If Chicha Libre does not get you up and dancing, the members of the band will feel as if they have failed. Watch as they perform "La Plata,"  a song they hope will get you up and moving .

In years following Vietnam, people wanted to dance and Donna Summer provided a soundtrack.

Each act had five minutes to convince the judges it merited the right to legitimately perform in the subway system under an MTA-approved banner. Help us discover the city's best underground music by snapping a shot or sending us a video clip of your favorite subway performance.

Writer and historian David McCullough and contemporary music composer Steve Reich will receive the academy's most significant prizes — gold medals for distinguished achievements in biography and music — during the star- and literati-studded annual American Academy of Arts and Letters luncheon in Manhattan on Wednesday.

Ólöf Arnalds sings in Icelandic and in English. But how does she decide which language to use for which song? Why, the songs tell her, of course! Watch Arnalds perform "Call It What You Want," live in the Soundcheck studio.

As one fourth of Booker T. and the MGs, Dunn helped lay the foundation of Memphis soul.

On Wednesday, musicians will play their best songs in front of a panel of judges in Grand Central Terminal's Vanderbilt Hall in the hopes of being selected to be part of the MTA's Music Under New York program. Help us discover the city's best underground music by snapping a shot or sending us a video clip of your favorite subway performance.

Watch Rufus Wainwright perform "Candles," which he wrote on the occasion of the death of his mother, Kate McGarrigle. The song was recorded with Wainwright's band, but here he sings a cappella.

Barbra Streisand is going back to her roots. The Oscar- and Grammy-winning diva was born and raised in Brooklyn, but has never performed publicly there. That will change on October 11 when she will give a concert at the new Barclays Center arena, which is still under construction.

Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff will open this summer's Celebrate Brooklyn! concert series on June 5. Get the whole lineup here, which also includes Ghostface Killah, Angélique Kidjo, Mission of Burma, Yo La Tengo and Lyle Lovett.

This week's episode prominently featured a rarely licensed (and expensive) Beatles tune that underlined Don Draper's disconnection from the rapidly changing youth culture of the '60s. It was beautifully integrated into the show, but turned Don into a man we don't know.

The 47-year-old rapper born in Brooklyn, who fans knew as MCA, died on Friday after a battle with cancer. Watch vintage Beasties' music videos here.

Mick Jagger will test his comic chops later this month as host of the "Saturday Night Live" season finale.

People Get Ready is part of Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, a three-day music festival that kicks off on Thursday in Brooklyn. Combining dance with infectious pop music, the band is feast for the eyes and ears. Watch People Get Ready perform "Uncanny" in WNYC's Soundcheck studios.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, the first female secretary of state, a former astronaut and a musical pioneer are among this year's recipients of the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

President Barack Obama will award the medals at the White House later this spring.

Pete Fornatale, 66, died on Thursday after suffering a brain hemorrhage earlier this month. He was one of those DJs who came along at a time when the popular culture was throbbing with change and the music both drove it and reflected it back.

Hundreds of friends and fans of Levon Helm, who died last week of cancer, are traveling to his Woodstock home and barn where he held his Saturday night Midnight Ramble concerts to say goodbye to the influential singer and drummer for The Band.

Greg Scholl, who oversaw a portfolio of NBC Universal properties, will be the non-profit's new executive director beginning on June 1. Adrian Ellis left the post in January to work for an arts consultancy company he founded.

A 100-year-old brick sawdust factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn is being reborn as a 13,000-square-foot music venue and studio. The new rehearsal, recording and performance space, located at North 6th St. and Wythe Ave, will open in late 2013 and will be run by a non-profit group called Original Music Workshop.

Chicago prosecutors created a buzz by calling Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson as their first witness during the trial of the man accused of killing her mother, brother and nephew. But the hard part starts Tuesday, when they'll have to get down to the nitty-gritty of their case.