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Diego El Cigala: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert 0 (0)

Every now and then, if we are extremely lucky, we are witness to a musical game changer. That is the rare musician who single-handedly alters the direction of a genre though the power of musical vision and artistry. Diego El Cigala is one of those game changers. While he comes from the world of flamenco, he has deftly expanded his expressive range by applying his unmistakable voice to boleros, Spanish copla, tangos, jazz and various combinations of all of the above. See and hear for yourself how one musician can create something completely new by drawing on traditions that are [See More…]

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DakhaBrakha: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert 0 (0)

People always ask me, “What’s your favorite Tiny Desk Concert?” Well, right now it’s the one recently performed by DakhaBrakha. The creative quartet from Kiev, Ukraine make music that sounds like nothing I’ve ever heard, with strands of everything I’ve ever heard. There are rhythms that sound West African and drone that feels as if it could have emanated from India or Australia. At times, DakhaBrakha is simply a rock band whose crazy homeland harmonies are filled with joy. All the while, they play tight-knit tunes featuring accordion, drums, reeds and shakers while wearing tall, Marge Simpson-looking wool hats that [See More…]

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Dan Deacon: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert 0 (0)

Sometime years from now I may be asked: What was your favorite day at NPR? I am likely to say it’s the day Dan Deacon got the NPR staff worked up into a giant dance party! It’s also the day Deacon and staff wheeled in an upright piano and connected it to his computer — a magical mix of old player piano and electronic avant-garde. Yes, Deacon makes electronic music and dance music, but it’s not the thump thump thump stuff you’d go to a club for. It’s a mix of Brian Eno, Philip Glass and your kids’ birthday party [See More…]

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Yusuf/Cat Stevens: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert 0 (0)

In the summer of 1971, I was a camp counselor at a sleep-away camp for a bunch of 5- to 7-year-olds. For those eight weeks, I walked home with about $50. I bought a guitar and began to learn the songs I’d come to love from the recently released Tea for the Tillerman by Cat Stevens. “Father and Son” touched me most — it’s a song about growing old, and about beliefs and conviction. More than 40 years later, that songwriter is performing at my desk with his son standing right behind me. You can never imagine the turns life [See More…]

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St. Paul And The Broken Bones: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert 0 (0)

Close your eyes and listen, and you might imagine someone who looks a bit like Otis Redding. Open them, and you’re likely to see someone who looks more like your neighborhood bank teller. That man standing on my desk in the golden shoes is Paul Janeway. He was, in fact, a bank teller in Alabama not long ago — and this stupendous seven-piece band from Birmingham has only been doing this since 2012. But take a look at this Tiny Desk Concert and you’ll see why St. Paul And The Broken Bones’ music is so winning. It’s got heart and [See More…]

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T-Pain: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert 0 (0)

Watch T-Pain play “Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin’)”, “Up Down (Do This All Day)” and “Drankin’ Patna” at the Tiny Desk. Did you know you can watch new Tiny Desk Concerts on npr.org ONE WEEK before they go up on YouTube? Click here: https://www.npr.org/tinydesk Follow NPR Music: Twitter: https://twitter.com/nprmusic Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nprmusic T-Pain’s fingerprints are all over pop and R&B and hip-hop. He wasn’t the first musician to use Auto-Tune as an instrument — he noticed it on a Jennifer Lopez remix, and remembers “Deep” well — but it was, as he says, his style. For a while, in the [See More…]