Name: Ludovico Einaudi: Tiny Desk Concert @nprmusic
Uploaded: 2024-10-16T08:17:00-05:00
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Description: Ludovico Einaudi: Tiny Desk Concert

Ludovico Einaudi: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-10-16 | Ludovico Einaudi: Tiny Desk Concert

Tems: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-06-03 | This Black Music Month, Tiny Desk is giving the ladies their flowers. We’re releasing nine Tiny Desk concerts from Black women artists, from veterans who’ve paved the way for what we hear today in Black music, to those who are carving out their own paths.

Bobby Carter | June 3, 2024
To hear Tems tell the audience that she was shy came as a surprise to me. As a performer, she captivates us with such ease and exudes confidence when she’s not, so to see her blushing as the crowd roared was sweet to witness. Unlike most artists who’ve performed at the Desk, the Nigerian singer-songwriter took a chance by playing a set filled with songs from her forthcoming debut album, Born in the Wild.

A lot has happened in Tems’ world since her Tiny Desk (home) concert a couple of years ago. She’s won dozens of awards including a Grammy, worked with Beyoncé and written for Rihanna, all of which helped to keep her name on our minds and music in the clubs. These new songs indicate time well spent between her breakout moment a few years ago and now. “Unfortunate” is less Afrobeats and more straightforward R&B, flexing her development as a writer. “Forever” is powerful in the way she reaches a vocal range I had no idea she could, while “Love Me JeJe” was the hands-down standout. At the time of the taping, the song had yet to be released, but the rhythm pierced the room and had us all in line for the call and response.

SET LIST
“Me & U”
“Ice T”
“Unfortunate”
“Forever”
“Love Me JeJe”

MUSICIANS
Tems: lead vocals
Daniel Crawford: keys, music direction
Brett Baker: percussion
Erick Walls: guitar
Eric Ingram: bass
Robert Johnson: drums
Olivia Williams: vocals
Ashly Williams: vocals
Kadeem Nichols: vocals

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bobby Carter
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Josephine Nyounai
Videographers: Kara Frame, Joshua Bryant, Alanté Serene, Mitra I. Arthur
Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Estefania Mitre
Animation: Jackie Lay
Florist: Kelanda Edwards
Tiny Desk Team: Hazel Cills, Maia Stern
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#tinydesk #nprmusic #tems

Sean Paul: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-05-31 | Bobby Carter | May 31, 2024
The vibrancy that bounces off the screen while watching Sean Paul’s Tiny Desk concert is undeniable. Hearing his voice just a few feet away was an overwhelming experience, and I overheard a few NPR staffers in attendance who agreed. “He sounds just like the record!” they said, moving like nobody was watching. Admittedly, we don’t host enough dancehall artists at the Tiny Desk so there was an element of surprise at play. But the Jamaican superstar’s catalog boasts some of the world's biggest party anthems; it should've been a no-brainer when working with that. “This ain’t no Tiny Desk no more,” Paul said as he strutted to the Desk, preparing to turn the office into a bashment party.

Paul took reggae and dancehall to new heights in the early 2000s. After hopping on any and every riddim for the clubs and dropping his debut, Stage One, the breakthrough came with his second album, Dutty Rock, in 2002. The global reach of that album shifted the music industry and everyone from the biggest pop star to the grimiest emcee needed the Sean Paul effect on their albums. For his set, the game plan was simple, all gas and no breaks; energetic hit after hit including “Gimme the Light”, “Get Busy,” “Like Glue” and topping things off with “Temperature.”

SET LIST
“Gimme the Light”
“Get Busy”
“Infiltrate”
“I'm Still in Love With You”
“Deport Them”
“Like Glue”
“Temperature”

MUSICIANS
Sean “Sean Paul” Henriques: lead vocals
Nigel A. Staff: keys, musical direction
Dan Policar: keys
Kemar “Spanky” Liking: drums
Davol “FletchaBass” Fletcher: bass
Shaun “Copper Shaun” Anderson: DJ
Terrence “Farenizzi” Harold: vocals
Kerissa Spencer: vocals

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bobby Carter
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Sofia Seidel, Alanté Serene
Audio Engineer: Josephine Nyounai
Production Assistant: Elle Mannion
Photographer: Elizabeth Gillis
Tiny Desk Team: Hazel Cills, Kara Frame, Ashley Pointer
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #seanpaul

Brittney Spencer brings her culture to country music | Amplify with Lara Downes

NPR Music 2024-05-30 | Lara Downes | May 30, 2024
Something is happening in the music world. Genres that have historically been perceived as belonging strictly to white history and culture are getting a second look, an unveiling of a more diverse heritage. Classical music is one. Country is another.

As someone who has been at the forefront of this conversation in the sphere of classical music, I can say that it's a strange place to be. On one hand, it's a tremendous privilege to uncover hidden stories and illuminate buried truths. On the other, it's kind of exhausting to constantly explain and advocate for something that has been hiding in plain sight all along.

Brittney Spencer's name may be new to you, although she's been working in the country music business for years. It's been a long, hard climb with plenty of setbacks and rejections, lots of odd jobs, hard knocks and paid dues. That's all changed since her debut album, My Stupid Life, came out last fall and was called "one of the most convincing country statements in a while" by Rolling Stone. Maybe you've seen her in recent years sharing stages with artists from Megan Thee Stallion to Bruce Springsteen. Or maybe, like millions of other fans, you just discovered her two months ago, when Beyoncé released her country album Cowboy Carter, featuring Brittney on "BLACKBIIRD."

Cowboy Carter debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, with record-breaking streaming numbers, and the album launched an international conversation about the presence and history of Black artists in country music. For Brittney and many other Black artists who have been immersed in this music for decades, for lifetimes, this sudden bright spotlight is a place to shine, but more importantly, to illuminate their own lineage and the truth of this quintessentially American musical tradition.

For Brittney, this moment is also about redefining the genre itself. Her music has blended roots: country, rock, pop, R&B. It's bold and fresh and authentically her own. Reclaiming history is one thing, creating something new from it is another. And that's what she's doing, with gratitude for her community, joy in her music-making, and no explanations necessary.

WATCH OTHER EPISODES OF AMPLIFY
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLy2PCKGkKRVaTy4dPhq6TCQ8V6pIJ5Y2C

#britneyspencer #amplify #nprmusic

The Philharmonik, 2024 Tiny Desk Contest Winner: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-05-29 | Elle Mannion | May 29, 2024
While each Tiny Desk concert is special in its own way, we only publish one annually from a Tiny Desk Contest winner. This year, that winner is The Philharmonik — an up-and-coming multi-genre artist from Sacramento, Calif. — whose entry rose to the top of nearly 7,000 entries submitted by independent artists.

In that entry, singer Christian Gates and his band proved they knew how to make a song shine behind a desk, performing in an office setting in business casual attire. They keep up the act at the Tiny Desk, with Gates cosplaying as the team’s boss; he showcases his expressive stage presence and expansive musical range all while sitting in a swiveling office chair.

The group kicks off its celebratory set with its winning song, “What’s It All Mean?” Then, Gates shifts to the upright piano to perform “Drugs,” a theatrical song he says “is for all of those who have thought about doing alternative things because the paycheck was not enough.” He returns to the keyboard for “Chasing…” before flexing his rap abilities on “Colors.” The Philharmonik closes with the catchy “Pay Me,” a song I’m sure plenty of disgruntled workers will want to sing to their bosses after watching this concert.

Although Gates’ life has changed overnight since winning the Contest, he stays humble throughout his set, continually crediting his team’s hard work. “This office is a group effort, and this is just another day at the office,” he says.

SET LIST
“What’s It All Mean?”
“Drugs”
“Chasing…”
“Colors”
“Pay Me”

MUSICIANS
Christian Gates: keys, lead vocals
Courtney Miller: drums
Connor Chavez: electric guitar, vocals
Jimmy Toor: flute
Sam Phelps: bass
Moriah Wenzel: vocals
Alicia Huff: vocals
Darius Upshaw: electric guitar
Jeffery Archie: keys, synth

TINY DESK TEAM
Producers: Elle Mannion, Bobby Carter
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Alanté Serene
Audio Engineer: Carleigh Strange
Photographer: Michael Zamora
Tiny Desk Team: Hazel Cills, Ashley Pointer
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#tinydesk #nprmusic #thephilharmonik

Bob James: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-05-27 | Bobby Carter | May 27, 2024
Bob James' Tiny Desk concert is a manifestation of freedom and collaboration. "I have youth represented here," he says before introducing his band. "I don't have that myself, but I can hire it." The joke is tinged with a certain degree of truth. Still, curiosity and openness fuel his fresh spirit and keep his fanbase wide-ranging. The jazz pianist, composer and producer took his opportunity at the Desk to highlight his iconic discography, spanning over five decades.

Quincy Jones discovered Bob James in the 1960s and signed him to a record deal. He then arranged for other jazz greats like Sarah Vaughan and Grover Washington Jr. before releasing his album One in 1974. That album featured "Feel Like Making Love" and "Nautilus," one of the most sampled records in hip-hop. While James has released dozens of projects with his contemporaries, hip-hop has been the bridge to younger generations.

Before the new, improvised version of "Nautilus" with DJ Jazzy Jeff and Talib Kweli — seriously, they mapped it out and tried it once before we hit record — James played other highlights from his catalog including "Westchester Lady," "Angela (Theme from Taxi)," and "The Secret Drawer" from his Grammy-nominated album, Jazz Hands.

SET LIST
"The Secret Drawer"
"Westchester Lady"
"Angela (Theme from Taxi)"
"Nautilus (feat. DJ Jazzy Jeff and Talib Kweli)"

MUSICIANS
Bob James: piano
James Adkins: drums
Michael Palazzolo: bass
Andrey Chmut: saxophone
DJ Jazzy Jeff: DJ
Talib Kweli: vocals

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bobby Carter
Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Michael Zamora
Audio Engineer: Carleigh Strange
Photographer: Elizabeth Gillis
Tiny Desk Team: Ashley Pointer, Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#tinydesk #nprmusic #bobjames

Nelly Furtado: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-05-24 | Stephen Thompson | May 24, 2024
Nelly Furtado’s career has spanned a quarter-century, not to mention tens of millions of records sold, so it’s tough to fit all the highlights into a single Tiny Desk concert. But damned if Furtado didn’t at least try: Her set featured a bunch of her biggest hits (“Promiscuous,” “Say It Right,” “I’m Like A Bird,” “Maneater”), her remix of Missy Elliott’s “Get Ur Freak On” and, yes, a brand-new single called “Love Bites.” In all, 11 tracks — some of them complete, some of them truncated into medleys — made the cut.

For this set, Furtado assembled eight of her favorite veteran collaborators, who joined her in organically re-creating her busy, glitchy pop sound without relying on backing tracks. That meant incorporating everything from a violin to cowbell to beatboxing to scratching courtesy of DJ Lil Jaz — Furtado and Lil Jaz have a daughter together, Nevis, who served as the set’s creative director — in a performance that felt like a victory lap, a greatest-hits reel and a homecoming all at once.

SET LIST
“Say It Right”
“Explode”
“Powerless (Say What You Want)”
“Promiscuous”
“All Good Things (Come To An End)”
“I'm Like A Bird”
“Get Ur Freak On (Remix)”
“Love Bites”
“Eat Your Man”
“Give It To Me”
“Maneater”

MUSICIANS
Nelly Furtado: lead vocals
Hrag Sanbalian: keys, musical direction
Daniel Stone: percussion
William Lamoureux: violin
Brian West: guitar
Lionel Jarvis: bass
Jim Beanz: vocals
Anjulie Persaud: vocals
DJ Lil’ Jaz: DJ

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bobby Carter
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Alanté Serene
Audio Engineer: Carleigh Strange
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Michael Zamora
Tiny Desk Copy Editor: Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#tinydesk #nprmusic #nellyfurtado

The Staves: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-05-23 | Kara Frame | May 23, 2024
When we last heard from The Staves, its members were in the kitchen of their Watford, England childhood home. Sourdough was on the table and sunlight streamed through the curtains as the folk-pop group's sisterly harmonies and banter made their Tiny Desk (home) concert feel familiar and approachable. Three years later, The Staves finally made it to the NPR Music office.

What was founded as a sister trio is now a sister duo — Emily Stavely-Taylor, the eldest, is taking time away from the band to focus on her family. The Staves' new album, All Now, reflects that change; on record and in this performance, Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor quiet any qualms that they would be able to carry on the harmonies for which the group is known. Instead, the Tiny Desk setting perfectly illuminates the power and talent of their voices.

SET LIST
"Fundamental Memory"
"All Now"
"I'll Never Leave You Alone"
"So Gracefully"

MUSICIANS
Jessica Staveley-Taylor: vocals, guitar
Camilla Staveley-Taylor: vocals, ukulele
Marcus Hamblett: guitar, bass
Rob Pemberton: piano, bass, vocals
Glyn Daniels: drums

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Kara Frame
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Maia Stern, Kara Frame, Elizabeth Gillis
Audio Engineer: Carleigh Strange
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Tiny Desk Team: Hazel Cills, Joshua Bryant
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #thestaves

Ana Tijoux: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-05-22 | Anamaria Sayre | May 22, 2024
In the transfixing world of Ana Tijoux, joy and protest are perennial lovers. For three decades, the French-born Chilean rapper has traveled around the world, offering refuge for those seeking ways to sing of their outrage and heartbreak. At the Tiny Desk, she does the same, featuring tracks from across her catalog rich with cultural commentary and political critique.

Her first album in 10 years, Vida, teems with life. Blending danceable beats with her typical cutting delivery, she invites the listener to find her back where she started — living for the love of music and dancing for the love of life.

To close this performance, she conjures an enduring spirit of protest. During "Vida," featuring guest vocalist Monica Blaire, Tijoux quotes a song by Víctor Jara: "Yo no canto por cantar / Ni por tener buena voz / Canto porque la guitarra / Tiene sentido y razón." The Chilean musician and activist was arrested, tortured and murdered by the military during the coup led by dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1973; Jara's song "Manifiesto" was released posthumously in 1974. Translated, Tijoux raps, "I don't sing for the sake of singing / Or for having a good voice / I sing because the guitar / Has sense and reason."

SET LIST
"1977"
"Óyeme"
"Sacar la Voz"
"Vida"

MUSICIANS
Ana Tijoux: vocals
Federico Rocha: keyboards, vocals
Raúl Moya: bass, Moog, vocals
Nicolás Castillo: drums, vocals
Monica Blaire: guest vocals

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Anamaria Sayre
Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
Audio Technical Director: Hannah Gluvna
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Alanté Serene
Audio Engineer: Kwesi Lee
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Zayrha Rodriguez
Tiny Desk Team: Hazel Cills, Maia Stern
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#tinydesk #nprmusic #anatijoux

Gary Bartz: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-05-20 | Mitra I. Arthur | May 20, 2024
The lyrics "Music is my sanctuary, music is my life," hold special meaning at the Tiny Desk. Penned and sung by 2024 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, saxophonist Gary Bartz, the words capture the feelings of countless artists who have appeared in front of these cluttered shelves. Bartz has worked with jazz luminaries like Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Max Roach, Miles Davis and Charles Mingus, to name a few. He has released more than 45 solo albums, with appearances on more than 200 additional albums. His recent collaborations with Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge for their Jazz is Dead series illustrate how the 83-year-old is still as relevant as ever.

In a recent interview, Bartz declared that "Music, for me, is the only religion." He sets the stage for his worship with the bluesy "Nommo - The Majick Song," as Mumu Fresh's accompanying poetry invokes the spirit necessary for both delivering and receiving the band's message. 1973's "I've Known Rivers," inspired by Langston Hughes, furthers the ancestral connection in both text and sound. On "Reparations," poet J. Ivy provides excerpts from his 2022 track "Lay Down'' to reflect on the debt America owes descendants of enslaved people. And as Bartz delivers a benediction in the form of "The Song of Loving-Kindness," declaring it "written for everyone and everything that ever was," it feels like a blessing on the Tiny Desk.

SET LIST
"Nommo - The Majick Song (feat. Mumu Fresh)"
"I've Known Rivers"
"Reparations (feat. J. Ivy)"
"Music Is My Sanctuary"
"The Song of Loving-Kindness"

MUSICIANS
Gary Bartz: alto saxophone
Barney McAll: piano
Marc Cary: keys
James King: bass
Kassa Overall: drums
Paul Bollenback: guitars
Harmony Bartz: vocals
Mumu Fresh: vocals
J. Ivy: vocals
Om'Mas Keith: percussion

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Mitra I. Arthur
Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Michael Zamora
Audio Engineer: Carleigh Strange
Photographer: Elizabeth Gillis
Tiny Desk Team: Ashley Pointer, Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#tinydesk #nprmusic #garybartz

Luciana Souza: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-05-17 | Felix Contreras | May 17, 2024
I’m not the first to say it: jazz and Brazilian music are like very close first cousins. There is a historical DNA connecting the two traditions, but also linked by harmonic construction, ample room for improvisation and plain old swing.

In Luciana Souza’s performance, all of the above is on display in the music from one of the most distinct voices in contemporary jazz. Backed by Trio Corrente from Brazil, Souza performs selections from their album Cometa, which received a 2024 Grammy nomination for best Latin jazz album. Souza’s performance is a master class in how to play with intensity while keeping the volume down to accommodate the Tiny Desk’s actual workspace.

SET LIST
“Bem Que Te Avisei”
“Baião Joy”
“Cometa”
“Quando Você Vier”

MUSICIANS
Luciana Souza: vocals
Fabio Torres: piano
Paulo Paulelli: bass
Mauricio Zotarelli: drums

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Felix Contreras
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Hannah Gluvna
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Mitra I. Arthur
Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Elizabeth Gillis
Tiny Desk Team: Joshua Bryant, Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#lucianasouza #tinydesk #nprmusic

Yasser Tejeda: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-05-15 | Felix Contreras | May 15, 2024
To listen to Yasser Tejeda's music is to hear the past, present and future.

He is a gifted guitar player originally from the Dominican Republic and a graduate of the acclaimed Berklee College of Music. As you can see and hear in his turn behind the Tiny Desk, Tejeda is intentional about drawing on his ancestral background, his studies and his musical vision in his work. He deftly combines traditional Dominican music with jazz and rock in performances that move the hips as well as minds.

According to his notes prepared for this performance, "En El Naranjo" and "Amor Congo" are based on a traditional Dominican rhythm called "congos del espiritu de santo de Villa Mella." "La Vereda" is a fusion of a traditional style called "Sarandunga de Baní" with rock and jazz, while "Todo Va A Marchar" is his exploration of Congolese guitar and kompa from Haiti mixed with Dominican merengue.

There will not be a quiz given after you watch this performance, but the music of Yasser Tejeda and his talented band resonates so much more when you consider the history behind the passion of the performances.

SET LIST
"En El Naranjo"
"Amor Congo"
"La Vereda"
"Todo Va A Marchar"

MUSICIANS
Yasser Tejeda: vocals, electric guitar
Kyle Miles: bass, vocals
Jonathan "Jblak" Troncoso: drums, congas, maracas, vocals
Francis Peña: drums, maracas, vocals
Mario Castro: tenor sax, keyboards

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Felix Contreras
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Audio Technical Director: Kwesi Lee
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame
Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
Production Assistant: Elle Mannion
Photographer: Michael Zamora
Tiny Desk Team: Hazel Cills, Ashley Pointer
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#tinydesk #nprmusic #yassertejeda

Kiefer: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-05-13 | Bobby Carter | May 13, 2024
For Tiny Desk concerts without a lead vocalist, I usually try to detect musicians' nonverbal conversations with each other as they perform. For Kiefer’s set, there’s a bonus show within the show. He plays with a sense of joy that I haven’t seen in a while and when his eyes connect with a fellow player, it’s as if he’s thanking them each time. With decades clocked behind the piano and a strong catalog, Kiefer Shackelford is primed for the moment.

The Los Angeles pianist and producer’s early instrumental projects were heavily hip-hop-based, playing the keys over drum loops and samples. His 2021 project, When There’s Love Around, leaped into full-on jazz, but his latest, It’s Ok, B U, finds that sweet middle ground. Between albums, he’s made a name for himself in the independent scene and among the majors, booking work with Drake, Anderson .Paak and SiR. For his Tiny Desk, Kiefer brought two ensembles to highlight the best of his work. The Kiefer Trio, comprised of drummer Luke Titus and bassist Pera Krstajic, played a medley of “Why Not?” and “Cute.” For “Superhero” and “Socially Awkward,” Kiefer then invited Nate Smith, Carrtoons, Theo Croker and guitarist Charlie Hunter who, shockingly, is the only musician in this combo who hasn’t played at the Desk.

SET LIST
“Why Not?”
“Cute”
“Superhero”
“Socially Awkward”

MUSICIANS
Kiefer: Rhodes piano, synth
Luke Titus: drums
Pera Krstajic: bass
Nate Smith: drums
Carrtoons: bass
Charlie Hunter: guitar
Theo Croker: trumpet

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bobby Carter
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Kwesi Lee
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern, Christina Shaman
Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
Production Assistant: Elle Mannion
Photographer: Elizabeth Gillis
Tiny Desk Team: Ashley Pointer, Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#kiefer #tinydesk #nprmusic

Otoboke Beaver: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-05-10 | Lars Gotrich | May 10, 2024
Mannie Fresh bum rushed the crowd and mugged for the camera. Soul Glo's Pierce Jordan stunted on office furniture. Moses Sumney played our window-side piano. Some moments were staged and others spontaneous, but sometimes an artist just needs to "break the frame" of Tiny Desk. Case in point: Our puny shelves and cluttered junk could not contain Otoboke Beaver's Yoyoyoshie, who literally lept out from behind the Desk, ran to the wide shot and shred a noisy guitar solo most triumphantly.

Kyoto, Japan's Otoboke Beaver came into the NPR Music office with string lights color coordinated to the members' floral print dresses, an edamame hair clip for our wall and a giant, inflatable beaver. In two-minute bursts of fast, furious and outrageously fun punk rock, the band's music is a gleeful exercise in absurdist evisceration — of Japanese societal norms, gender roles, annoying trolls and bad boyfriends. Every song smirks as it explodes. At the Tiny Desk, Otoboke Beaver speeds and screams through its catalog — Itekoma Hits, Super Champon and its singles compilation Okoshiyasu!! — with acrobatic speed and intensity. An unhinged delight.

SET LIST
"Yakitori"
"Don't Light My Fire"
"S'il Vous Plait"
"Pardon?"
"Bakuro Book"
"I Am Not Maternal"
"I Checked Your Cellphone"
"Akimahenka"

MUSICIANS
Accorinrin: vocals
Yoyoyoshie: guitar, vocals
Hirochan: bass, vocals
Kahokiss: drums, vocals

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Lars Gotrich
Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
Audio Technical Director: Josephine Nyounai
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Mitra I. Arthur
Audio Engineer: Kwesi Lee
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Michael Zamora
Tiny Desk Team: Maia Stern, Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #otobokebeaver

Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-05-06 | Suraya Mohamed | May 6, 2024
When Marty Stuart arrived, his cheerful smile and charismatic personality beamed. He had a charming swagger and it was immediately clear we were in the presence of a country and bluegrass music legend.

When Stuart was just 12 years old, he went on the road for the first time with a Pentecostal gospel bluegrass group called the Sullivan Family Gospel Singers. Almost 55 years later, he’s still performing and is a five-time Grammy winner, Country Music Hall of Famer and AMA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.

Those accolades only hint at the artistry of Mary Stuart and his longtime band The Fabulous Superlatives. Looking around the room during his Tiny Desk performance, people in the audience were visibly captivated by this undeniable demonstration of musical excellence — beautiful harmonies, precise rhythmic precision and perfectly blended arrangements all sewn together with a casual flair that was simple and fun.

Recorded just a few days before Easter, the set ends appropriately in the spirit of the church. “When we first put our band together, the way we learned to sing together was singing gospel songs,” said Stuart. “I was in love with the Staple Singers as always, Mavis and Pops and Cleotha and Pervis, and they are all like family and so bluegrass music all figured in. So we finally got around to writing a few songs for ourselves and here’s one we got to do called ‘Heaven.’ ”

SET LIST
"Tempted"
"Streamline"
"Tomahawk"
"Heaven"

MUSICIANS
Marty Stuart: vocals, guitar, mandolin
Kenny Vaughan: guitar, vocals
Chris Scruggs: bass, vocals
Harry Stinson: drums, vocals

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Josephine Nyounai
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Joshua Bryant, Alanté Serene
Audio Engineer: Kwesi Lee
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Estefania Mitre
Tiny Desk Team: Maia Stern, Hazel Cills
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#tinydesk #nprmusic #martystuart

Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf 2024: Episode 5 with Novena Carmel

NPR Music 2024-05-02 | NPR Music received more than 6,600 submissions to this year's Tiny Desk Contest, our annual search for the next great undiscovered artist to play a Tiny Desk concert. Before we reveal this year's winner, our Contest judges are sharing their favorite entries as part of our annual Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf livestream series.

Featured entries:
Sally Baby’s Silver Dollars, "I've Got No More Tears Left to Cry (Ain't Nobody's Fool But My Own" ) youtube.com/watch?v=a45OfuQcyXs
Charity, "Cruel" youtu.be/7Gxtb-MFLik?si=Y8qVXPgW3wl8DlI5
Dead Pioneers, "Bad Indian" youtube.com/watch?v=uO2G0R9mK4g
Avangelia, "Breathin" youtu.be/OXLXrWi-FHw?si=9OynK2fMp_GdY9fy
Bandits on the run, "You Are Not A Ghost" youtube.com/watch?v=L-ECWMX276s
Keila Myles & The Moose Knuckles, "Suite 21"youtube.com/watch?v=mWLcT5gHYCw
Rijah, "House In Tattoos" youtube.com/watch?v=YED5GCC7dA0
Kadie Jacobs, "Rapunzel" youtu.be/ApMWL5i0jSY?si=Dd3oxMswKoiDe-6M
Cathia, "Taza de Café" youtube.com/watch?v=a1wiRonNyeg
Nellie, "Garden" youtube.com/watch?v=iNRffmp1oHE

Learn more about the Contest: npr.org/tinydeskcontest

#tinydesk #tinydeskcontest #novenacarmel

WILLOW: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-05-01 | Ashley Pointer | May 1, 2024
On a call ahead of her Tiny Desk taping, WILLOW told me that she "just wants to feel it and be in the vibe." Many artists worry about having to tailor their music for the space, but if done right, a beautiful synergy can be achieved. With boundless energy and magnetic stage presence, the artist's exceptional vocal range and musicality left the audience spellbound.

Despite being only 23 years old, the singer-songwriter and musician Willow Smith is a vet when it comes to this music thing. She's been consistently making music and on a journey of sonic exploration since she was just 9 years old and is about to put out her sixth album, empathogen, in just a few days. Zach Tenorio on upright piano kicks off the show, cueing the first few bars of the jazz-infused, odd-meter vibes of "Symptom of Life" from the new album, later complimented by trippy Ebow effects courtesy of Liso Lee on guitar.

Then, a couple throwbacks: a stripped down arrangement of "Split" from the 2022 album and fan-favorite "Wait a Minute!" from her 2015 album ARDIPITHECUS, which undergoes some mind-blowing bass riffing from Mohini Dey. Dey continues with some severe stank-face on a world premiere of the funky, bass-heavy "Run!" from the upcoming album, locking in tastefully with The Pocket Queen on drums. Closing the set with "Big Feelings," the band gets busy while WILLOW's vocals soar, effortlessly teetering between emotive highs and lows, leaving us all wanting more.

SET LIST
"Symptom of Life"
"Split"
"Wait a Minute!"
"Run!"
"Big Feelings"

MUSICIANS
Willow Smith: vocals
Liso Lee: guitar, vocals
Zach Tenorio: keys
Mohini Dey: bass
Taylor "The Pocket Queen" Gordon: drums

TINY DESK TEAM
Producers: Ashley Pointer, Bobby Carter
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Audio Technical Director: Josephine Nyounai
Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Alanté Serene
Audio Engineer: Hannah Gluvna
Production Assistant: Elle Mannion
Photographer: Zayrha Rodriguez
Tiny Desk Copy Editor: Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#willow #tinydesk #nprmusic

0:02 - 3:31 Symptom of Life
3:34 - 7:02 Split
7:24 - 11:11 Wait a Minute!
11:18 - 14:33 Run!
15:02 - 19:10 Big Feelings

Hot Chip: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-04-29 | Maia Stern | April 29, 2024
Even though it was the band's first visit to the Tiny Desk, Hot Chip's performance felt like a homecoming — a sweet return to some of the instruments the group first created its signature, playful sound with. Hot Chip's "tiny instruments," as lead vocalist Alexis Taylor called them, fit right into the space.

The members of Hot Chip arrived at NPR HQ each dressed in a different colored top, their bright and brilliant looks matching the music's classic electro-pop vibe. The band, joined by Jonny Lam on pedal steel guitar (who played a Tiny Desk previously with Sinkane) began the set with two tracks from its 2006 album The Warning, including "Over and Over" and "Boy From School." The latter of the two, Taylor explained, was written on the Casio keyboard that both Taylor and guitarist Rob Smoughton play in this set. Then the band slows it down a bit with "Look At Where We Are," before ending with the classic "Ready For The Floor."

And speaking of bringing the perfect look, after the show, Taylor got out an on-theme top: an NPR branded sweatshirt that he asked us all to sign. It was a rare, tender and probably once-in-a-lifetime moment, when one of your favorite bands is asking you to sign merch.

SET LIST
"Over And Over"
"Boy From School"
"Look At Where We Are"
"Ready For The Floor"

MUSICIANS
Alexis Taylor: vocals, guitar, keyboard
Joe Goddard: vocals, keyboard
Owen Clarke: keyboard
Rob Smoughton: backing vocals, guitar
Leo Taylor: drums
Jonny Lam: pedal steel guitar

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer/Director: Maia Stern
Audio Technical Director: Josephine Nyounai
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Pierre Kattar
Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
Production Assistant: Elle Mannion
Photographer: Elizabeth Gillis
Tiny Desk Team: Hazel Cills, Ashley Pointer
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #hotchip

0:00 Over And Over
05:46 Boy From School
11:00 Look At Where We Are
15:20 Ready For The Floor

Ne-Yo: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-04-26 | Bobby Carter | April 26, 2024
There's nothing like hearing the oohs and aahs from the Tiny Desk audience when a recognizable note hits the soul. Ne-Yo's setlist stoked up audible gasps with nonstop hits from his catalog and a few he's written for megastars. He came draped in a bedazzled outfit and his signature fedora (one we had to ask him to adjust to see his eyes.) Not to be outdone, the band came outfitted in matching earth tones and sounded just as good as they looked.

As with most artists who've spent years on the radio, the charts and in the club, the challenge in our space is encapsulating those moments. He accepted this challenge by putting together a medley of some of his most celebrated jams, showing off just how prolific his pen is. "I've written a couple songs since I've been doing this thang," the singer said before passing Rihanna's "Take a Bow" to background singer, Pamela Westbrook. Before the premiere of his "confessional," the song "Two Million Secrets," the singer reminded us that he also wrote Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable" and co-wrote Mario's "Let Me Love You." He shared with us that there was a healthy dose of nerves during his set, but — forever the showman — Ne-Yo gave the ladies what they came for closing with "Miss Independent."

SET LIST
"Because Of You"
"So Sick"
"Sexy Love"
"Take a Bow"
"Let Me Love You"
"Irreplaceable"
"Two Million Secrets"
"Miss Independent"

MUSICIANS
Ne-Yo: lead vocals
Justin Raines: bass guitar, key bass
Ray Ray Holloman: guitar
Monty Reynolds: keys
Madison Calley: harp
Leonard "Pudge" Tribbett: drums
Pamela Westbrook: vocals
Courtney Campbell: vocals
Brian Deshawn Kelly: vocals

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bobby Carter
Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern, Alanté Serene
Audio Engineer: Ted Mebane
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Zayrha Rodriguez
Tiny Desk Team: Kara Frame, Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #neyo

Lise Davidsen: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-04-26 | Tom Huizenga | April 26, 2024

I knew we were in for something spectacular when the Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen came to our Tiny Desk — especially when she could be heard, loud and clear, from far down the hall, warming up in our green room. Once she got to the Desk itself, to rehearse with pianist and Metropolitan Opera assistant conductor Bryan Wagorn, the sublime amplitude of her extraordinary voice rendered the space even tinier.
Davidsen’s voice, which is incongruously gigantic and intimate, has been called “one-in-a-million.” I was completely sold on the hype after only a few seconds of singing. A couple of us reached for tissues to wipe away tears of disbelief. The voice gleams like pure polished silver, powerful enough to surge past massive orchestras and yet capable of paring down to a single silvery strand of tone, perfectly supported to reach the rafters.

It’s all the more remarkable since Davidsen was already in her 20s before she saw an opera for the first time. Her warp-speed rise has taken her from a small town in Norway, where she played handball and strummed her guitar, to starring roles at the world’s finest stages.

She begins her set with Desdemona’s quiet supplication from Verdi’s Otello. It’s a prayer for the troubles of the world today, she explains. A moody song of unrequited love by her compatriot Edvard Grieg follows. And, saving the money notes for last, Davidsen closes with a rambunctious czardas from Die Csárdásfürstin. Notice the subtlety of phrasing when she extends the word “Heimatland” beautifully in the opening verse. She caps the aria with an electrifying high C. The audience, appropriately, goes nuts.

With a little luck and scrupulous care for her voice, Davidsen, only 37, is poised for a career we will be talking about for decades to come.

SET LIST
Giuseppe Verdi: “Ave Maria” from Otello
Edvard Grieg: “Zur Rosenzeit,” Op. 48, No. 5
Emmerich Kálmán: “Heia, in den Bergen” from Die Csárdásfürstin

MUSICIANS
Lise Davidsen: soprano
Bryan Wagorn: piano

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Tom Huizenga
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Hannah Gluvna
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Pierre Kattar
Audio Engineers: Neil Tevault, Josh Newell
Production Assistant: Elle Mannion
Photographer: Zayrha Rodriguez
Tiny Desk Team: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Ashley Pointer, Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#tinydesk #nprmusic #lisedavidsen

Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf 2024: Episode 4 with Julien Baker

NPR Music 2024-04-25 | NPR Music received more than 6,600 submissions to this year's Tiny Desk Contest, our annual search for the next great undiscovered artist to play a Tiny Desk concert. Before we reveal this year's winner, our Contest judges are sharing their favorite entries as part of our annual Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf livestream series.

Featured entries:
Cleo reed, “Swim!” youtube.com/watch?v=yg3Akzh9w0M
Agalisiga Mackey, “Tsitsutsa Tsigesv ᏥᏧᏣ ᏥᎨᏒ” youtube.com/watch?v=K04Ju0QuOUUU
Stefan Weiner, “Do Nothing” youtube.com/watch?v=iMVOHo_qEz0
Kate Heron, “Are you opening yourself to love?” youtube.com/watch?v=C0ETBo2r3Kg
Jojo Di Salvo, “Ode to Steel and Stone” youtube.com/watch?v=Peqa_0Me4oY
Promise, “Me, Myself, and I” youtube.com/watch?v=EE3Fzlvi5qI
Janet Noguera, “Amateur Spirit” youtu.be/OgBHLgcST6k?si=7B4uJvi6LvwO-qFE

Learn more about the Contest: npr.org/tinydeskcontest

Moments of Enlightenment with Broadway’s Brian Stokes Mitchell | Amplify with Lara Downes

NPR Music 2024-04-25 | Lara Downes | April 25, 2024
They say you should never meet your heroes. I suppose opportunities for disappointment abound when those we admire from afar are encountered in the flesh, without flattering lighting or accompanying strings, just everyday people. But not so when it comes to Brian Stokes Mitchell, who has been one of my heroes ever since I saw him starring in the original production of Ragtime on Broadway in the late '90s.

Stokes, as he likes to be called, was the most impossibly charismatic, unreasonably handsome, insanely talented singing, dancing, piano-playing, larger-than-life leading man to end all leading men. Sitting in that dark theater, I hoped that someday I'd be as excited and delighted in my work as he clearly was in his, up on that stage. I did not dream for a second that someday we'd share a stage together.

But that's what happened two years ago at the Boston Pops. We teamed up for a concert built on the legacy of the creative collaboration between Stokes' own hero Duke Ellington (whom he even named his son after) and the composer and pianist Billy Strayhorn, who at age 23 idolized Ellington when they first met. Many years and many songs later, Ellington called Strayhorn "my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine."

At that concert in Boston, when Stokes and I took the stage to perform Strayhorn's extraordinary song "Lush Life," we found ourselves entangled in one of those rare moments of musical magic when your brainwaves do, in fact, flow right into each other's heads.

Stokes' head is a wonderful place to be. As you'll see from this conversation, he is endlessly curious in his passionate, almost nerdy fascination with music and the way it brings people together in the sacred space of common ground and shared experience. Our conversation has since continued by phone and text, in the backseats of cars, in rehearsal studios and dressing rooms, over lunches and dinners. Stokes is still very much a hero of mine, and now he's my friend too, with so many ideas to share and so much music to make together. As Billy Strayhorn always said: "Ever up and onward."

WATCH OTHER EPISODES OF AMPLIFY
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLy2PCKGkKRVaTy4dPhq6TCQ8V6pIJ5Y2C

#brianstokesmitchell #amplify #nprmusic

Hauschka: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-04-24 | Robin Hilton | April 24, 2024
The last time Volker Bertelmann stopped by NPR to perform as Hauschka, back in 2010, he dumped handfuls of Ping-Pong balls and anything else he could think of over the strings of our in-house grand piano, a performance captured in one of NPR's pristine studios (in a building that no longer exists). But for the Tiny Desk, the pianist and composer assumed the challenge of preparing our significantly smaller upright in a much-less-controlled environment.

It's hard to spot everything Hauschka deployed for this mostly improvised set, but after dismantling much of the piano's cabinet, he stuffed the strings with tin foil, a glob of pink putty, cellophane, piano tuner mutes, sleigh bells, gaffers tape and whatever else he could rummage from a large bag of toys he carries with him.

Hauschka is joined by cellists Carol Anne Bosco and Devree Lewis who, since the set was mostly improvised, were told to simply come on "about 10 minutes" into his performance. Note that the songs are named for the location they were performed, in this case "Washington," and numbered. The closing cut, "Loved Ones," is from his latest album, Philanthropy.

Bertelmann's performance at the Tiny Desk comes just over a year after winning an Oscar for his score to the film All Quiet On The Western Front.

SET LIST
"Washington One"
"Washington Two"
"Washington Three"
"Loved Ones"

MUSICIANS
Hauschka, aka Volker Bertelmann: piano
Carol Anne Bosco: cello
Devree Lewis: cello

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Robin Hilton
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Audio Technical Director: Josephine Nyounai
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Sofia Seidel
Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Michael Zamora
Tiny Desk Team: Hazel Cills, Kara Frame
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #hauschka

Sleater-Kinney: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-04-22 | Stephen Thompson | April 22, 2024
For a roughly three-year stretch beginning in late 2007, Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein reached the pinnacle of a career that has included stints as a rock star, a TV actor and an author. During that time, Brownstein wrote the NPR Music blog Monitor Mix and appeared as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. But she foolishly climbed down from that mountaintop in 2010 in order to launch the TV show Portlandia and the band Wild Flag, among other dalliances.

Last month, she finally came crawling back to NPR. On the heels of Sleater-Kinney's 11th studio album, Little Rope, the band convened at the Tiny Desk to perform two songs from the new record, as well as a pair of songs from 2005's The Woods. Thanks in part to a terrific string quartet — whom the band had just met in what Corin Tucker described as a "blind date" — the Little Rope tracks benefited from a fresh sense of sweep. And the whole show doubled as an exercise in careful balance, as old songs coexisted with new ones, Brownstein swapped the vocal spotlight with powerhouse singer Tucker, and intensity met restraint.

Behind the scenes, the band's presence triggered a kind of impromptu family reunion, as Bob Boilen took a momentary break from retirement to show up and cheer on his former colleague. But on camera, Sleater-Kinney was all business — as wiry and vital as ever. It's too bad for everyone involved that Brownstein no longer works for NPR, but this performance felt like far and away the next best thing.

SET LIST
"Jumpers"
"Modern Girl"
"Say It Like You Mean It"
"Untidy Creature"

MUSICIANS
Corin Tucker: vocals, guitar
Carrie Brownstein: vocals, guitar
Toko Yasuda: keyboards, melodica
Angie Boylan: drums, percussion
Kristina "Teeny" Lieberson: piano, percussion
Nataly Merezhuk: violin
Celaya Kirchner: violin
Kimia Hesabi: viola
Erin Murphy Snedecor: cello

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Stephen Thompson
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Michael Zamora, Sofia Seidel
Audio Engineer: Phil Edfors
Production Assistants: Ashley Pointer, Devon Williams
Photographer: Zayrha Rodriguez
Tiny Desk Team: Hazel Cills, Kara Frame
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #sleaterkinney

Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf 2024: Episode 3 with Nabil Ayers

NPR Music 2024-04-18 | NPR Music received more than 6,600 submissions to this year's Tiny Desk Contest, our annual search for the next great undiscovered artist to play a Tiny Desk concert. Before we reveal this year's winner, our Contest judges are sharing their favorite entries as part of our annual Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf livestream series.

Featured entries:
Alejandro Aranda, “Pieces” youtu.be/xhZ1vtYh-hs?si=zrkrVgg2fb9Y2ydu
Jett Kwong, “Ficelle” youtube.com/watch?v=_M2Li-oCIhw
Dolapo Akinkugbe, “Everybody Falls” youtube.com/watch?v=VUl7PUQf5SU
Emily How, “Useless” youtube.com/watch?v=tmMoXa3GePk
Ama, “Amarra” youtube.com/watch?v=tJTtJERKaCE
Danae Greenfield, “Flutterby” youtube.com/watch?v=ApN7xEO6A98
Ollella, “Tea Kettle Tea” youtube.com/watch?v=B2CHaHDT3Xs
KHIARA AYABA, “Closer 2 Shore” youtube.com/watch?v=1BCzFVgXzj4

Learn more about the Contest: npr.org/tinydeskcontest

Yaya Bey: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-04-17 | Ashley Pointer | April 17, 2024
Throughout an emotional, soul-stirring set, the multitudes of Yaya Bey's music and artistry are on full display in her Tiny Desk concert. The New York-bred singer-songwriter opens the show by paying homage to her Barbados roots: reggae-tinged grooves of "meet me in brooklyn" from her powerful 2022 album, Remember Your North Star, that flow seamlessly into "on the pisces moon" from 2023's Exodus The North Star.

Our little corner can be a space for artists and musicians to approach their music in more intimate ways, often leading to incredibly raw experiences. Bey manages to create a sense of closeness with the audience as she emphatically expresses how difficult this performance is for her to get through: "My dad died last year, so I be spacing out sometimes when I do this joint," before diving into the sentimental "reprise."

Before closing the set with "me and all my n*****," a new song from her upcoming LP Ten Fold, which she says she wrote as "an ode to human resilience," she continues to open up about her battle with long COVID: "That mask s*** is real; [this] s*** is hard." Bey's performance feels like peeking into her personal journals, and it's truly healing to experience. Not a dry eye was left in the building.

SET LIST
"meet me in brooklyn"
"on the pisces moon"
"reprise"
"me and all my n*****"

MUSICIANS
Yaya Bey: vocals
Sweet Corey-Bey: bass, vocals
Andrew Velez: trumpet, vocals
Jo Palmer: drums
Colin Chambers: keys

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Ashley Pointer
Director: Joshua Bryant
Audio Technical Director: Josephine Nyounai
Editor: Maia Stern
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Alanté Serene
Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
Production Assistant: Elle Mannion
Photographer: Zayrha Rodriguez
Tiny Desk Copy Editor: Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#tinydesk #nprmusic #yayabey

Linda May Han Oh: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-04-15 | Mitra I. Arthur | April 15, 2024
Themes of reflection and resilience are on display the moment bassist Linda May Han Oh begins her opener, "Halo," a driving tune dedicated to the world of live music producers. The track, accentuated by Greg Ward on alto saxophone and Fabian Almazan's use of an effects pedal on the piano, calls to mind the grind and hustle of playing and presenting gigs. Performance of thoughtful and complex sounds is at the heart of jazz, and at the heart of Oh's impact as a composer and musician. Her work with artists like Pat Metheny, Terri Lyne Carrington and Vijay Iyer, plus her projects as a composer and bandleader (including a chamber jazz ensemble and album, Aventurine) have culminated in Oh being an in-demand jazz bassist.

In this Tiny Desk, Oh presents a mix of cuts from her 2023 release, The Glass Hours, and new works. Her theme of resilience is exemplified in "The Imperative," where drummer Mark Whitfield Jr. and tenor saxophonist Mark Turner shine. "Rise Mountains" is a conversation between the married duo of Oh and Almazan — at times a unified conversation, in others one where each takes a side. To close her set, Oh moves from upright bass to an electric for "Hatchling," inspired by her and Almazan's 3-year-old son. This whimsical song, with Oh and Sara Serpa vocalizing, paints a portrait of a tiny human discovering life and exploring a new world.

SET LIST
"Halo"
"The Imperative"
"Rise Mountains"
"Hatchling"

MUSICIANS
Linda May Han Oh: acoustic bass, electric bass
Fabian Almazan: piano/effects
Sara Serpa: vocals
Mark Turner: tenor saxophone
Greg Ward: alto saxophone
Mark Whitfield Jr.: drums

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Mitra I. Arthur
Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
Audio Technical Director: Josephine Nyounai
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Zayrha Rodriguez
Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Estefania Mitre
Tiny Desk Copy Editor: Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #lindamayhanoh

Fujii Kaze: Tiny Desk Concerts JAPAN

NPR Music 2024-04-12 | Suraya Mohamed | April 12, 2024
In the corner of a busy office at the NHK Broadcasting Center in Shibuya, Tokyo, a staffer rearranged books, vinyl records and tchotchkes on a bright red shelving unit. The production crew double-checked equipment settings and made small adjustments to the lighting. Another worker added a few more posters to the tall white file cabinets. Cameras were set and microphones were ready because Fujii Kaze and his band had just rehearsed the night before. Everyone in the room — including a few of us from NPR that were there to help — was eager and excited because the very first performance for Tiny Desk Concerts JAPAN was about to start.

Popular around the world, the talented Fujii Kaze is a Japanese singer and pianist known for his sultry R&B grooves and catchy songwriting. His adventurous spirit was strong as he settled into the Tiny Desk way — a concert that's intimate, mostly acoustic and recorded without reverb, effects, in-ear monitors or wedges. During the rehearsal, the band quickly acclimated to the environment and adjusted instrument volumes to hear each other better. The end result was a beautiful 30 minute set, captured without pause and with no stops, restarts or retakes.

This video is part of the second international version of Tiny Desk, a joint venture between NPR and The Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) — the sole public media organization in Japan that is operated with the purpose of providing the latest news, education and culture both domestically and internationally. This new series will spotlight emerging and established Japanese artists with the same engaged performances, look and feel of the original Tiny Desk Concerts series.

SET LIST
"Matsuri"
"Garden"
"damn"
"Kirari"
"Michi Teyu Ku (Overflowing)"
"Shinunoga E-Wa"

MUSICIANS
Fujii Kaze: lead vocals, keys
Yaffle: keys
DURAN: guitar
Katsuya Takumi: bass
Kudo Seiya: drums
Yo-Sea: vocals
nishina: vocals

CREDITS

NHK / NHK ENTERPRISES:
Executive Producer: Shibasaki Tetsuya, Kamano Mizuho
Producer: Ozawa Hiroshi
Director: Ito Misato, Kikuchi Minako
Camera: Ishigaki Motomu
Lighting: Ichikawa Takaho
Sound: Sato Yosuke
Designer: Yamaguchi Takashi
Editor: Morozumi Yuka

NPR Music:
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Lead Video Producer: Maia Stern
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Tiny Desk Team: Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Ashley Pointer, Hazel Cills
Senior Director of Partnership Development: Gordon Synn
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #fujiikaze

Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf 2024: Episode 2 with Durand Bernarr

NPR Music 2024-04-11 | NPR Music received more than 6,600 submissions to this year's Tiny Desk Contest, our annual search for the next great undiscovered artist to play a Tiny Desk concert. Before we reveal this year's winner, our Contest judges are sharing their favorite entries as part of our annual Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf livestream series.

Entries featured in this episode:
- nobigdyl., "Go With The Ghost" youtu.be/GGugcnLplKc?si=mwsq_fZlcHBB27XO
- Eldrado+FreeNation, "Butterflies" youtu.be/foUATnOMZGg?si=H_PszO_Up2zp839a
- FORAGER, "Haiku Nursery Rhyme" youtu.be/7bMGjfQlA74?si=OzKyhuaxgYaCsbyn
- Arian, "REALTV" youtu.be/dm_dB8errCw?si=QHqiJrT6058v9YfR
- Ronny Cash, "Unspoken" youtu.be/I99xrBbV0Fw?si=NOUoit3oET3t2pYZ
- Brian Brown, "Free" youtu.be/sA9RJezxmdw?si=1BpVfRPEXZ346TApp
- Daphne Eckman, "acupuncture" youtu.be/NAfDnIqx9zQ?si=25Hx_3vZph5F-RIm
- The Philharmonik , "What's It All Mean" youtu.be/crgaJEmFPBI?si=ZgkYHpIW1-AjB4QP
- Noaa Rienecker, "Apples" youtu.be/qmwLBYg7bM4?si=5wHWWApfGoWPh1Al
- julie on the internet, "Mercy" youtu.be/oQVlJauNwxo?si=LSYtlcyYW7ekMbBl

Learn more about the Contest: npr.org/tinydeskcontest

El Laberinto del Coco: Tiny Desk x globalFEST

NPR Music 2024-04-05 | In 2021, the Tiny Desk x globalFEST series was created to promote international music discovery. For the last three years, artists from around the globe have performed Tiny Desk (home) concerts from their respective countries, but for the first time this year, artists performed at the Tiny Desk at NPR's headquarters.

Felix Contreras | April 5, 2024
The island of Puerto Rico has become known for various musical styles that have influenced not just Latin music, but also global musical trends. From the Afro Caribbean styles that make up the salsa boom of the 1970s, to the "BOOM-chicka-BOOM" of the reggaeton beat that came to dominate the charts, Puerto Rican musicians innovate while never straying far from tradition.

That idea inspired percussionist Hector "Coco" Barez to create the group El Laberinto del Coco, a genre-bending collective built around the folklore and rhythmic styles of bomba. The group's message is clear from the opening grooves of "Se Vuelve Miel" that Barez's vision is to dig deep into the African roots of call-and-response with four vocalists and four horn players to remind us throughout its performance of the power of bomba to create community.

Special mention should be made of the presence of musician Jerry Medina, a musical treasure and icon from the island who has performed with the biggest names in Afro Caribbean music as a vocalist and trumpeter — in this case adding voca rumba percussion and sound effects.

SET LIST
"Se Vuelve Miel"
"El Silencio"
"Todo Va a Estar Bien"
"La Bambula"
"Canción de Repertorio"

MUSICIANS
Hector "Coco" Barez: musical direction, tambor primo
Andrés "Kino" Cruz: tambor buleador
Efrain Martinez: drums
Manuel "Kike" Rodriguez: bass
Jorge Andres Ferreras Pujol "Patillazz": electric guitar
Daniel Ramirez Amador: trumpet
Luis Francisco Colon: tenor sax
Jomar Santana: trombone
Janice Maisonet: baritone sax
Chamir Bonano: cantora
KIaní Medina: cantora
Antoinette Rodriguez: cantora
Soreimi Bezares: cantora
Jerry Medina: cantaor

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Felix Contreras
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Alanté Serene
Audio Engineer: Kwesi Lee
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Creative Designer: Jackie Lay
Photographer: Zayrha Rodriguez
Tiny Desk Copy Editor: Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
globalFEST Team: Isabel Soffer, Bill Bragin, Shanta Thake, Zion Jackson, Ian Thake
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#tinydesk #nprmusic #lelaberintodelcoco

Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf 2024: Episode 1 with Bobby Carter and Robin Hilton

NPR Music 2024-04-04 | NPR Music received more than 6,600 submissions to this year's Tiny Desk Contest, our annual search for the next great undiscovered artist to play a Tiny Desk concert. Before we reveal this year's winner, our Contest judges are sharing their favorite entries as part of our annual Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf livestream series.

Entries featured in this episode:
- Palmyra, "Shape I'm In" youtube.com/watch?v=qPWpoaIffQ4
- Cure for Paranoia, "Cure For Paranoia's TiiNY DESK" youtu.be/fnoh0qL-GQA?si=ZY-ljHINAEdQOFJr
- Frail Talk, "little al" youtube.com/watch?v=zAXjrd0vTPs
- Casey Ruth Little, "smudge on the lens" youtube.com/watch?v=RJRRGxBiWHM
Southwest Georgia Creatives, "Too Long" youtube.com/watch?v=uqgHCXvFP78
- LORD$, "Try Again" youtu.be/4YGYlvx5oB0?si=aOP2fM_GceqnR5wu
- Mae Valero, "Home" youtube.com/watch?v=_INKAdJV7gs&ab_channel=MaeValerio
- Young Original, "Perfect World" youtu.be/q6jfXtAbPUA?si=vl3XxbLauQszcqDU
- George Perkins, "Young George" youtube.com/watch?v=pxZ9KcS-ANw
- Nafisaria Mathews, "Bye" youtu.be/ej-0CDtZJGQ?si=DZPzGD_Na_Z5pQEL

Learn more about the Contest: npr.org/tinydeskcontest

Tarta Relena: Tiny Desk x globalFEST

NPR Music 2024-04-03 | In 2021, the Tiny Desk x globalFEST series was created to promote international music discovery. For the last three years, artists from around the globe have performed Tiny Desk (home) concerts from their respective countries, but for the first time this year, artists performed at the Tiny Desk at NPR's headquarters.

Felix Contreras | April 3, 2024
The first impression I get from watching the Spanish duo Tarta Relena at the Tiny Desk is a reminder that the human voice may be mankind's oldest musical instrument.

Even more so when you consider that the five languages they sing here includes not just Spanish, Greek and their native Catalan, but also Latin and classical Greek, evoking images of lyricists and vocalists from centuries past.

Starting initially as an a capella project in 2016, vocalists Helena Ros and Marta Torella eventually added ambient-styled electronics to cushion their uncommonly matched voices. The duo's first number, "Me Yelassan," is in Greek, so be sure to activate the translation option on the video to fully appreciate the power of the performance with lyrics read almost like a Zen koan meditation on rebirth and eternity.

Stay tuned in to those translations, because the magic of this performance is in losing yourself in the harmonies and timeless poetic lyrics. In fact, the lyrics of the song "Safo" are taken from a poem written by the ancient Greek poet Sappho, and includes the prophetic line: "Someone will remember us, I say even in another time." How often do we get a chance to consider our place in history set to such stunning vocals?

SET LIST
"Me Yelassan"
"Tota Pulchra"
"El Suïcidi i el Cant"
"Safo"
"Las Alamedas"

MUSICIANS
Marta Torrella
Helena Ros

TINY DESK TEAM
Producers: Felix Contreras, Anamaria Sayre
Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
Audio Technical Director: Hannah Gluvna
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Alanté Serene
Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Keren Carrion
Creative Designer: Jackie Lay
Tiny Desk Team: Maia Stern, Hazel Cills
globalFEST Team: Isabel Soffer, Bill Bragin, Shanta Thake, Zion Jackson, Ian Thake
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #tartarelena

Thandiswa Mazwai: Tiny Desk x globalFEST

NPR Music 2024-04-01 | In 2021, the Tiny Desk x globalFEST series was created to promote international music discovery. For the last three years, artists from around the globe have performed Tiny Desk (home) concerts from their respective countries, but for the first time this year, artists performed at the Tiny Desk at NPR's headquarters.

Suraya Mohamed | April 1, 2024
Thandiswa Mazwai is one of post-apartheid South Africa's most influential musicians. For nearly 30 years she has championed a kind of dance music called Kwaito. The South African genre mixes a variety of rhythms and influences including hip-hop, reggae, jazz and house music.

This phenomenal set starts with “Nizalwa Ngobani?”, translated from the Xhosa language for “Do you know where you come from?” It’s dedicated to the ever-resilient people of South Africa. “I want to say to my people at home, thank you,” she says. “I am known worldwide because of you.” After, she sings a love song, “Ingoma” with the memorable hook “Ngoma we, ngoma we, ngoma we,” which loosely translates to “You are a song that I never get tired of.”

She dedicates the next song, “Children of the Soil,” to all the people around the world who find themselves struggling for freedom. “This is our time to use our voices,” she affirms. “This is the time for us to fight for freedom, wherever it is in the world.” “Children of the Soil” will be featured on her soon-to-be-released new album, Sankofa. And she finishes this set with the powerful “Abenguni,” and the catchy upbeat tune “Lahl’umlenze,” with its resilient hook: “Why does it matter how I dance?”

SET LIST
“Nizalwa Ngobani?”
“Ingoma”
“Children of the Soil”
“Abenguni”
“Lahl’umlenze”

MUSICIANS
Thandiswa Mazwai: lead vocals
Lungile (Lulu) Maduna: drums, vocals
Sunnyboy Mthimunye: guitar
Tendai Ali Shoko (Shox): bass
Thabang Tabane: percussion
Xolani Thabethe: keys, vocals

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Elizabeth Gillis
Audio Engineer: Becky Brown
Production Assistant: Elle Mannion
Photographer: Zayrha Rodriguez
Creative Designer: Jackie Lay
Tiny Desk Team: Ashley Pointer, Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
globalFEST Team: Isabel Soffer, Bill Bragin, Shanta Thake, Zion Jackson, Ian Thake
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#tinydesk #nprmusic #thandiswamazwai

Soul Glo: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-03-29 | Lars Gotrich | March 29, 2024
We have hosted rap legends, Broadway musicals, pop stars, world-renowned classical musicians, indie rockers and folkies — there's a universe of music at the Tiny Desk that keeps expanding. But we have never featured a hardcore punk band at the NPR Music office ... until Soul Glo.

Hardcore and punk are vital not only in how I understand the world but also challenge myself; it's music that feels first, then screams. Soul Glo crystalizes its anger and anxiety — about trauma, anti-Blackness, mortality, survival — with a pummeling prism of classic hardcore speed, psychedelic noise, sludgy riffs and a spitfire vocalist with exasperated-but-exhilarating run-ons, who finds moments to step back and bounce like an emcee would.

But punk can also be unpredictable because, at its heart, punk does not want to be contained. Soul Glo's set features tracks from 2022's still thrilling Diaspora Problems, plus a loosie from last year. Halfway through "Driponomics," Pierce Jordan gets on the Desk, but dips in and out of the microphone's range to commune with the throng of punks gathered. The same happens with the band's outrageously chaotic and catchy closer "Gold Chain Punk (whogonbeatmyass?)," but what the mics don't capture in Jordan's verse, the crowd more than ably makes up for in the gang vocals that feverishly scream back the hook. (Yes, that is me stepping into the frame to get a mic back in Jordan's general vicinity.) Oh, and in a Tiny Desk of several firsts, a mosh pit broke out in the office; I'm still smiling about it.

SET LIST
"Jump!! (Or Get Jumped!!!)((by the future))"'
"If I Speak (Shut The F*** Up)"
"Driponomics"
"Gold Chain Punk (whogonbeatmyass?)"

MUSICIANS
Pierce Jordan: vocals, bass
GG Guerra: guitar, vocals
Allen Nunez: bass, guitar
TJ Stevenson: drums

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Lars Gotrich
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Zayrha Rodriguez
Audio Engineer: Kwesi Lee
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Elizabeth Gillis
Tiny Desk Team: Kara Frame, Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #soulglo

Víkingur Ólafsson: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-03-28 | Tom Huizenga | March 28, 2024
Top-tier concert pianists commonly perform on nine-foot grand pianos. However, when they visit the Tiny Desk, it's our job to convince them to scale down to our diminutive upright. We got no argument from Víkingur Ólafsson, the 40-year-old star pianist from Iceland.

His eyes lit up when he saw our instrument. He immediately removed its upper panel, then secured the practice pedal, which drops a curtain of felt between the hammers and the strings, producing a muted, intimate sound, allowing the music to be practically whispered to us.

The pieces Ólafsson chooses are gentle, and for him nostalgic, recalling the countless hours spent at his own upright piano in his childhood bedroom.

J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations is "an encyclopedia of how you can think and dream on the keyboard," Ólafsson says, after opening with the work's featherlight Aria and vigorous first variation. His phrasing is warm and lilting, and as detailed as a Vermeer.

Ólafsson is also a gifted arranger. His rendition of an interlude from Jean-Philippe Rameau's 1763 opera Les Boréades unspools as a calm procession. Ólafsson titled it "The Arts and the Hours" because, he says, "art is long and life is short."

Filtered through Béla Bartók, Three Hungarian Folksongs from Csík have been part of Ólafsson's repertoire since childhood. The wistful melodies and tangy harmonies are irresistible. And Ólafsson closes with another personal arrangement, "Ave María," something close to Iceland's national prayer.

The pianist insisted on placing our grumpy-looking Bach bobblehead on the piano for companionship, joking that the frowning little toy "seems permanently displeased with everything I do." But judging from this performance, and his wise words, Ólafsson is doing everything just right.

SET LIST
J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations - Aria, Variation No. 1
Jean-Philipe Rameau (arr. Ólafsson): "The Arts and the Hours"
Béla Bartók: Three Hungarian Folksongs from Csík
Sigvaldi Kaldalóns (arr. Ólafsson): "Ave Maria"

MUSICIANS
Víkingur Ólafsson: piano

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Tom Huizenga
Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
Audio Technical Director: Hannah Gluvna
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern
Audio Engineer: Kwesi Lee
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Estefania Mitre
Tiny Desk Team: Kara Frame, Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #vikingurolafsson

Big Sean: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-03-27 | Bobby Carter | March 27, 2024
Most artists who play the Tiny Desk leave behind a small memento to live on the shelves. Big Sean gave us his special Detroit Tigers/J Dilla baseball cap, an item that speaks to who he is as an artist. Sean doesn't allow too much time to pass without reminding you of his native Detroit and his most recent freestyle samples an instrumental from the late great J Dilla. Sean pushed our boundaries, presenting one of the longest setlists in Tiny Desk history, but was also extremely gracious and collaborative with our team. This wasn't just another appearance for him. "It's something my kids can look back on, something my family can look back on to see where I was at in my career," he said before closing with the rambunctious "I Don't F*** With You."

Sean Anderson's journey from a high-pitched kid pining for the attention of Ye to one of the most respected lyricists and hitmakers in hip-hop is cleverly packed into this Tiny Desk concert. One of my favorite moments was when he touched on his background as a blog-era emcee. Most of the current kings and queens of hip-hop came up in the same era and it's hard to fathom what the culture would be without that class. Every word and song of his performance was deliberate: from "Memories," right up to the world premiere of "On Up," a song dedicated to his son, Noah, with whom he shares with singer Jhené Aiko, who also gets a bit of shine during his set.

SET LIST
"Memories"
"Nothing Is Stopping You"
"Blessings"
"Play No Games"
"Light"
"My Last"
"Marvin & Chardonnay"
"All Me"
"Beware"
"I Know"
"Bounce Back"
"One Man Can Change The World"
"On Up"
"I Don't F*** With You"

MUSICIANS
Big Sean: lead vocals
Thaddeus Dixon: keys, musical direction
Amaire Johnson: keys
Henry McDaniel: drums
Micah Moffett: bass guitar, key bass
DJ Mo Beatz: DJ
Samoht: vocals
Ashly Williams: vocals
Eryn Allen Kane: vocals
George Lovett: vocals
Lady Jess: violin
Ariel Byrd: violin
Jerome Gordon: viola
Johnny Walker, Jr.: cello

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bobby Carter
Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern, Kara Frame, Alanté Serene
Audio Engineers: Josephine Nyounai
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Michael Zamora
Tiny Desk Copy Editor: Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#tinydesk #nprmusic #bigsean

Chappell Roan: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-03-21 | Stephen Thompson | March 21, 2024
It’s become a Tiny Desk tradition for artists to leave a small offering on the shelves — a tchotchke, a toy, a signed album or piece of swag, a guitar pick, that sort of thing. Usually, those pieces get absorbed into the visual din, but sometimes, they change the look of the Tiny Desk permanently. All of which is to say that when Chappell Roan finished her magnetic performance, we immediately sought her out to sheepishly ask if we could keep her wig.

Roan’s marvelous debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, came out last September — just in time to fit into the window of eligibility for the 2025 Grammys, hint hint wink — and it finds the singer toying confidently with a persona inspired in part by drag performers. Flanked by a pink-clad band, she wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to serve up an absolute look, complete with white makeup and a towering wig (bolstered by a wadded-up trash bag tucked inside, as well as an assortment of stubbed-out cigarette butts), which now sits comfortably atop a skull Cypress Hill left us.

It’s only appropriate that Roan would forever alter the Tiny Desk. Because, at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, this is a stunning set: Performing five songs from Midwest Princess, Roan worked through songs of youthful heartache (“Casual”), queer liberation (“Pink Pony Club”), mournful alienation (“California”) and two decidedly different forms of chaotic seduction (“Picture You,” “Red Wine Supernova”). In every mood and every song, she’s utterly commanding — witty and whip-smart, vocally assured and charismatic beyond words.

She didn’t just leave her wig; she left a mark.

SET LIST
“Casual”
“Pink Pony Club”
“Picture You”
“California”
“Red Wine Supernova”

MUSICIANS
Chappell Roan: lead vocals
Eliza Petrosyan: guitar
Lucy Ritter: drums
Valeria Falcon: bass
Sarah Hinez: keys
Danica Pinner: cello
Mia Pfirrman: vocals
Emily Lenck: violin

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Stephen Thompson
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Joshua Bryant, Zayrha Rodriguez
Audio Engineer: Carleigh Strange
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Elizabeth Gillis
Tiny Desk Team: Maia Stern, Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#tinydesk #nprmusic #chappellroan
0:14 Casual
5:00 Pink Pony Club
10:03 Picture You
15:05 California
19:30 Red Wine Supernova

Jennifer Koh & Missy Mazzoli: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-03-20 | Tom Huizenga | March 20, 2024
Thankfully, few no longer believe that playing classical music requires an evening gown or a tux. When composer Missy Mazzoli and violinist Jennifer Koh made their way into our Tiny Desk office space, we took note of the beautiful ink on Mazzoli‘s arm, her clunky black boots, and Koh’s bright blue hair and sleeveless leather dress.

The two artists have been collaborating for 15 years and this ferocious and beautiful set traces that history. It also reveals an essential equation of how classical music works: Mazzoli, the composer, who is currently writing a work for the Metropolitan Opera, conjures up music in her head, and Koh, the performer, breathes life into it.

Koh opens with Hail, Horrors, Hail, a recent solo piece she included on Alone Together, a homespun album recorded during the height of the pandemic which earned her a Grammy. Mazzoli joins at the keyboard in a bespoke arrangement of the final movement from Procession, Mazzoli’s sumptuous violin concerto, inspired by medieval healing rituals, which Koh premiered in 2022 with the National Symphony Orchestra.

Dissolve, O my Heart, the first piece Mazzoli wrote for Koh, spirals out into an emotional journey touched with spasms of joy and grief. It’s rooted in late-night discussions fueled by Chinese food, cupcakes and Bach’s revered Chaconne D minor that is quoted at the beginning. Koh closes with Kinski Paganini, unsettled music inspired by the German actor Klaus Kinski’s volatile performances.

Hearing this set, in all its rugged delight, feels like we’re eavesdropping on something personal — a fruitful, collaborative friendship between composer and performer that has yielded amazing music.

SET LIST
Mazzoli: Hail, Horrors, Hail
Mazzoli: Violin Concerto (Procession): “Procession Ascending”
Mazzoli: Dissolve, O my Heart
Mazzoli: Kinski Paganini

MUSICIANS
Jennifer Koh: violin
Missy Mazzoli: keyboard

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Tom Huizenga
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Joshua Bryant
Audio Engineer: Ted Mebane
Production Assistant: Elle Mannion
Photographer: Keren Carrión
Tiny Desk Team: Maia Stern, Ashley Pointer, Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#tinydesk #jenniferkoh #missymazzoli

Win a trip to the Tiny Desk! #nprmusic #tinydesk #music #livemusic

NPR Music 2024-03-19 | Visit NPR.org/TinyDeskGiveaway for info and links to enter, and you could win a trip for two to see a live Tiny Desk Concert in person. All while making a difference by supporting public media.

Justin Timberlake: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-03-15 | Stephen Thompson | March 15, 2024
Walking into the room shortly before Justin Timberlake took our cramped stage, I overheard someone on his team wondering aloud if this was to be the most densely populated Tiny Desk concert in history — which is to say, the most musicians we've ever fit in a single frame. It's not, but we don't often find a way to cram in this many human beings (15 in all) and this much gear.

Timberlake has never been one to give partial effort, but this is a production befitting the occasion: namely, a set timed to drop concurrently with the release of his new album, Everything I Thought It Was. Eschewing the rootsier feel of its predecessor, 2018's Man of the Woods, the new record is a throwback, an epic and a blowout — and so's this lavish set, which scales the Timberlake experience down to 25 minutes of maximalist celebration and, when the moment calls for it, chiller vibes.

Backed by his band The Tennessee Kids, Timberlake's Tiny Desk debut leans heavily on his early solo catalog, as he kicks it off with two songs from 2002's classic Justified and weaves in three more from 2006's magnificent FutureSex/LoveSounds — including a set-closing "SexyBack," which finds the singer trotting out a megaphone in a truly meme-worthy moment.

By the way, in case you're wondering, the all-time record for musicians behind the Tiny Desk is a whopping 23, a feat pulled off by the fantastic Mucca Pazza in 2015. But Timberlake and company rival that classic performance's energy — in both cases, the real triumph lies not in the Tetris of it all, but in the way that many people still find ways to move, buoyantly and as one mighty organism.

SET LIST
"Señorita"
"Rock Your Body"
"Pusher Love Girl"
"Until The End Of Time"
"Selfish"
"What Goes Around"
"SexyBack"

MUSICIANS
Justin Timberlake: lead vocals, guitar, keys
RaVaughn Brown: vocals
Camry: vocals
Erin Stevenson: vocals
Kenyon Dixon: vocals
Justin Gilbert: keys
Mike Reid: drums
Elliot Ives: guitar
Derrick Ray: bass
Leon Silva: saxophone
Kevin Williams: trombone, flute
Dontae Winslow: trumpet
Sean Erick: trumpet
Adam Blackstone: keys, percussion, music direction
Andrew Hypes: DJ

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bobby Carter
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Videographers: Maia Stern, Kara Frame, Joshua Bryant, Alanté Serene, Elizabeth Gillis
Audio Engineers: Kwesi Lee, Adam Blackstone, Danny Cheung
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Estefania Mitre
Tiny Desk Copy Editor: Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#justintimberlake #nprmusic #tinydesk

0:15 Señorita
2:20 Rock Your Body
4:40 Pusher Love Girl
7:30 Until The End Of Time
12:44 Selfish
16:40 What Goes Around
19:56 SexyBack

Squirrel Flower: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-03-13 | Elle Mannion | March 13, 2024
“This little guy is someone we picked up on the road,” Squirrel Flower, aka songwriter Ella Williams, says between songs, referencing a tiny toy alligator resting on her mic stand. The Chicago-based indie rocker stopped by the Tiny Desk on the heels of touring her latest album, Tomorrow’s Fire. Here, she plays stripped back versions of her thundering rock songs without her band, giving way for her low register, affecting lyricism and guitar skills to shine.

There’s an intensity unique to each song Williams plays in her Tiny Desk set. “I told you, I've never been in love,” she begins on the aching "Almost Pulled Away.” On “Alley Light,” she sings about not being able to take things slow, musing “maybe that’s why she loves me.” The set seems to reach its apex on “Finally Rain,” when Williams' vocals ring the loudest. But then for the closer, “Iowa 146,” Williams thaws as she performs with a quiet kind of focus that’s just as powerful. She carefully plucks her strings and asks gently: “If I play you guitar, will everything fall away?”

SET LIST
"Almost Pulled Away"
"Alley Light"
"Finally Rain"
"Iowa 146"

MUSICIANS
Squirrel Flower: vocals, guitar

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Elle Mannion
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Josephine Nyounai
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern
Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Michael Zamora
Tiny Desk Team: Joshua Bryant, Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#tinydesk #nprmusic #squirrelflower

Meet the 2024 Tiny Desk Contest Community

NPR Music 2024-03-12 | We received 6,600 entries to this year's Tiny Desk Contest. Meet the independent artists who make up the 2024 Tiny Desk Contest community -- and stay tuned for the winner reveal.

Soundtrack:
"What's it all mean," The Philharmonik
"SWIM!," Cleo Reed
"Haiku Nursery Rhyme," FORAGER
"Grateful," Jutaun

Watch these entries and more: npr.org/tinydeskcontest.

#tinydesk #tinydeskcontest #nprmusic

311: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-03-11 | Maia Stern | March 11, 2024
What better way to spend March 11 than with 311 bringing love and nostalgia to the Tiny Desk. The members of 311, who have been a band together for over 30 years, strolled into NPR HQ and barely needed much rehearsal time before playing four of their most beloved tracks. The band has been performing these songs for decades, and you can tell it all just comes naturally. "This kind of reminds me of being in my dad's basement, being back next to the pool table, but it smells better here," said lead singer Nick Hexum, who felt right at home and back to his roots at our office space.

311's self-titled album came out in 1995 when I was entering my peak angst stage. The songs on that album were the perfect soundtrack to all the pre-teen feelings I wasn't able to fully express myself. I also heavily related to what remains to be my favorite lyric of all time from the band's 1997 album Transistor: "I do, I don't, whatever."

311's Tiny Desk set started off with the song that lyric comes from, personal favorite "Beautiful Disaster." The band continued with classic "All Mixed Up" before chilling out a bit with "Amber." Then, as Hexum said before the band's final track, "Down," it was "back to the rock." Listen out for SA's changed lyric honoring my and Tiny Desk's shared hometown: "Fall in love with your teachers, on the wax we are self made / Check the technique, 311 in D.C."

SET LIST
"Beautiful Disaster"
"All Mixed Up"
"Amber"
"Down"

MUSICIANS
Nick Hexum: vocals, guitar
Tim Mahoney: guitar
SA: turntables, vocals
Chad Sexton: drums
P-Nut: bass

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer/Director: Maia Stern
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Alanté Serene
Audio Engineer: Hannah Gluvna
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Michael Zamora
Tiny Desk Copy Editor: Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#311 #nprmusic #tinydesk

0:00 Beautiful Disaster
4:25 All Mixed Up
8:30 Amber
12:15 Down

Wednesday: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-03-08 | Hazel Cills | March 8, 2024
"I learned how to play guitar watching Tiny Desk concerts," Wednesday's lead singer Karly Hartzman says in the band's performance. Specifically, she says, by way of Mitski's scream-filled 2015 set. "The chords to these songs are pretty easy, if you want to mirror 'em."

The Asheville, N.C., rock band is constantly on the road, supporting Rat Saw God, which made NPR's best albums of 2023. But Wednesday made time to stop by NPR headquarters to play the Desk, toning down its noisy, country-influenced sound in a quieter setting. The rollicking opener "Chosen to Deserve" gets a pep in its step that begged for some in-office line dancing — nobody partook — before playing the quiet, romantic "Formula One" and ending with "Bath County."

And now, we count down to see which artist will cite Wednesday's performance as how they learned guitar.

SET LIST
"Chosen to Deserve"
"Formula One"
"Bath County"

MUSICIANS
Karly Hartzman: lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Alan Miller: drums
Xandy Chelmis: pedal steel, lap steel
MJ Lenderman: guitar, vocals
Ethan Baechtold: bass, piano

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Hazel Cills
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame
Audio Engineer: David Greenburg
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Michael Zamora
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #wednesday

Butcher Brown: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-03-06 | Nikki Birch | February 28, 2024
The "solar music" Butcher Brown brought to Tiny Desk was hot and funky from the count-in. What is solar music? It's the term the band uses to describe the various musical inspirations that influence its sound — simply put, everything under the sun. And everyone who attended this Tiny Desk Concert was feeling it. There were stank faces aplenty.

Hailing from Richmond, VA, a city that has given us musical icons like D'Angelo, Lonnie Liston Smith and the comedic weirdness of Gwar, Butcher Brown's cultivation of psychedelic jazz funk with a hip-hop polish has produced its latest album, Solar Music, and proves why the band gets "daps from the jazz cats, the rap scene, the indie scene and everyone else," according to drummer Corey Fonville.

The collective musical ingenuity of the band shines through on the extremely danceable "No Way Around It," the vibey interlude "Fohbliv" and head nodders including "DYKWYD" and "I Can Say to You." Butcher Brown brings it every time.

SET LIST
"No Way Around It"
"Fohbliv"
"Frontline"
"DYKWYD"
"I Can Say To You"

MUSICIANS
DJ Harrison: keys
Tennishu: vocals, saxophone
Morgan Burrs: guitar
Andy Randazzo: bass
Corey Fonville: drums

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Nikki Birch
Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
Audio Technical Director: Josephine Nyounai
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern, Kara Frame, Mitra I. Arthur
Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
Production Assistants: Ashley Pointer, Elle Mannion
Photographer: Estefania Mitre
Tiny Desk Copy Editor: Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #butcherbrown

Irreversible Entanglements: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-02-26 | Lars Gotrich | February 26, 2024
“When did your heart break?” It’s the question that Camae Ayewa asks to open this Tiny Desk, and one that's still rattling in my head. That soul puncture is an essential piece of Irreversible Entanglements, a free jazz band rooted in punk ethos.

Individually, these folks have made some of the most creative and challenging music of the past decade: Ayewa’s ever-evolving project Moor Mother, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro and drummer Tcheser Holmes’ telepathic duets, saxophonist Keir Neuringer’s sonic monuments and bassist Luke Stewart’s restless projects as improviser and instigator. Deep catalogs for deep listeners.

For this Tiny Desk, the band runs through six songs without breaks, starting with “Fireworks,” a personal favorite, then leaning into music from Protect Your Light, which was released on Impulse Records (aka, the house that John and Alice Coltrane built). Joined here by guest vocalist Kyle Kidd, it’s a joy to see Irreversible Entanglements work as a unit: hard-struck funk bass lines seamlessly shift to the horns, which constrict and expand the melody, and elastic drums create a fluid palette for Ayewa to spit, yawp and intone her poetry. To close, she gives us a crucial message to take into the darkness of this year or any: “We need your light / We can’t stop shining / We must be the sun.”

SET LIST
“Fireworks”
“Soundness”
“Free Love”
“Our Land Back”
“root ᐸ=ᐳ branch”
“Protect Your Light”

MUSICIANS
Camae Ayewa: vocals
Aquiles Navarro: trumpet, synth
Keir Neuringer: saxophone, synth
Luke Stewart: upright bass
Tcheser Holmes: drums
Kyle Kidd: backing vocals

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Lars Gotrich
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern
Audio Engineer: Josephine Nyounai
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Estefania Mitre
Tiny Desk Copy Editor: Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#tinydesk #nprmusic #irreversibleentanglements

Kelela: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-02-24 | Bobby Carter | Februrary 24, 2024
Kelela took her opportunity at the Tiny Desk to create something new. She swapped key pieces from her recordings (hard drums and effects) for a harp and piano. She also presented us with a challenge or two as well. While there weren't many bodies behind the Desk, the instruments left little room for movement. Pianist Briley Harris was barricaded by the keys, and background vocalists Brittney Mills and Alayna Rodgers were nestled next to Ahya Simone's big beautiful harp. When an artist presents us with a distinctive, creative vision for their performance, the fun part is collaborating to execute that idea.

This Tiny Desk was a homecoming for Kelela. She let the music do most of the speaking but not before shouting out Washington, D.C., where she was born. The setlist seamlessly showcases most parts of her catalog with a couple of brand new arrangements. "Enough" and "Take Me Apart" are almost unrecognizable, recast to allow Kelela's vocals to sit gently within the harp and keys. The singer found a thunder tube in our percussion section and tinkered with it during soundcheck. Toward the end of "The High," she sings through it to alter her voice. That exploration and experimentation perfectly capture the essence of the show.

SET LIST
"Raven"
"Take Me Apart"
"Bank Head"
"Waitin"
"Enough"
"Bluff"
"The High"

MUSICIANS
Kelela: vocals
Briley Harris: keys
Brandon Donald: drums
Alayna Rodgers: vocals
Brittney Mills: vocals
Ahya Simone: harp

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bobby Carter
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Hannah Gluvna
Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Alanté Serene
Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
Production Assistant: Elle Mannion
Photographer: Elizabeth Gillis
Tiny Desk Team: Ashley Pointer, Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #kelela

Cinder Well: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-02-23 | Lars Gotrich | February 23, 2024
On overcast days, there's nothing like a hot cup of tea, a cozy blanket and some mystic music. While taping Cinder Well's Tiny Desk, gray clouds hung over NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C., urging the same kind of introspection — sympathetic scenery for a set of folk songs that wind around the passage of time.

Cinder Well's Amelia Baker grew up in California, but has spent much of her time on the Western cliffs of Ireland, soaking in the sea air of both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. Her songs, too, reflect the Laurel Canyon's wandering spirit and the droning qualities of Irish folk music. Yet there's space between that Baker occupies, illustrated by this performance: A crimson glow surrounds the dark undercurrent of Cinder Well that only grows brighter as the music goes deeper into the unknown.

SET LIST
"Two Heads, Grey Mare"
"Overgrown"
"No Summer"
"Crow"

MUSICIANS
Amelia Baker: vocals, guitar
Marit Schmidt: vocals, viola
Phillip Rogers: vocals, drums

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Lars Gotrich
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Audio Technical Director: Hannah Gluvna
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame
Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Tiny Desk Copy Editor: Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #cinderwell

Jeezy: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-02-21 | Bobby Carter | February 21, 2024
Motivation has always been the leading message of Jeezy's career and he's never veered off the path. The Atlanta superstar stayed consistent with his Tiny Desk, focusing on the early chapters of his career and creating a story arc in between songs. "I was able to connect with my people and my culture because we spoke the same language," he explained before playing "Go Crazy." "I wanted to inspire and give people the blueprint, people who wanted more for themselves."

Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins' music could easily be taken at face value given the number of hits he's racked up over his two-decade career, but he made his target audience and intention clear through the titles of his Thug Motivation albums. He's taken his mission far beyond music, excelling as an investor and more recently an author. His memoir, Adversity for Sale: Ya Gotta Believe, made it to the New York Times bestseller list.

The Snowman enlisted Tiny Desk vet and bassist D. Hodge to assemble a band to breathe new life into selections from his catalog. The string section brought opulence to these gritty street anthems and features two familiar faces: viola player Lelia-Michelle Walker and NPR's own Ashley Pointer on violin. Jeezy dedicated "Everythang" from TM:103 Hustlerz Ambition to Pointer and showed plenty of love to the group of Howard University students in the crowd. This is Black History at its finest.

SET LIST
"Standing Ovation"
"Air Forces"
"Bottom Of The Map"
"And Then What"
"Go Crazy"
"Everythang"

MUSICIANS
Jeezy: lead vocals
D. Hodge: bass, musical direction
CJ Thompson: drums
Joe Harley: keys
Ashley Pointer: violin
Lelia-Michelle Walker: viola
Dr. Amyr Joyner: violin
Johnny Walker: cello

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bobby Carter
Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Alanté Serene, Christina Shaman
Audio Engineer: Josephine Nyounai
Photographer: Zayrha Rodriguez
Production Assistant: Elle Mannion
Tiny Desk Copy Editor: Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #jeezy

Tinashe: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-02-16 | Alanté Serene | February 16, 2024
Tinashe has never been one-dimensional. With the many titles of singer, songwriter, producer, engineer and dancer under her belt, she came to the Tiny Desk and proved just that. A snow storm may have kept many Washington, D.C. natives in their home that day, but Tinashe was at the office bright and early with an infectious smile and spirit that would warm up any chill in the building.

Since starting her music career in 2007, Tinashe has created songs in genres spanning from pop to electro-R&B. And as the Aquarius said herself, "at this point, I've really demonstrated that I don't necessarily fit into one genre." At the Tiny Desk, Tinashe presents cuts from several different projects. First, comforting the crowd with the vulnerability of "Treason," from her album BB/Ang3l, accompanied by a vibraphone which she plays live for the first time ever. Tinashe switches gears with "Unconditional," the Kaytranada-produced track off her album 333. Then the artist performed one of her self-proclaimed favorite tracks, "Touch And Go," from her album Songs for You. To conclude her high-energy set, Tinashe performed her breakout single, "2 On," right on time for its 10-year anniversary. As I sang, danced and cheered along with the rest of the crowd, I thought to myself, this is a show worth trekking through the snow for.

SET LIST
"Treason"
"Unconditional"
"Touch & Go"
"2 On"

MUSICIANS
Tinashe: vocals, vibraphone
Darion Ja'Von: drums/musical director
Zach Fenske: mandolin, electric guitar
Sean Rosati: acoustic guitar
Edwin Carranza: bass
Phil Lewis: keys
Caleb Vaughn-Jones: cello
Crystal Alforque: violin

TINY DESK TEAM
Producers: Bobby Carter, Alanté Serene
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Videographers: Maia Stern, Kara Frame, Joshua Bryant, Catie Dull
Audio Engineer: Hannah Gluvna
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Zayrha Rodriguez
Tiny Desk Copy Editor: Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #tinashe

Berhana: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music 2024-02-14 | Bobby Carter | February 14, 2024
Months before he released Amén (The Nomad's Dream), Atlanta singer Berhana shared his Tiny Desk vision with me: He wanted to pay homage to his roots with Ethiopian jazz pianist Kibrom Birhane and members of the Ethio Cali band to showcase their authentic take on East African rhythms. Draped in a traditional Ethiopian scarf at the Tiny Desk, he incorporates those elements to a T.

So much of the genre-fluid Amén is about personal growth and finding home. His first trip to Ethiopia was the driving force behind the new project, but the storytelling prowess is carried over from 2019's HAN. Before closing his set with "Going Home," he expressed his gratitude for the moment. "It's because we live within this confined amount of time, that we're able to find meaning," he says. "I've been trying to accept that a little bit more and be grateful for the little moments like this that I get to share with you guys right now."

SET LIST
"Gone (Abebe Bikila)"
"Break Bread"
"Someday"
"Golden"
"Honeycomb"
"Don't Go"
"Going Home"

MUSICIANS
Berhana: lead vocals
Kahlil Cummings: percussion
David Shimon Goodwin: bass
Randal Fisher: saxophone
Evan Christopher Greer: drums, vocals
Nadav Peled: guitar
Glenn Kelly Holdaway: trumpet
Kibrom Birhane: piano, krar
Josef Lamercier: vocals
Xenia Karungu: vocals
Tasan Thompson: vocals

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bobby Carter
Director: Joshua Bryant
Audio Technical Director: Josh Rogosin
Editor: Maia Stern
Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern, Mitra I. Arthur, Zayrha Rodriguez
Audio Engineer: Hannah Gluvna
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Tiny Desk Team: Suraya Mohamed, Hazel Cills, Kara Frame
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann

#tinydesk #nprmusic #berhana