Search results for

The avant-garde improviser used to joke: "I do country music; it's just a matter of what country." Now on his first North American tour in more than two decades, he describes his atmospheric electronics and soft, subtle trumpet style.

Idan Raichel has made his name by mixing cinematic Israeli pop with the sounds of his country's immigrant community. His latest album reaches even farther afield, with singers from Colombia, Rwanda and the Cape Verde Islands.

O'Neal's Whirling Mantis is named for a defensive move in karate. The martial-arts reference suggests one way to look at how O'Neal's music operates: The players react to each other's moves, deflecting one another in stylized interaction.

NPR's Juana Summers speaks with Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona about grant funds the administration is making available for HBCUs that have recently experienced a bomb threat.

The threat of a terrorist attack against the United States is "still serious but we have made substantial headway since Sept. 11th," FBI Director Robert Mueller says. Al Qaeda has been disrupted continues to operate in "pockets" around the world, he tells NPR's Juan Williams. Hear an extended version of the Morning Edition interview.

Scotland is famous for its whisky, of course, but there's another brew the locals crave. IRN BRU, an achingly sweet orange soda, outsells all rivals -- even the ubiquitous Coca-Cola. NPR's Susan Stone reports.

Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho is a household name in most parts of the world. His new novel, Eleven Minutes, was a global best seller last year -- everywhere but the United States. Now Coelho is setting his sights on the American literary market, which remains stubbornly indifferent to foreign best sellers. NPR's Martin Kaste reports.

Havana-born writer Achy Obejas returns to her native city with a novel called Ruins. It's a bittersweet portrait of Cuban life in the mid-1990s.

Weird Al is a music and comedy legend, and the subject of Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, a parody biopic about his very real life. He may be Weird Al, but what does he know about Weird Alabama?

The annual Violin Society of America conference showcases new, experimental concepts in the world of strings. But hidden behind the balsa wood violins and shrunken violas are craftsmen who prize great-sounding instruments above all.