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Kurt's brother David Andersen is one of the top piano technicians in Southern California -- he's also an accomplished rock n' roller (and a total ringer for The Dude from 'The Big Lebowski' ). Kurt visited him at home in Malibu and at work on the pianos of some leading lights in jazz and film composition.

The SXSW music festival in Austin has an absurd number of bands play every year -- this time it was up to 1900. So to find the gems, needless to say, is challenging -- and wonderfully refreshing if you succeed. I saw the amazingly inventive soul/funk singer Janelle Monáe play at a small club in Boston back in the fall and was determined to try to interview her for Studio 360. In the end, I got 6 minutes with her backstage after her Austin Music Hall show. My story airs this weekend. Meanwhile, check out this video of her performing "Sincerely Jane." One catch: the bass was so loud in the venue that it blew out my recording. So I synced it up with the audio from her CD. It ends up working quite nicely, and you still get a sense of her dazzling stage persona.

BLK JKS plays the song live in Studio 360.

American rock has been cribbing African sounds for years. Now a South African band is poised to make a big splash on our shores. BLK JKS, from Johannesburg, blends African sounds with MTV-inspired art rock. They just released their first album in the U.S., Mystery. Band ...

Iranian-born singer Mamak Khadem moved to Los Angeles in 1977, two years before the Islamic revolution. Today the Persian community in Southern California numbers nearly 600,000 people. Mamak takes Kurt on a walk along Westwood Boulevard, the commercial heart of "Tehran-geles," to her favorite record store,

When Studio 360 recently caught up with the up-and-coming BLK JKS in Los Angeles we stumbled onto a bit of a musical scoop. Hanging out "back-stage" with the South African band before their show at the LA Natural History Museum, we were fortunate enough to hear a brand new unreleased song from their forthcoming full-length (expected this summer).

When I visited Johannesberg a few years ago, I was startled by how much, townships aside, it reminded me of southern California -- the topography, the sunniness, the freeways, the shiny Americanism in general. So the other day when I interviewed the delightful founders of the cool South African rock band BLK JKS, Mpumi Mcata and Lindani Buthelezi, before their gig at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History, I asked, a little nervously, if they agreed. Yes! They also thought it was cool (and, um, ironic) that they were about to perform next to ethnographic dioramas depicting indigenous Africa. The interview -- and exclusive acoustic performance! -- airs starting Friday.

Stephen Byram has created album covers for everyone from the Beastie Boys to jazz great Dave Douglas. As a child of the 1960s, Byram became seduced by rock n' roll poster art. Produced by Rob Weisberg.

Weigh in: Has a work of art changed your ...

Thirty years ago in Boston, David Greenberger took a job at the Duplex nursing home. Out of his conversations with residents, Greenberger created poetry, prose, stage performances and music. Greenberger tells the story of how he found his own voice by listening to others. This story originally aired as ...

Classical composer Elliott Carter turned 100 last December - and he's still writing music. When Kurt visited him at his home in the West Village, he found Carter to be plain-spoken, funny, and energetic. And he didn't look a day over 80.

Foster grew up listening to Aretha Franklin and Sam Cooke, but made her name as a folk singer. She's turned back to soul and blues on her new album, The Truth According to Ruthie Foster. Kurt talked with her in 2007. 

Ruthie Foster sings the song live in Studio 360.

The current violence in Somalia is painfully familiar to K’naan, who grew up in Mogadishu in the 1980’s. He loved American hip-hop before he understood English. K’naan’s new record is called Troubador. Produced by Matthew Cavnar. (Originally aired: January 12, 2007)

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Fifty years ago this week, virtuoso jazz pianist Thelonious Monk gave a landmark concert at New York City’s Town Hall. It was a coming-out for an underground jazz scene called bebop. Monk’s 1959 concert marked bebop’s shift from New York’s nightclubs to center stage. We celebrate the anniversary of that concert with WNYC music host, Terrance McKnight.

Terrance will broadcast from New York's Town Hall tonight at 8 PM.

Gustavo Dudamel, the 28-year-old who will take over the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is making waves in classical music. Fellow Venezuelan Pilar Marrero went to see "the Dude" in action with some LA youngsters. Marrero reports for La Opinion and Feet in ...

Kweller sings the song live in Studio 360.

Over the years she's bounced from jazz, to country, to torchy pop, to hard-edged rock n'roll. In every genre, she's a master at crafting perfect break-up anthems and not-so-lovey-dovey love songs. Kurt talks with Mandell about her new record, Artificial Fire. And Mandell and her band ...

Kurt stumbles into a temple for classical music fans, with scratchy records played at the altar.

50 years ago today, the music world was rocked when a small plane went down in an Iowa snowstorm. On the plane were Richie Valens, the Big Bopper, and Buddy Holly, two up-and-coming performers and one bonafide groundbreaking rock-and-roller. On the anniversary of his death, The Takeaway takes a listen back at Buddy Holly's legacy and continuing influence on pop music.

This is Liyana performing their song "Never Give Up" at Teachers College-Columbia University on January 27th. The band's eight members all have physical disabilities. One is hearing impaired and four rely on wheelchairs.

People with disabilities are often shunned in Zimbabwe. Singer Marvelous Mbulo says some people believe they are under the influence of witchcraft. Mbulo has muscular dystrophy. He's 23 years old and sings backup. Lead singer Prudence Mabhena, who's 21, says her parents wanted nothing to do with her when she was born with arthrogryphosis, which withers the joints. She was raised by a grandmother and says doctors removed three of her limbs to ease her discomfort. Her remaining left arm is twisted, but she is able to manage her motorized wheelchair. Mabhena started singing when she was four years old with her grandmother. Her musical idol is the late South African singer and civil rights activist Miriam Makeba, and her voice is often compared to Makeba's. Mabhena also loves the American pop stars Alicia Keyes and Beyonce.