Britain is acknowledged as the musical capital of Europe. It is famed for being home to the The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Elton John, Rod Stewart, the Sex Pistols, The Clash, Elvis Costello, Coldplay, Adele, Florence+The Machine, One Direction – legendary figures across the world.
VisitBritain and UK Music have joined forces to exploit this worldwide interest in British music to boost tourism. A report – Wish You Were Here - suggests that with the right backing th
In the summertime, especially, whole Europe vibrates with the rhythm of the music events sic this summer with more festivals than ever. Many are huge, other still small and intimate with green grass instead of mud. Check out our list and hurry to plan trips!
Rock, pop & r’n'b
June 22-26: Glastonbury.
Incredibly large. Sold out in four hours when tickets were released in October, although no names booked yet been presented. Reported to 177 500 visitors. Among the top names include U2, Coldplay, Bey
Celia featured in a wall mural in Miami's Little Havana
“Ay, no hay que llorar
Que la vida es un carnaval
y es más bello vivir cantando…”
Today marks exactly a decade since the world lost one of its most memorable pop music giants. In the lines above, from one of her signature songs, Carnaval, the late Celia Cruz sang, “No need to cry – life is a carnival, and it’s more beautiful to live singing” (hear it in the video below). It's this positive philosophy in life that won her milli
The Thornton Winery in Temecula, CA is home to one of California’s longest running concert series. In fact, this year is the 25th anniversary of the Champagne Jazz Series. As you would expect, this summer’s lineup features some of the biggest and most popular of today’s Jazz performers (Dave Koz, Spyro Gyra, Kenny G, George Benson, Chris Botti, Boz Scaggs, etc.) I’ve enjoyed at least one concert at this intimate venue each of the last three summers and have been inspired by guitar god Lee Rite
Call me a masochist (or whatever), but even after sitting through the often cheesy but extremely popular annual song festival that is Eurovision and even penning a blow-by-blow review in May 2012, I’m back again this year. What is it about this spectacle that has captivated many in Europe and beyond ever since its inception in 1956? Several reasons, perhaps. Big pop-music spectaculars seem to do reliably well among the public, and many folks do of course tune in because they want to hear good
It all started as a bit of an accident. A big fan of Cuban music, American guitarist Ry Cooder had been invited to Cuba to work on a collaboration with local musicians and two well-known musical stars from Mali. When the Africans were denied entry visas to Cuba, Cooder set about creating his Plan B: A recording of Cuban son music with local musicians.
A Star is Born
The resulting album, recorded in only six days, included the title track Buena Vista Social Club and was released to critical acclaim
You got me there, actually. When a friend sent me the YouTube link for “Gangnam Style,” by a pudgy, 35-year-old South Korea hippity-hopper called Psy, I was bemused (no, not necessarily amused), to say the list. Whirling frantically from a kids’ playground to a horse barn to a sauna to a disco bus to a subway car to a toilet stall to a merry-go-round – actually, I’ll stop there, as the merry-go-round image is a pretty apt one, with the understanding that it’s kind of a carousel on crack. The mu
You may have heard about the current Thornton Winery Champagne Jazz series in Temecula wine country, and there’s lots of excitement about this year’s lineup. Kenny G & Earl Klugh perform July 22nd, and such luminaries as Rick Braun & Richard Elliott, Dave Koz, and George Benson are also scheduled for this 24th season.
While these shows are sure to be great, the bar for sheer entertainment value has been set quite high at the sold-out “Dream Tour” show featuring David Sanborn & Brian Culbertson
Ever since I’ve been traveling to Europe starting in 1977 – well before American Idol or The X Factor – the Eurovision annual song contest has been a big deal for more than a few of my Old World friends and acquaintances (not to mention the local media). I got to watch it several times surrounded by Europeans, and I must say, the enthusiasm generated by this reliably cheesy collection of crazy outfits, over-the-top antics and sometimes downright goofy tunes (here's a 2010 piece I found on it
Road trips the perfect travel format as far as I'm concerned. They give you flexibility and a glorious sense of independence and freedom. Whether you're driving across America like someone out of a Kerouac novel or touring Europe, driving is the way to go. But no road trip is ever complete without a matching soundtrack. A mix CD is the heart and soul of any half decent road trip. Here are some songs that need to be in any mix cd.
1. 500 Miles, The Proclaimers - The ultimate road trip song. It's
I’m a big fan of Latin pop, but I’ve come across few tunes lately that I’ve found to be such infectious earworms as Ai, se eu te pego! (Oh, If I Catch You!). It’s been a runaway hit in Brazil, Europe, and even Quebec since last summer, and is now starting to make a growing splash in the U.S. As the Miami Herald put it recently, this “may be the most popular song to come out of Brazil since "The Girl From Ipanema" in the 1960s. It’s been zooming up on the Spanish/Latin pop charts in the U.S.
by Nellie Huang
The beauty of a classic city like Budapest is undeniable and, for that reason, more than one movie director has chosen it as a film location, due to both its own merits and similarities to equally gorgeous destinations. Cities like the capital of Hungary are also a special gift for creators of music videos, who need to pack a musical story into no more than three or four minutes and make a visual impact from the very first notes. To do so, these directors take advantage of ae
When in Hong Kong, learn about something very Chinese. The Hong Kong Tourism Board offers a kaleidoscope of free cultural programs to help tourist learn about local culture, and one of them is a Cantonese opera appreciation class. This is an old and highly respected art form that blends Chinese legend, music and drama into an exciting performance style, rich in symbolic meaning. The class guides people through the Hong Kong Heritage Museum’s Cantonese opera Heritage Hall and its numerous displ
The Seneca Niagara Casino offer great entertainment, gaming, award-winning restaurants, and, of course, exciting gaming. Coming to the Seneca Niagara Events Center for several “Classic Christmas” performances are legendary singers Frankie Avalon and Susan Anton. Avalon, a 1960s teen idol and current star in the production The Golden Boys, has become a virtual “regular” at Seneca Cas
Oh sure, there's Shakira, Paulina, Thalia, Camila, Juanes, Marc, Ricky, and other popular poppers, God bless 'em. But ay, bendito, the sensation of the 12th annual Latin Grammy Awards earlier this month -- as it was at the same awards in 2009 -- was the Puerto Rican duo Calle 13, nominated for ten awards, and bringing home nine, breaking Colombian singer Juanes' lifetime Latin Grammys record. This pair of 33-year-old stepbrothers, tattooed René Pérez (aka "Residente") and bearded Eduardo Cabr
10. UP IN THE AIR SOUNDTRACK: A great movie with some great performances, but the soundtrack is also very good, well about half of it. Mixes new school and old school with some great messages. If you like travel, this is a great place to start with some music.
9: U2 GREATEST HITS. Ok, here's the thing. I'm not a obessive U2 fan or nothing. I just think they got some good tunes, its inspring, and they mean good. They aren't the next coming of Jesus, but, good guys making good music.
8: BRUCE SPR
