Music Tales | From Behind the Scenes

Read about music throughout history. Discover the best sounds of the world's cultures. We explore rare artists and offer a peek behind the scenes.

Music Period

Country

Film
La Llorona: the Mexican song of a weeping ghost

La Llorona is a Mexican folk song tied to one of the country's most persistent ghost legends. The song has no single…

July 27, 2026
Technologies
Whammy Clavinet: Lachy Doley's keyboard answer to Hendrix

Whammy Clavinet is the modified keyboard that lets Lachy Doley move a clavinet into electric-guitar territory. The…

July 25, 2026
Male Vocal
La Bikina: the Mexican song of pride and loneliness

La Bikina was written in 1964 by Mexican composer, violinist, arranger, and producer Rubén Fuentes. The song became one…

July 23, 2026
Technologies
Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet: the homeless voice in Gavin Bryars' loop

Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet began in 1971 with a fragment of documentary sound collected by English composer Gavin…

July 21, 2026
Poetry
Alfonsina y el Mar: the poem behind Argentina's farewell song

Alfonsina y el Mar appeared on Mercedes Sosa's 1969 album Mujeres argentinas, a song cycle about notable women in…

July 19, 2026
Saxophone
Take Five: the jazz standard built in five

Take Five became the signature piece of the Dave Brubeck Quartet after appearing on the 1959 album Time Out. Written by…

July 17, 2026
Songwriter
Quizás, Quizás, Quizás: the Cuban bolero of endless maybe

Written by Cuban songwriter Osvaldo Farrés in 1947, Quizás, Quizás, Quizás became one of the most durable Spanish…

July 15, 2026
Film
Cucurrucucú Paloma: the Mexican dove song of love and grief

Composed by Mexican songwriter Tomás Méndez in 1954, Cucurrucucú Paloma entered popular memory as a huapango-style song…

July 13, 2026
Songwriter
Hijo de la Luna: meaning of Mecano's tragic legend

Written by José María Cano, Hijo de la Luna appeared on Mecano's 1986 album Entre el cielo y el suelo and became one of…

July 11, 2026
Songwriter
Hava Nagila: from Hasidic melody to global celebration song

At Jewish weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, public dances, and festive gatherings, Hava Nagila is less a song to present…

July 9, 2026
Songwriter
Llorando se fue: the Andean song behind Lambada

Llorando se fue began as a Bolivian song by Los Kjarkas, written by the Hermosa brothers, Gonzalo and Ulises. The group…

July 7, 2026
Eurovision Song Contest
Eres Tú: the love song beyond Eurovision

At the Eurovision Song Contest in 1973, Spain sent Mocedades with Eres Tú, a love song whose title means It Is You…

July 5, 2026
Choir
Miserere mei, Deus: Allegri's sacred music myth

Gregorio Allegri's Miserere mei, Deus belongs to the sacred repertory of the papal chapel in Rome. The title translates…

July 3, 2026
Male Vocal
El Triste: the 1970 performance that made José José a star

At Mexico City's II Festival de la Canción Latina in 1970, José José presented El Triste, a dramatic ballad by Mexican…

July 1, 2026
Technologies
Mellotron: the orchestral machine of early prog

Strings, choirs, and flutes entered early progressive rock through an unlikely machine: the Mellotron. Before samplers…

June 30, 2026
Songwriter
Historia de un Amor: meaning behind the famous bolero standard

Composed by Panamanian musician Carlos Eleta Almarán, Historia de un Amor became one of the best-known Latin boleros of…

June 28, 2026
Film
Chaiyya Chaiyya: Sufi-inspired lyrics of the Dil Se train scene

The train-top dance made Chaiyya Chaiyya famous. Beneath that public spectacle sits a lyric image drawn from Sufi…

June 27, 2026
Male Vocal
Persiana Americana: meaning behind Soda Stereo's hidden gaze

Persiana Americana became one of the essential songs in the repertoire of the Argentine band Soda Stereo after…

June 10, 2026
Songwriter
Misirlou: from Ottoman melody to surf-rock lightning

Misirlou is one of those melodies that seems to belong to several worlds at once. Long before Dick Dale turned it into…

June 1, 2026
Songwriter
Lamento Boliviano: meaning and origin of the Mendoza rock anthem

Lamento Boliviano became the best-known song in the repertoire of the Argentine rock band Los Enanitos Verdes after…

May 31, 2026