Category Archives: Music

China, India and Belarus line up for Russia’s rival version of Eurovision

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Intervision promises to be lighter on sequins and heavier on patriotic ballads than its European counterpart

Russia is gearing up to revive its Soviet-era alternative to Eurovision – the Intervision song contest – which kicks off in Moscow on Saturday, with performers from 23, mostly allied, countries set to take the stage.

But sequinned bodysuits, camp theatrics and Europop bangers will be in short supply. Instead, the Kremlin’s version of the spectacle promises “traditional values”, patriotic ballads and a Russian entry led by a fiercely pro-war singer, as Moscow attempts to refashion Europe’s glitter-soaked pageant in its own image.

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SBS resists calls to join EU boycott of Eurovision 2026 if Israel allowed to compete

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Israeli media had reported nation had been asked to step aside or compete under a neutral symbol due to controversies over Gaza war

SBS has indicated it will not follow the lead of a growing number of European Union countries and boycott next year’s Eurovision song contest if Israel is permitted to compete.

The decision on Israel’s inclusion will be made by the contest’s governing body in December, but SBS told the Guardian on Tuesday it intended to participate in the 2026 event in Vienna, regardless of December’s decision.

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Brazilian musician identified as victim of 1976 killing by Argentina military

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The bossa nova pianist Francisco Tenório Cerqueira Júnior went out for cigarettes after a concert in Buenos Aires – a forensic team has finally revealed his fate

Early on 18 March 1976, Francisco Tenório Cerqueira Júnior, a Brazilian pianist who had played alongside some of Latin America’s greatest musicians, disappeared from the streets of Buenos Aires.

For nearly 50 years, his fate has remained a mystery, sparking desperate searches, raising suspicions of government complicity, and inspiring international documentaries. Now the mystery has been solved, with forensic scientists formally identifying Tenório Júnior’s body – and confirming he was a victim of Argentina’s bloody dictatorship.

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James’s Tim Booth criticises Tommy Robinson for ‘cynical’ use of song

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Sit Down was played at ‘unite the kingdom’ rally in London but singer says band is ‘antithesis’ of far-right movement

The lead singer of the band James has criticised Tommy Robinson for the “cynical” use of the group’s hit song in a protest video.

Tim Booth said he was “disgusted” that the alternative rock band’s single Sit Down had been played without their permission, as he believed the song was “the antithesis” of the far-right activist’s movement.

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Belgium prime minister attends concert of Israeli conductor axed by festival

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Bart De Wever travelled to Essen, Germany to hear performance conducted by Lahav Shani, the music director of the Israel Philharmonic

Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, has said he attended a concert by a German orchestra that was uninvited from a Belgian festival to show support for its Israeli conductor.

The cancellation of a planned performance at the Flanders festival Ghent by the Munich Philharmonic over concerns about its Israeli future chief conductor, Lahav Shani, has triggered a storm of criticism and accusations of antisemitism.

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Bad Bunny says he left US out of world tour due to fear of Ice raids at concerts

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Puerto Rican rapper says he and his team were ‘very concerned’ that Ice agents might target his performances

Bad Bunny says he excluded the US from his forthcoming world tour due to fears that, as a prominent Latino musician, his fans would be subjected to immigration raids.

In an interview with i-D magazine on Wednesday, the three-time Grammy-winning musician was asked whether he was skipping the US “out of concern about the [mass deportations of] Latinos”.

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Meet the retiree who realized his dream of joining the LSU marching band as a 66-year-old freshman

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Kent Broussard joined Louisiana State University’s famed Golden Band from Tigerland after retiring as an accountant

Some dreams live on in time forever, says the summer Olympics anthem considered by many to be the greatest – and living proof of that is a retired accountant who recently enrolled as a freshman at Louisiana State University in his mid-60s to fulfill his lifelong ambition of playing for the school’s famed marching band.

Kent Broussard drew nationwide media attention after being shown on ESPN’s broadcast of the LSU football team’s victory at home against in-state rival Louisiana Tech on 6 September.

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Billy Bragg releases song in support of Palestine and Greta Thunberg aid flotilla

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Hundred Year Hunger – which has a chorus in Arabic – has been released by the British protest singer to coincide with a humanitarian aid flotilla heading for Gaza

Billy Bragg has released a new original song to show his support for the people of Palestine. The title of Hundred Year Hunger was inspired by a new book of the same name by E Mark Windle about the history of chronic malnutrition and deprivation in Gaza and will raise money for the Amos Trust’s Gaza Appeal.

Writing on Instagram, the British protest singer said that the song “looks at the current famine that Israel has created in Gaza through the lens of a century of enforced food insecurity and malnutrition imposed on the Palestinian people, firstly by British imperialism, then as a weapon of mass displacement by the state of Israel”.

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Radiohead’s Let Down enters US Billboard charts 28 years after its release

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Song from 1997 album OK Computer scores band their fourth spot in the chart after going viral on TikTok

Radiohead have entered the US singles chart with a song from their album OK Computer that has gone viral on social media 28 years after its release.

Let Down, the third single from the British band’s 1997 album, entered at No 91 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week after rising in popularity on TikTok.

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Lil Nas X charged with four felonies after allegedly attacking police in Los Angeles

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Police say musician charged at them when they confronted him for walking naked down an LA street last week

Lil Nas X was charged on Monday with four felonies after police say he charged at them when they confronted him for walking naked down a Los Angeles street last week.

Prosecutors charged the musician, whose legal name is Montero Lamar Hill, with three counts of battery with injury on a police officer and one felony count of resisting an executive officer, the district attorney’s office said. He was initially booked on suspicion of misdemeanor obstructing an officer on Friday.

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Kneecap cancel all US tour dates over clash with court hearing in London

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Band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh faces terrorism charge in UK for alleged display of Hezbollah flag mid-performance

The Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap have cancelled their scheduled US tour dates in October, citing the proximity to a court hearing in London involving band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh’s alleged mid-performance display of a Hezbollah flag.

Ó hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was charged with a terrorism offence in the UK in May after being accused of displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah during a concert in London last November.

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Composer John Williams says he ‘never liked film music very much’

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Exclusive: The creator of some of cinema’s most memorable music says it pales in comparison to the great works

As one of the greatest composers in film, John Williams has written some of the most memorable music in cinema for masterpieces such as Jaws, Jurassic Park and Star Wars.

But despite winning five Oscars, the 93-year-old believes that, as an art form, film music pales in comparison to history’s great works.

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Lil Nas X arrested and hospitalized after altercation with police – reports

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The 26-year-old rapper and singer was seen walking down the street in his underwear Thursday morning in LA

Lil Nas X has been arrested after an altercation with police, according to reports.

Officials confirmed to NBC that the 26-year-old rapper and singer was booked on suspicion of misdemeanour battery after he was confronted while walking down the street in his underwear.

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Noel Gallagher opens up about his brother Liam on Oasis reunion tour: ‘He’s been amazing’

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Noel says his long-estranged brother is ‘smashing it’ during the band’s stadium shows and that he’s ‘proud’ of him

Noel Gallagher has opened up about his feelings towards his long-estranged brother Liam during Oasis’ sold-out global reunion tour for the first time, saying: “He’s been amazing … it’s great being back in the band with Liam.”

Oasis announced they would be reuniting in August 2024, 15 years after their split in 2009 when Noel quit the band after a backstage brawl at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris, saying he “simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer”.

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‘It’s nearly come full circle’: Charlestown proud of Gallagher connection as Oasis come to Ireland

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Liam and Noel used to be taken for summer holidays with relatives in Mayo and kept returning after finding fame

Emigration ripped the heart out of Charlestown: generations of young people took the boat to England and left behind derelict homes and shuttered shops, a hollowing chronicled in a landmark 1968 book, The Death of an Irish Town.

Some returned to this corner of County Mayo for summer holidays – with children who were growing up with English accents and city ways – before vanishing back across the Irish Sea and leaving Charlestown to its decay.

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Baby Shark: South Korean court rejects US composer’s claim song was plagiarised

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Ruling upheld that there was insufficient evidence of copyright infringement on song that is YouTube’s most viewed video

South Korea’s supreme court has rejected a US composer’s allegation that the producers of the catchy children’s song Baby Shark plagiarised his work, ending a six-year-long legal battle.

The court upheld two lower court verdicts in favour of Pinkfong, the South Korean company behind the tune with the famous “doo doo doo doo doo doo” refrain.

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National Indigenous Music awards 2025: Emily Wurramara wins artist of the year

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Warnindhilyagwa singer also wins film clip of the year, while Malyangapa Barkindji rapper Barkaa wins album of the year

Emily Wurramara expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine and “all Indigenous peoples around the world” experiencing oppression as she accepted the artist of the year award at the 21st National Indigenous Music awards at the Nimas in Garramilla/Darwin on Saturday night.

“There’s nothing like coming back home and being here and playing for mob and playing for the people,” the Garramilla-born Warnindhilyagwa singer said. “Because the music is about the people. The music is freedom. Free Palestine, free Congo and free all Indigenous peoples around the world from their oppressors. It always was, always will be Indigenous land.”

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Early Beatles photos by Paul McCartney to go on show in London

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Portraits taken in early 60s reveal intimate moments before band’s fame became all-consuming

A collection of photographs taken by Paul McCartney when the Beatles were on the brink of global stardom are to be shown in an exhibition that sheds light on intimate moments as the group first experienced fame.

Rearview Mirror: Liverpool-London-Paris, which opens at Gagosian in London on 28 August, features 18 shots taken by the singer-songwriter during late 1963 after the release of the Beatles’ first album, and early 1964 as they travelled to the US.

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Eddie Palmieri, pioneering Latin jazz musician and Grammy winner, dies aged 88

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The pianist, composer and bandleader was the first Latino to win a Grammy and would win seven more over a career that spanned nearly 40 albums

Eddie Palmieri, the avant-garde musician who was one of the most innovative artists of rumba and Latin jazz, has died aged 88.

Fania Records announced Palmieri’s death Wednesday evening. Palmieri’s daughter Gabriela told the New York Times her father died earlier that day at his home in New Jersey after “an extended illness”.

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Oasis ‘shocked and saddened’ after fan dies in fall at Wembley concert

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Man understood to have been sitting in London stadium’s upper tier was pronounced dead at the scene

Oasis have said they are “shocked and saddened” after a man fell to his death at Wembley Stadium during the band’s Saturday concert.

The man was understood to be sitting in the upper tier of the 90,000-seat stadium – the highest stands of which are 50 metres above the ground – as the Gallagher brothers performed as part of their reunion tour.

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