Tag: NPR

Bobby Carter | November 11, 2024 Elmiene has a natural light. His charisma, humor and self-awareness strikes first, but the knockout blow is that vintage voice. If I didn’t know better, I’d assume I’m listening to someone with years of Baptist church training and countless life experiences. Yet he’s a 23-year-old Muslim man, quick to say that he writes mostly from the perspectives of those around him. He’s a poet, born to perform, which is likely why he wasn’t really nervous but more so in awe of performing at the Tiny Desk — especially when he found out the toy [See More…]

Stephen Thompson | October 25, 2024 When Dua Lipa came to visit the Tiny Desk, she had nothing to prove — and much to live up to. After all, the singer’s Tiny Desk (home) concert, recorded in London in the aftermath of her 2020 blockbuster Future Nostalgia, still holds the record for the most-viewed Tiny Desk concert in history, her 130 million views surpassing even the likes of Mac Miller and Anderson .Paak. Four years later, the pop superstar finally graced the actual Tiny Desk, this time armed with four warm and inviting songs from Radical Optimism. Arriving in the [See More…]

Nikki Birch | October 21, 2024 Grammy-nominated saxophonist Kamasi Washington brought down the house at his Tiny Desk Concert. He played selections from three of his albums, showcasing his ability, with the support of his killer band, to go from high energy to reflective ballads while never losing danceability. Washington has said, “The kind of music I make is not necessarily associated with dance, even though I feel like the more expression in the music, the more it can inspire you to move.” To drive that point home, Washington’s special guest was the legendary DJ Battlecat, one of the pioneers [See More…]

This Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, NPR Music celebrates artists from all corners of Latinidad with an ‘El Tiny’ takeover. Anamaria Sayre | October 9, 2024 Fresh off the release of its latest album Submarine, The Marías have never felt more ready-made for the Tiny Desk. With the first few chimes of the synth and notes from Maria Zardoya’s breathy vocals, the band makes it clear that there’s no better place to bring its bedroom pop style than this slightly bigger space. The indie band has been skyrocketing over the last few years with classic Spanglish hits like “Cariño” (featured [See More…]

This Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, NPR Music celebrates artists from all corners of Latinidad with an ‘El Tiny’ takeover. Anamaria Sayre | October 7, 2024 English language hip-hop and Latin trap exist in two separate dimensions; Kansas-born, Puerto Rico-raised Eladio Carrión embodies both and neither at once. That’s perhaps a poetic reflection of a childhood spent as a military brat, moving from state to state, across the country that colonized his family’s island before settling back in Humacao. At the Tiny Desk, Carrión wasted no time putting that multicultural flow on full blast. He kicked things off with a [See More…]

This Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, NPR Music celebrates artists from all corners of Latinidad with an ‘El Tiny’ takeover. Anamaria Sayre | October 4, 2024 The Argentine power duo Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso breathe authenticity. They each came up in their own right in an urban scene buzzing with energy, ideas and true ingenuity. Argentina is a country notorious for unabashed expression. The country has been rocked by some of the most notable music moments in Latin America, from the inception rock en español, to waves of extreme censorship on artistic expression. Contemporary artists take nothing for granted when [See More…]

Anamaria Sayre | October 2, 2024 Admiration is the spellbinding tenor of Rita Payés’ Tiny Desk performance. Flanked by mother Elisabeth Roma and husband Pol Batlle, the Spanish multi-instrumentalist’s presence at the Desk reflects the way she creates and lives her music: in the cradle of familial love. Payés performs a variety of Spanish jazz that is contemporary and nimble in its delivery, yet leans heavily on tradition. Born to a musical family in the same coastal town in Northern Spain where she now resides, she was raised surrounded by deep, musical tradition which she was able to identify as [See More…]

This Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 NPR Music celebrates artists from all corners of Latinidad with an ‘El Tiny’ takeover. Amamaria Sayre | September 26, 2024 Whether in a stadium of 75,000 or behind a desk in an office building, Ivan Cornejo sings two notes and the heart quiets. His voice invites harmony, reflection, llorando, gritando — whatever the listener needs to feel whole again. The 20-year-old Mexican American has emerged as a happy anomaly in recent years — a singer-songwriter who not only captivates audiences with excruciatingly descriptive lyricism but also invokes an ancestral wisdom. Cornejo voices the pains [See More…]

This Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 NPR Music celebrates artists from all corners of Latinidad with an ‘El Tiny’ takeover. Felix Contreras | September 20, 2024 From the opening flourish of its first song, the Mexican band Daniel, Me Estás Matando, aka DMEM, makes it obvious that the group is leaning into the drama and passion of the Latin song style known as bolero. In fact, with just a hint of a raised eyebrow, the band describes its own take as “Boleroglam.” On DMEM’s first song, it’s as if lead vocalist, drummer and band namesake Daniel Zepeda is mustering up [See More…]

This Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 NPR Music celebrates artists from all corners of Latinidad with an ‘El Tiny’ takeover. Isabella Gomez Sarmiento | September 18, 2024 We had no idea, when we invited Danny Ocean to the Tiny Desk, that his concert would take place amidst another wave of political protests and violent repression in his native Venezuela. Despite the tumultuous timing, Danny and his band eased right into his lover boy pop anthems “Me Rehúso,” and “Volare.” The latter, kicked off by an ingenious jingle of plastic bottle caps, transformed into a beach-side serenade complete with a saxophone [See More…]