Music & Film

Coltrane rehearses backstage before a show in London in November 1961. 

Tracing a Lost Ancestry

How John Coltrane's 'My Favorite Things' Changed American Music

Looking back at the moment when one of our greatest jazzmen raised the stakes for everyone who came after

Works entering the public domain this year include Steamboat Willie, J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan, A. A. Milne's The House at Pooh Corner and Virginia Woolf's Orlando.

Mickey Mouse and Many Other Beloved Creations, Including Peter Pan and 'Mack the Knife,' Are Now in the Public Domain

Almost a century after the cartoon mouse made his first appearance, he finally belongs to everyone—sort of

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There's More to That

The Books We Loved

Smithsonian editors choose their favorite (mostly) nonfiction of (mostly) 2023

Left, a 1932 self-portrait by Lee Miller. Right, a 1943 portrait of Miller by American photojournalist David Scherman.

Women Who Shaped History

How Lee Miller, a Magazine Model and Muse, Became a Daring World War II Photographer

The bold journalist, who made a splash on both sides of the lens, is the subject of a new biopic starring Kate Winslet

Hoyma, which means “home” in Syðrugøta’s local dialect of Faroese, has featured 20 concerts by ten different artists who set up in the living rooms of ten different family homes in Syðrugøta.  

Hoyma Is Bringing Music Home in the Faroe Islands

For one fall night, it is tradition for a handful of houses in Sydrugota, on the island of Eysturoy, to open their doors and host intimate concerts

Fred McDowell, 1965, Como, Mississippi

Meet the Man Who Recorded the Music of America's Front Porches and Backyard Parties

Chris Strachwitz, founder of Arhoolie Records, crisscrossed the United States photographing and recording musicians where they played

John Akomfrah at his London studio, 2016

Artist John Akomfrah Is Having a Moment

The works of the recently knighted filmmaker address contemporary issues in two different Smithsonian museums

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There's More to That

How the Osage Changed Martin Scorsese’s Mind

“Killers of the Flower Moon” sets a new standard in its nuanced portrait of Osage life. Decades of prior films about Native Americans didn't even try

Sphere lights up during its grand opening on September 29, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

The Sphere Is Here. Are We Ready for More High-Tech Architecture?

The new Las Vegas performance venue challenges musicians and visual artists to produce content for its demanding format

Joan Baez at the Alabama State Capitol in 1965, from Joan Baez I Am a Noise, a Magnolia Pictures release.

Folk Icon Joan Baez Sings a Song of Herself

After decades in the limelight, the American musician who spent a career exposing the world’s problems explores her own past

Host Bob Barker announces the showcase showdown at the taping of the 35th season premiere of "The Price Is Right" in 2006.

What Made Bob Barker the Perfect Host for 'The Price Is Right'

The television personality, who died last week at 99, was part of a match that made game show history

Primary image: Sleeping Quarters, by Czech Jewish prisoner Bedřich Fritta, depicts gruesome conditions. After the SS discovered Fritta’s work, they detained him and sent him to Auschwitz, where he died. Background (detail): A musical score by Viktor Ullmann, which was created at Terezin.

Amid the Horrors of the Holocaust, Jewish Musicians Composed Songs of Survival

At the Terezin concentration camp, some of Europe's top artists found solace in creating new work. Today one musician is determined to give them an encore

In its second installment, “AeroEspacial” tells the story of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, which housed the world’s largest radio telescope for over 50 years.

An In-Depth Look at Latino History Among the Stars and Skies

This summer, a podcast series from the National Air and Space Museum discusses Operation Pedro Pan, Latino Futurism and “Star Wars”

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How Graffiti Left a Mark on the Art Scene

Hip-hop’s street artists created a splashy new genre that burst into galleries and museums

Big Boi in between verses at Lakewood Amphitheater in Atlanta on September 10, 2016.

A Rap Legend Looks Back on 50 Years of Hip-Hop

Outkast’s Big Boi traces the genre’s indelible impact on global music and culture

Illustration by Nina Goldman / Images via Smithsonian Folkways Records

Celebrating 75 Years of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

The vast, eclectic public archive of American music—and other sounds—is featured on a new episode of the Sidedoor podcast

Humans have been fascinated with mermaids since antiquity, writes columnist Jackie Mansky. The 1914 silent film Neptune's Daughter, featuring champion swimmer and actress Annette Kellerman (above), captured the public imagination.

The Return of Mermaidcore

For a century, a collective love of tails and fins has helped women transgress on land and sea

A mural of Bob Dylan by Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra is on display in downtown Minneapolis.

Follow Bob Dylan's Footsteps Through Minnesota and New York

To mark the musician's 82nd birthday, consider a romp through these 11 sites that hold meaning to him

Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio star in Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon.

A Brief History of Long Movies

At the Cannes Film Festival this weekend, "Killers of the Flower Moon" will become the latest movie to ask just how much time we ought to give it

Designer Nudie Cohn sits in his Pontiac convertible.

How a Rhinestone Cowboy From Ukraine Left His Mark on the Music World

Making his famous “Nudie suits,” tailor to the stars Nudie Cohn lived and breathed the bedazzled American dream

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