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Soundcheck

Wednesday, October 15, 2008
  • money music

    Let's Face the Music and Dance

    During the Great Depression, music often served to cheer people up. More recent economic downturns gave us the dark sounds of punk and grunge. Today, we'll look at the correlations between music and the economy with Eric Weisbard, critic and curator at the Experience Music Project. Also: Kayhan Kalhor, an Iranian composer and virtuoso of the kamancheh, the Persian spike-fiddle, has been a member of Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project. He shares his own cross-cultural music, as featured on the new album, "Silent City."

Do bad economic times make for better music?

The bullish Clinton years gave us trite boy bands and carefree pop hits, while the late 70s spawned punk. But the Great Depression also spawned plenty of happy-go-lucky songs meant to inspire escapist fantasies. Today, a look at the correlations between music and the economic cycles with Eric Weisbard, a music critic, historian and curator at the Experience Music Project.

Soundcheck blog: John Schaefer on music and the economy

We're In The Money (Gold Diggers of 1933)
Jack Hylton: Happy Days Are Here Again
Brother Can You Spare a Dime? (Bing Crosby)
Graph: Rock Music Quality vs. Oil Production

Soundcheck's Songwriting Contest

It's time to crown a (new) winner in Soundcheck's first-ever songwriting contest. After a technical disqualification last week, the first-place award now goes to our runner up, "Che Guevara Monday" by Sam Mastandrea. Soundcheck blog: read the winning lyrics

Kayhan Kalhor

Kayhan Kalhor live

Virtuoso kamancheh player Kayhan Kalhor started performing with Iran’s National Orchestra of Radio and Television when he was 13. He left the country after the Islamic Revolution, lived in Canada and the US, but now is back in Iran. He joins us to talk about the state of music in Iran, about his latest record -- with the young string quartet Brooklyn Rider – and he will bring his ensemble for a live performance.

Kayhan Kalhor on the World Village label

The Swell Season in The Greene Space

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Joshua Bell in The Greene Space

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