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Soundcheck

Wednesday, March 07, 2007
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  • DJ Jubilee
    DJ Jubilee

    New Orleans, Getting a Good Rap

    There's more to the New Orleans music scene than jazz. Hip hop is one of the city's most popular musical exports. It's inspired by jazz funerals and the dance rhythms of Mardi Gras. Today, we go behind the New Orleans rap scene by focusing on a style known as bounce music. Also: The Swingle Singers were the first classical-pop crossover group in the 1960s and are now on a US tour that includes a stop at Joe's Pub this weekend. We talk to the group's founder, Ward Swingle. Finally: The Obie-award winning cabaret performer and actress Jackie Hoffman joins us to preview her Joe's Pub show, "Jackie With A Z."

Bounce Music 101

Corey Takahashi, a journalist who covers culture for NPR, PRI and Vibe magazine, and DJ Jubilee, talk about New Orleans' hip hop scene and specifically the style known as bounce music.

Jackie Hoffman

Jackie Hoffman (Garden State, Hairspray, Kissing Jessica Stein) previews her Joe's Pub show, "Jackie With A Z."

Concert details: Jackie Hoffman at Joe's Pub

The Saga of Ward Swingle

Ward Swingle, founder of the Swingle Singers, talks about the group's legacy singing everything from jazz-inflected Bach arrangements to avant-garde works by Berio.

Swingle Singers' Web site

audience

Soundcheck Smackdown: When Contemporary Met Classical

Soundcheck

Like vegetables stuck into a delicious meal, contemporary classical music is forced on concert audiences before they are allowed to enjoy their Brahms. So says humorist, critic and author Joe Queenan. Today, Queenan and John Berry, Artistic Director with English National Opera, join us for a Soundcheck Smackdown debate on the merits of contemporary music.

musical clouds

You Are What You Hear

Soundcheck

Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi takes us through some of the most famously botched song lyrics in rock history. We’ll explore why the words we make up are usually more interesting than the real version. Then, listeners confess their favorite and most embarrassing reinvented lyrics.

Leave a comment: Give us your favorite set of misheard lyrics! Were you disappointed when you learned the actual words?

Rosanne Cash and Mark O'Connor

Soundcheck

For her, he was a father. For him, he was a boyhood hero. For the nation, he was an icon. Singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash and composer and violinist Mark O'Connor join us to talk about how Johnny Cash has inspired their musical collaboration. And they will play live.

Katy

Soundcheck's Summer Song Poll

Soundcheck

Every year, popular and critical opinion somehow converge to settle on a "summer song." In 2007, it was Rihanna's "Umbrella." The year before, it was "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley. The practice stretches back to the very dawn of pop radio. Yet defining the essence of a "summer song" is a bit elusive. We enlist the help of Blender editor at large Lizzy Goodman -- and of our Soundcheck listeners, in an online poll.

Cast your vote: Soundcheck's Summer Song Poll 2008

Can't decide? Check out audio and video clips of the contestants here.

Our blog: John Schaefer asks what makes a good summer song,

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