django Reinhardt, the Belgian jazz guitarist — who some say was the best guitarist who ever lived — known as “Three-Fingered Lightening.”

Embodied by the band The Who as early as the mid-‘1960s, there could be no question that ROCK in England was real….

In our classes this week we move on to exploring (and enjoying!) the music of Western Europe….

When All Around This World says "Everything is a Drum," we mean EVERYTHING. In Vanuatu, in the Pacific Islands, there is a tradition of women wading into the water and using the water -- yes, the water! -- as a drum.

Hawaii’s most beloved song, fit for a Queen.

New Zealand’s national female rugby team, the Black Ferns, powers forward with this stirring haka.

‘Imene tuki are a heavenly hybrid, songs that infuse Church hymns with cascading multi-part harmonies and elements of pre-colonization chants that capture the musical spirit of the Pacific’s Cook Islands….