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Violin
Larks' Tongues in Aspic: the classic theme behind best prog-album opener

Larks' Tongues in Aspic is a pentalogy of instrumental suites recorded by several generations of musicians for the…

May 5, 2021
Violin
The art of Carnatic violin by Lalgudi Jayaraman

Lalgudi Jayaraman was an Indian violinist whose impeccable performing technique, coupled with his deep understanding of…

November 5, 2020
Songwriter
Taking off with Pistol Packin' Mama

Pistol Packin 'Mama is a fast-paced upbeat song with humorous albeit somewhat silly lyrics that became a hit in the…

October 22, 2020
Music Theory
The Doors songs that use just three primary chords

The prevalence of the three-chord song structure in Western popular music has, at this point, become emblematic. More…

July 26, 2022
Classical Guitar
Anton Diabelli: prolific composer and arranger excelled in publishing guitar and piano music for beginners

Anton Diabelli was an Austrian composer best known during the early Romantic period for his work as a music publisher…

December 11, 20191 comment
Orchestra
Walks along Moldau river ended in the greatest symphonic poem of all time

Bedřich Smetana conceived a series of orchestral pieces based on the legends and landscapes of his homeland entitled Má…

March 14, 2018
Collaboration
Súbeme la Radio: meaning and harmony behind the hot dance hit

Súbeme la Radio is a 2017 Latin dance track recorded by Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias in collaboration with Cuban…

December 22, 2021
Piano
Wiegenlied: folk poem behind Brahms' Lullaby

Wiegenlied (Eng: Lullaby or Cradle Song) is one of Johannes Brahms' best-known pieces and probably the most famous…

March 8, 2023
Meditation
Shurangama Mantra as a vital Buddhist practice to save the universe and achieve enlightenment

Shurangama Mantra is the longest Buddhist chant highly revered in Tibet and China, where it is considered to be the …

January 27, 2021
Koto
First compositions for koto presented out of court by Yatsuhashi Kengyō in the 17th century

Yatsuhashi Kengyō was a 17th-century Japanese composer who created a new concept of koto music, introducing the…

August 11, 2019
BTS
Whalien 52: uncovering the hidden meaning

BTS' song Whalien 52 is an emotionally charged piece that delves into the idea of loneliness and isolation. The lyrics…

March 11, 2023
Piano
Ferruccio Busoni as a great piano transcriber of Bach's keyboard music

Ferruccio Busoni was an Italian pianist, composer and theoretical writer whose creative period fell on the transitional…

October 13, 20191 comment
Collaboration
Shakespearean characters expressed through atonality in atypical guitar sonata by Hans Werner Henze

Royal Winter Music is one of the most atypical works for classical guitar that reveals incredible possibilities of the…

March 22, 2020
Vinyl
The Original Dixieland Jass Band made the first-ever jazz recording over 100 years ago

The Original Dixieland Jass Band, also known as the ODJB, were among the pioneers of the new genre that originated in…

April 13, 2019
Piano
Alla Turca: Janissary-music piano inspired by Mozart's best-known piece

Alla Turca, also known as the Turkish Rondo or Turkish March, is undoubtedly Mozart's most famous piano composition…

September 1, 2021
Film
The necessity of undramatic humanity in Coffee and Cigarettes by Jim Jarmusch

A set of 11 short stories collected in the film Coffee and Cigarettes depicts the nostalgic era every older smoker…

January 8, 2019
Songwriter
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida: Iron Butterfly's longest song anticipated metal genres

Released in 1968 by the American psychedelic rock band Iron Butterfly, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida remains to be one of the most…

November 19, 20203 comments
Meditation
Hare Krishna Mantra: meaning and purpose of best-known Hindu chant

The Hare Krishna mantra is a highly popular religious chant in India, the original lyrics of which can be traced back…

May 15, 2021
Orchestra
La Marcho di Rei: L'Arlesienne opening theme harks back to Provencal Christmas carol

The origin of the iconic theme in the energetic opening of Georges Bizet's L'Arlésienne is still unclear. Presumably,…

December 24, 2020
Sitar
The first-ever concerto for sitar and Western orchestra was dedicated to glorious music teacher Allauddin Khan by his most successful pupil

Released in 1971, Concerto for Sitar & Orchestra was the first-ever recording to feature Indian classical music in a…

March 18, 2020
Songwriter
Bennie and the Jets: the opening piano chord and disastrous recording sessions in Jamaica

Bennie and the Jets is inarguably one of Elton John's most popular songs first released on the Goodbye Yellow Brick…

November 26, 2020
Songwriter
The bottleneck guitar blues by Blind Willie Johnson is sliding through space on the Voyager Golden Records

Among the musical works sent by NASA into space to represent the cultural values of mankind, sharing its rightfully…

May 12, 2019
Album
Swordfishtrombones: groundbreaking instrumentation catches Tom Waits' signature sound

Released in 1983, Swordfishtrombones became the first self-produced album by Tom Waits that not only established the…

October 23, 2019
Orchestra
Nicola Porpora: operatic composer made history as a music teacher of Haydn and Farinelli

Nicola Porpora was an Italian composer of the late Baroque period whose operas brimmed with an excellent orchestral…

November 17, 20191 comment
Orchestra
The perfect union of Italian and French styles by Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre

Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre (née Elisabeth Jacquet) was one of the first female composers known to history,…

February 12, 2019
Songwriter
Yakety Yak: teenager's answer to household chores in a hit song

Yakety Yak is one of the best-known songs written by American songwriting partners Jerome Leiber and Michael Stoller…

May 1, 2021
Album
Surrealistic Pillow as the ultimate psychedelic experience pioneered by Jefferson Airplane

Released in 1967, Surrealistic Pillow was Jefferson Airplane's second album which not only set a departure point for…

January 19, 2020
Piano
Gondolier songs as the inspiration behind the romantic genre of Barcarolle

Originally a Venetian gondolier’s song, Barcarolle is characterized by gently rocking rhythms reminiscent of the…

October 14, 2018
Lute
Neapolitan lutier died in terrible plague that destroyed the kingdom

The worst disaster to strike the kingdom and city of Naples in the 1600s was the plague of 1656. The outbreak of the…

September 2, 2018
Songwriter
Who is the true architect behind The House of the Rising Sun?

The authorship of The House of the Rising Sun can not be accurately determined to this day, since the song is a folk…

April 16, 2018