Search results for

"Risk of Change" is a ballad for anyone who's ever faced down a life-altering decision. Holcombe Waller's voice and words are tender and bold, his voice clear and strong and a little broken.

Mykolaiv sits near the edge of Russian-occupied areas of the country. We visit on the eve of an expected new Russian offensive in the area.

There is some doubt over whether the voice on the tape is actually bin Laden. Lynn Neary talks with Steve Cain, president and CEO of Forensic Tape Analysis, Inc., about what sort of voice recognition techniques would be key to identifying whether the voice on a tape received by al Jazeera television is really Osama bin Laden. (4:15)

Today on Northern Voices Leah Lemm talks with Brian French co-founder and director of the Duluth Folk School.

John Butler grew up in a small Australian town, where he learned to play guitar and absorbed musical styles. A subsequent obsession with the acoustic guitar and world music led to his development of an eclectic sound, which he honed as a busking guitarist.

Folk-music legend Odetta was a force in the 1960s push for social justice. Her passion inspired fellow musicians and activists such as Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and Harry Belafonte. Odetta died Dec. 2, 2008, at the age of 77. Hear a 2005 interview.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of Blue Note Records, whose roster once included heavyweights Thelonious Monk and Horace Silver. Singers were a rarity, but Sheila Jordan has outlasted them all.

The death toll is rising in Israel and Gaza, as the Israeli military and Hamas militants battled for a second day.

"Huskies are a lot of work." That's the lesson we learned from talking to some husky owners at the Minnesota State Fair.

Today Leah Lemm talks with the Oshkii Gizhik Singers as they go through the process of learning a new song and then recording it at the Fond du Lac Tribal…

Best known for her work on the Lord of the Rings soundtrack, Torrini returns with a comparatively bare-bones record with trip-hop flourishes. She performs material from Me and Armini in a session from WXPN.

Northern Voices producer Leah Lemm heads to Bois Forte to talk with the Harvest Nation Team about healthy and fresh food.She talks with a family who’s…

Daniels is one of the world's most celebrated countertenors: male vocalists who sing in a range usually associated with women. Hear a sneak preview from the new opera Oscar, starring the famous countertenor as Oscar Wilde.

Leah Lemm talks to Noreen Thomas, an organic farmer outside of Moorhead, MN, with Doubting Thomas Farms. It’s the very beginning of March, I'm in…

South African musician Zola's work is featured in Tsotsi, this year's Oscar winner for best foreign film. He is the country's leading kwaito artist. The genre is a mixture of South African pop, house music and Western hip-hop. Zola talks about his music.

Former Belle and Sebastian singer Isobel Campbell radiates tranquility and calm wonder on "Willows Song." Emulating the haunted, melancholic tone of late-'60s British folk, Isobel Campbell, her off-in-the-cosmos soprano lures her listeners past the words, into the sloping melody and the thick swirls of atmosphere around it.

NPR's Scott Simon takes a moment to remember singer and activist Harry Belafonte, who died this week at the age of 96.

In "Sea Change," the London folk-pop duo Turin Brakes makes the most of its impeccable vocal phrasing. Opening with a picked guitar line that wouldn't sound out of place if played on a banjo in a bluegrass band, the song moves with a bright and bouncy pastoral swing that's packaged alongside dark sentiments such as, "Six billion backs against the wall / Now, do we walk or run?"

In a musical world where her instrument is often eclipsed by the higher-profile violin, Kim Kashkashian stands out as one of the world's few violists with an solo career. Her new album of songs from Spain and Argentina, arranged and performed with pianist Robert Levin, underscores the richness of the viola's vocal qualities.

Reacting to the vocal acrobatics of 19th-century opera, Monk's vocal music draws inspiration from the clarity of medieval and folk traditions. The result is a sound that feels both ancient and new.