Latest news with #TinyDeskConcert
IOL News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- IOL News
Thandiswa Mazwai Tiny Desk Concert reaches 1 million views
Thandiswa Mazwai alongside a jazz quartet will be performing music from her albums "Belede" and "Sankofa" at The Lyric Theatre at Johannesburg's Gold Reef City. Image: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers South African music legend Thandiswa Mazwai's episode on the National Public Radio (NPR) Tiny Desk Concert series has reached 1 million views. Affectionately known as 'King Tha,' she appeared on the popular YouTube show in April 2024. Her episode was listed among the '10 Best Tiny Desk Concerts of 2024'. Mazwai had delivered a spiritual and breathtaking Tiny Desk performance in Washington, D.C., performing her well-known and cherished hits such as 'Nizalwa Ngobani?' and 'Ingoma.' The episode reaching 1 million views comes ahead of her show at The Lyric Theatre at Johannesburg's Gold Reef City. Playing with a Jazz quartet, the icon will be performing music from her albums 'Belede' and 'Sankofa' on Sunday, June 29. Mazwai shared her excitement about performing the body of works. 'It is a special treat for our fans who always ask to see this music live. 'Belede' is of course, a very special album for me and we are also celebrating a year since the release of 'Sankofa'.' 'Belede' is Mazwai's third solo studio album, released in 2016, a collection of reinterpretations of legendary South African Jazz and protest anthems from the 1950s and 1960s. 'Sankofa' is Mazwai's fourth studio album and was released in May 2024. 'Sankofa' is a Ghanaian Twi word that means 'to go back and fetch what has been left behind'. The making of this record embodied that idea. Recorded in Johannesburg, Dakar, and New York, the album combines archival Xhosa samples (which were sourced from the International Library of African Music at Rhodes University), jazz and West African music. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Mazwai shared that 'Within those ancient rhythms and polyrhythms, a common lexicon revealed itself to me and I am excited to share this music with those who have been growing and evolving with me. 'It is about a celebration of the pan-African spirit, healing old wounds, and returning to what honours us." 'Belede' and 'Sankofa' have a strong jazz influence and Mazwai's show will put together a special lineup of musicians to celebrate some of the people who played and the influences that created the music. IOL Entertainment
Fast Company
31-05-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
How NPR's Tiny Desk became the biggest stage in music
Until last October, Argentinian musical duo Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso were more or less a regional act. Known for their experimental blend of Latin trap, pop, and rap, the pair had a fanbase, but still weren't cracking more than 3,000 daily streams across services like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. Within a week, they shot up 4,700%—hitting 222,000 daily streams—according to exclusive data firm Luminate, which powers the Billboard charts. Suddenly Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso were global pop stars. What changed? On Oct. 4, the pair were featured in a Tiny Desk Concert, part of NPR's 17-year-old video series featuring musicians performing stripped-down sets behind an office desk in the cramped Washington, D.C. headquarters of the public broadcaster. In the concert video, the artists play five songs from their debut album Baño Maria, which came out last April. Paco's raspy voice emerges from underneath a puffy blue trapper hat while Ca7riel sports an over-the-top pout and a vest made of stitched-together heart-shaped plush toys. The pair sing entirely in Spanish, backed by their Argentinian bandmates (sporting shirts screenprinted with their visas) and an American horn section. The duo's performance quickly took off across the internet. Within five days, it had racked up more than 1.5 million views on YouTube, and hit 11 million in little more than a month. It also reverberated across social media: the NPR Music Instagram post garnering nearly 900,000 likes, and TikToks clips garnered hundreds of thousands of views. In a year that featured Tiny Desk performances from buzzy stars like Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter, as well as established acts like Chaka Khan and Nelly Furtado, Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso's concert was the most-watched of 2024. It currently sits at 36 million views. That virality translated to an influx of bookings for the duo, including a performance at Coachella in April, and upcoming slots at Glastonbury in June, FujiRock Japan in July, and Lollapalooza and Outside Lands in August. Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso's global tour includes sold-out dates at Mexico's 20,000-capacity Palacio de los Deportes and Chile's 14,000-seat Movistar Areana—and was previewed by an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in April. 'Through Tiny Desk, we've noticed media approaching us, promoters being very interested in offering their spaces and festivals, and many media outlets opening doors to show us to the world,' says Jonathan Izquierdo, the band's Spain-based tour manager who began working with the duo shortly after the Tiny Desk Concert debuted. 'We've managed to sell out summer arena shows in record time and we're constantly adding new concerts. Promoters are knocking on our doors to get the Tiny Desk effect.' Tiny Desk, Big Influence The Tiny Desk effect is something Bobby Carter, NPR Tiny Desk host and series producer, has seen firsthand. Carter has been at NPR for 25 years, including the past 11 on the Tiny Desk team. He took the reins when Bob Boilen, the longtime All Songs Considered host who launched Tiny Desk in 2008, retired in 2023. The series—which now has more than 1,200 videos—began as an internet-first way for Boilen to showcase performances from musicians that were more intimate than what happens in bigger concert venues. The first installment, featuring folk artist Laura Gibson, went up on YouTube. Today, the concerts are posted on the NPR site with a writeup and credits, as well as YouTube, where NPR Music has 11 million followers. NPR Music also clips installments on Instagram, where it has 3 million followers. In the early days, NPR staff reached out to touring bands to secure bookings. Acts coming through DC could often be cajoled into filming an installment before heading out to their venues for that night's sound check. Now, musicians come to DC just for the chance to record in NPR's offices. 'We don't have to worry about tours anymore,' Carter says. 'Labels and artists are willing to come in solely for a Tiny Desk performance. They understand the impact that a really good Tiny Desk concert can have on an artist's career.' Early on, the stripped-down nature of the Tiny Desk—artists can't use any audio processing or voice modulation—lent itself to rock, folk, and indie acts. But a 2014 concert with T-Pain, in which the famously autotune-heavy singer unveiled an impressive set of pipes, showed how artists from a broader array of genres could shine behind the Tiny Desk. 'Everyone knows at this point that they're going to have to do something different in our space,' Carter says. 'It's a bigger ask for hip-hop acts and electronic acts, but most artists now understand how important it can be if they nail it.' Carter highlights rapper Doechii as an artist who overhauled her sound for her Tiny Desk concert in December. Doechii's all-female backing band used trumpet, saxophone, guitar, and bass to transform songs from her mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal for the live setting. 'If you listen to the recorded version of her music, it's nothing like what you saw in that Tiny Desk,' Carter says. Clips of Doechii's Tiny Desk virtuosity lit up social media, introducing the 'swamp princess' to new fans. The concert even inspired a viral parody, with writer-director-comedian Gus Heagary pretending to be an NPR staffer watching the performance. Reimagining Old Favorites It isn't just emerging acts that totally revamp their sound for a Tiny Desk opportunity. Established artists like Usher, Justin Timberlake, and Cypress Hill have followed T-Pain's lead and used NPR's offices to showcase reimagined versions of some of their most popular songs. When Juvenile recorded his installment in June 2023, he was backed by horns and saxophones, a violin and cello, and John Batiste on melodica. The New Orleans rapper played an acoustic version of 'Back That Azz Up' twice at the audience's request—the first encore in the series' history. 'I love what has happened with hip hop [on Tiny Desk],' Carter says. He explains that artists now approach the concert with the mindset: 'I have to really rethink what I've been doing for however long I've been doing it, and present it in a whole new way.' Tiny Desk has also helped musicians like Juvenile, gospel artist Marvin Sapp, and percussionist Sheila E to reach new audiences while reminding listeners they're still making music. 'We're helping artists to re-emerge,' Carter says, 'tapping into legacy acts and evergreen artists [to help] breathe new life into their careers.' In many ways, Tiny Desk now occupies a niche once filled by MTV Unplugged —but for the generation that has replaced cable with YouTube and streaming. 'Maybe 10, 15, 20 years ago, all of our favorite artists had this watershed moment in terms of a live performance,' Carter says. 'Back in the day it was MTV Unplugged. SNL is still doing their thing. But when you think about the generation now that lives on YouTube, some of these Tiny Desk performances are going to be the milestone that people point to when it comes to live performances.' Building a Diverse Audience When Carter talks about Tiny Desk concerts reaching a new generation of listeners, it's not conjecture. He notes that the NPR Music YouTube channel's 11 million subscribers are 'as young and diverse as it gets. It's almost half people of color [and] much younger than the audience that listens to NPR on air, which is an audience NPR has been trying to tap for a long time,' he says. That diversity informs some of the special series that Tiny Desk produces. The Juvenile video was part of Carter's second run of concerts recorded for Black Music Month, in June. Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso's video was tied to El Tiny, a Latin-focused series that debuts during Latin Heritage Month (from mid September to mid October) and is programmed by Tiny Desk producer and host AnaMaria Sayer. Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso's tour manager, Izquierdo, has worked with artists featured in the series before. He says Tiny Desk is crucial for Latin American artists trying to break through. 'I've realized that for U.S. radio, Latin music benefits from Tiny Desk,' he says. The Tiny Desk audience's broad demographics are also increasingly reflected in its broader programming. Bad Bunny's April installment took his reggaeton-inspired songs from recent album Debi Tirar Mas Fotos to their acoustic roots, using an array of traditional Puerto Rican, Latin American, and Caribbean instruments, such as the cuatro puertorriqueño, tiple, güicharo, and bongos. '[Our] audience informs a whole lot of what we do,' Carter says. I get so many pointers from YouTube comments like 'Have you heard of this artist?' We're watching all that stuff because it helps us stay sharp.' Tiny Desk heard round the world With a strong global audience, Tiny Desk has been expanding into Asia. In 2023, NPR struck a licensing deal with South Korean Telecom LG U+ and production company Something Special to produce Tiny Desk Korea for television. Last year, NPR inked a deal with the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) to launch Tiny Desk Concerts Japan. 'We're really expanding in terms of global reach,' Carter says. Here in the States, Carter and Sayer recently launched Tiny Desk Radio, a series that will revisit some of the series' notable installments, sharing behind-the-scenes stories from their productions and playing the audio from the concerts 'Our engineers put a lot of time and effort into making sure that we sound great,' Carter says. 'I hear it a lot—people tell me they prefer an artist's Tiny Desk over anything.' That's something Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso clearly have on their mind as they navigate the Tiny Desk effect and a new level of recognition (their daily streams haven't dipped below 50,000 a day since the beginning of the year). The duo released an EP in February, Papota, which features four new songs, plus the recorded versions of their pared-down Tiny Desk performances. They also released a short film that recreates their Tiny Desk performance—this time in a Buenos Aires diner. One of the themes of the EP is the pair wrestling with the implications of their viral success. On the song Impostor, Ca7riel asks '¿Y ahora que vamos hacer?/El tiny desk me jodio' (What do we do now? Tiny Desk fucked me up.) It's an overstatement, but an acknowledgment that the path they're now on ran directly through the NPR offices.
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GMA Network
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- GMA Network
Ruby Ibarra performs her Tiny Desk Concert at NPR!
Ruby Ibarra continues to do the Philippines proud! The Fil-Am rapper (and scientist) just performed at NPR's super popular Tiny Desk Concert in Washington D.C., which is among her prizes for winning NPR's Tiny Desk Contest. Ruby and the all-Filipino band she assembled for the gig performed three songs — her winning entry "Bakunawa," "7,000 miles," and "Someday" — and repped the Philippines through and through. Where "Bakunawa" had her rapping in English, Tagalog, and Bisaya, "7,000 miles" had her talking about "my journey, of everything I've witness I've felt, and I've held from that distance from the Philippines to America." She ended the song by introducing herself triumphantly: "From Tacloban City, Philippines all the way to Washington DC, my name is Ruby Ibarra. Mama, I made it in America." Ruby closed off her set with "Someday," the song she used when she first entered the Tiny Desk Contest six years ago. "We didn't win at that time, and I admit I was heartbroken. Winning this time around feels so much better," Ruby said, adding "that journey in between those six years has allowed me to see myself more clearly. To recognize I never have to compromise my art and I never have to ask permission to be myself." "That journey has been everything," Ruby said, adding with flair: "This last song is called 'Someday,' but today is the day." Ruby won NPR's Tiny Desk Contest earlier in May, besting nearly 7,500 entries, "a record for the project, now in its 11th year," NPR said. Apart from the opportunity to perform her own Tiny Desk Concert, Ruby will also go on a 10-city tour. When Ruby and her family migrated to the US in 1991, her parents brought with them only one record: Francis Magalona's "Yo." She was only two years old then, and when she turned five, she was introduced to Francis M. "What attracted me were the melody and the tone of resistance. It's really the voice of the youth and the unheard. It's an expression that empowers people." And now Ruby's on NPR, repping the Philippines so beautifully. We say don't sleep on Ruby. Our fearless prediction is she's going to take on the world soon. — LA, GMA Integrated News
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
PJ Sin Suela Makes History on NPR's Tiny Desk by Incorporating a Sign Language Interpreter
Sin Suela lit up NPR's Tiny Desk Concert with a historic and dynamic performance, becoming the first artist to incorporate a sign language interpreter as part of the performance that premiered on Thursday (May 1). Clad in vibrant orange — a color aligning with his most recent album, Toda Época Tiene Su Encanto, which dropped September 2024 — the Puerto Rican wordsmith and his 12-member troupe brought a genre-bending set to the stage. More from Billboard Lorde Lands First ARIA Top 10 Since 2017 With 'What Was That' Maroon 5 Teams Up With BLACKPINK's LISA for New Single 'PRICELESS' Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco Share the Love on 'I Said I Love You First' Deluxe Edition: Stream It Now The 24-minute performance opened with the love rap 'Tengo Una Nota' and and the bilingual 'Duolingo.' The artist showcased his versatility with 'Mírame,' delivered in a spoken-word, conscious-rap style that highlighted his lyrical depth and storytelling ability. A blend of funk, rap and hip-hop defined the set's eclectic sound, punctuated by a laid-back yet pulsating performance of 'Amor Artificial' and the high-energy 'Top.' He closed with the emotional anti-war song 'Mambrú.' 'This is a dream come true for me,' said PJ Sin Suela in a press release. 'I remember being in college playing Tiny Desk sessions and thinking, 'One day I'll be there,' and it happened. To this day, if I'm cooking or having friends over, we put on a Tiny Desk. I have a deep respect and love for the platform, and I treated it that way. We prepared, rehearsed and gave it our all. I was able to bring my favorite musicians from Puerto Rico and people I admire and love dearly. I was able to represent what I do visually, musically, and socially.' Accompanying PJ was a powerhouse ensemble of Puerto Rican musicians, including Jahaziel García on trumpet, Benson Pagán Jiménez on guitar, Gabo Lugo on percussion and Barba Blanca on piano. Alexssa Hernández made Tiny Desk history as the series' first sign language interpreter. Backing vocalists Verónica Rolón Acevedo and Yeidimar Ramos Colón added soulful harmonies to the show. PJ Sin Suela also used his Tiny Desk debut as a platform for activism, placing stickers on the set that read 'Puerto Rico is NOT for sale.' The message — which he carried as a sign during the 2022 Puerto Rican Day Parade — reflects his opposition to policies such as Act 22, which allows wealthy foreigners to exploit the island's resources. Watch PJ Sin Suela's performance on Tiny Desk below. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump White House Seeks to Cease Federal Funding to PBS, NPR With New Executive Order
The Trump White House issued an executive order Thursday evening that called for a block on all federal funding to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR), alleging that both organizations have engaged with 'biased and partisan news coverage.' The order instructs the board of the Corporation of Public Broadcasting 'cease direct funding to NPR and PBS' to the 'maximum extent allowed by law.' More from Variety BTS to Perform on NPR's 'Tiny Desk Concert' Series Monday MSNBC Adds Joshua Johnson to Anchor Ranks SAG-AFTRA's NPR Staffers Ratify New Deal The administration notes that under the CPB's governing statute, the group may not 'contribute to or otherwise support any political party.' The White House also accused government funding of news media to be 'not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence,' arguing that the media landscape has become more 'abundant' and 'diverse' since the CPB was founded in 1967. The CPB distributes funds to local public radio and TV stations, which in turn pay license fees to air NPR and PBS programming. The Trump order purports to instruct the CPB to halt 'indirect' funding of NPR and PBS by local stations using CPB funds. The CPB and three board members — Tom Rothman, Diane Kaplan and Laura Ross — sued the Trump administration on Tuesday to block an order that purported to fire the three members. The lawsuit argued that the CPB was created as an independent agency in order to insulate it from politics, and that board members are not federal officials subject to removal or control by the president. 'CPB Board members cannot be affected, controlled, or disturbed by the actions of the government,' the lawsuit states. Each of the three board members was appointed to a six-year term by President Biden. A hearing on the lawsuit is set for May 14. 'CPB's Board Members are essential to the governance of CPB, a private, non-profit corporation, that funds more than 1,500 independent, locally owned and operated public television and radio stations across the country, providing universal access to free, high-quality content that educates, informs, and tells our American story,' a CPB spokesperson said Tuesday. President Trump has signed more than 140 executive orders since taking office back in January, holding the record for the most such enactments issued by a newly elected president in their first 100 days in office. Best of Variety Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week What's Coming to Netflix in May 2025
