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The article discusses soprano Julia Bullock's recital at Zankel Hall in Manhattan, where she, along with pianist Bretton Brown, presents a program that spans modernist music, golden-age musicals and American folk songs. Bullock's versatile sound and innovative approach to new works showcase her leadership in contemporary opera, appealing to fans of various genres.

A correction is presented regarding the misstated day of the Peso Pluma concert in Mexico City, published in the previous issue of the periodical.

The article offers insights into the creation of a cento poem by Mahogany L. Browne to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop music. The poem, composed of lines from various hip-hop songs, captures the essence of hip-hop's impact on culture and language. Browne discusses how she aimed to find vulnerability and intimacy within the language of hip-hop while highlighting the tension between violence and romance.

The article focuses on Mary Lou Williams's 1945 Zodiac Suite returns via orchestra and jazz combo.

The article discusses the induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame of several musical groups, including N.W.A., Cheap Trick and Deep Purple, with a particular focus on the controversy over what music genre qualifies for hall of fame induction. The controversy of whether rap music qualifies for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, including the rap musician Ice Cube's perspective on the definition of rock music, is discussed.

The article discusses how online music streaming services such as Apple Music, Spotify, and Pandora can enable users to discover new music and critiques the services' curated playlist offerings. The author considers how streaming services can guide users to discover new music without over-constricting their options, and he discusses the classification of music by genre and the possibility of mixing diverse genres in playlists. Music streaming company Tidal's artist-curated playlists are described.

The article discusses the potential for online music-streaming services to encourage music listeners to experiment with listening to a diverse variety of musical genres, highlighting music-streaming service Spotify. Topics addressed include Spotify's efforts to program its curated playlists based on moods and activities rather than on genres, predictions for the disintegration of musical genres, and the impact on what sort of music becomes popular.

The article looks at the 2013 Grammy Awards for music. The author expresses the view that the awards tend to be given to performers who are recasting musical trends from past decades rather than creating genuinely new sounds, citing examples including awardees Black Keys, Fun, and Gotye. He points to a lack of awareness and appreciation of current trends in popular music by the award's voting pool and says rhythm and blues (R&B), hip-hop, and country music are neglected.

This article discusses the musical trends represented by the nominees, winners, and performances at the 55th Grammy Awards held in Los Angeles, California, on February 10, 2013. The author makes note of the emphasis on folk and swing music, citing performances by Mumford & Sons, the Lumineers, and Justin Timberlake, as well as tributes to musicians of old, including Bob Marley, Patti Page, and Carole King.

The article describes the ever-changing culture and sound of rap music, centered in Atlanta, Georgia, and the potential directions the genre will go in the future. The author reflects specifically on the work of rapper Future and analyzes his work in digital voice processing, praising his ingenuity. Other rappers discussed include Trinidad James, T. Pain and Young Thug.

The article reports that on January 21, 2013 the firm Cumulus Media announced that it would create the country music station Nash FM (WRXP, soon to be WNSH) in New York City, after the city had not had a country station since 1996. It is said that the growing popularity of the genre has led Cumulus to plan a national brand based on Nash FM in multiple cities.

The article presents an interview with singer-songwriter Shaina Taub who discusses her own music, her genre in writing songs, and on whether she is writing songs in India.

If you want to know just how far jazz has slipped in the hierarchy of pop music, just look the line-up for next year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Sure, Herbie Hancock is a headliner, but the rest of the names at the top of the bill to be announced Wednesday morning are a hodge-podge of pop, rock and R&B stars from various eras. The headline acts include the Eagles, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Al Green and Bonnie Raitt for older fans; Foo Fighters, Florence & the Machine and My Morning Jacket for contemporary rock lovers; Bon Iver for fans of indie, electronic songs; the Zac Brown Band for hard-core country fans; Jill Scott and Ne-Yo for those who like contemporary rhythm and blues; and Paulina Rubio, for Latin pop fans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distinctionlessness has become something of a calling card and a weapon for Rihanna, the most consistent pop star of the last five years. Last month she became the fastest solo artist in history to have had 20 Top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, slower only than the Beatles. And she has pumped out these hits with little regard for style or mood -- breezy dance tracks rub up against poignant, gothically ruptured rock-soul ballads. Her voice is, for the most part, certifiably blank, which is to say it belongs everywhere. But it hasn't always had a home. ''Talk That Talk'' (Island Def Jam), her sixth album, is maybe the first to suggest the place that's been hiding in plain sight all along, placing Rihanna squarely at the center of the pop genre best suited for a singer of her fundamental evanescence: dance music, which conveniently is the mode du jour of contemporary R&B and pop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychologists sometimes have a way of proving what you always suspected was true. A recent study of popular song lyrics done at the State University of New York in Albany shows not only that messages about sexual relationships dominate the songs at the top of the charts, but also that songs about sex sell better than other songs. Perhaps more surprising were the study's findings on the gaps between genres. The authors of the study, Dawn R. Hobbs and Gordon G. Gallup Jr., found a large difference between the ''reproductive messages'' embedded in country music and those found in pop and R&B. Successful country songs tended to have messages -- in descending order -- about long-term commitment to marriage, parenting children, break-ups and oaths of fidelity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since their founding in 1978, the annual Wall to Wall 12-hour marathons at Symphony Space have focused on a single composer; a genre, like opera; or a region, as did last year's survey of music from behind the Iron Curtain. On Saturday the Wall to Wall Sonidos program explored Latino culture, with performers and composers from Spain and Central and South America representing myriad styles, including 16th-century vocal polyphony, tango, contemporary string quartets and Latin jazz. Latino instruments made an appearance as well, like the Argentine bandoneon, artfully played by J. P. Jofre with the Otero Quintet. They offered sizzling interpretations of sultry and rhythmically vibrant works by the pianist and composer Fernando Otero in a segment called ''Tango Argentina!'' That part of the program also included an elegant rendition of Piazzolla's ''Chau Paris'' by the Poulenc Trio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A spin through the musical genres presently represented on the nostalgic jukebox that is Broadway will land you on shows built around classic rockabilly and early rock (''Million Dollar Quartet''), hair metal (''Rock of Ages''), the disco-pop of ABBA (''Mamma Mia!'') and the modern punk of Green Day (''American Idiot''). Is there room for one more show this season whose score you'll already know before you walk through the door, and if so, are there any musical subcategories that aren't represented yet? The producers of ''Baby It's You!'' -- a new musical planned for a Broadway opening this spring -- are hoping for affirmative answers to both questions. Their show, conceived by Floyd Mutrux, written by Mr. Mutrux and Colin Escott (both of ''Million Dollar Quartet''), and directed by Mr. Mutrux and Sheldon Epps, will focus on the pop and doo-wop singles of Scepter Records, the vintage-1960s label founded by Florence Greenberg, who helped discover recording artists like the Shirelles, the Kingsmen, the Isley Brothers and Dionne Warwick. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]