Denmark's Emmelie de Forest wins Eurovision

Denmark's Emmelie de Forest has won the Eurovision Song Contest with a barefoot performance backed by flutes and drums.

The 20-year-old won with the song Only Teardrops, competing against 25 other countries in a final held in Malmo in southern Sweden.

Denmark was widely tipped to win the annual music competition and delivered in a glittering ceremony watched by an estimated international audience of 125 million people.

The Scandinavian country last won the contest in 2000 with Fly on the Wings of Love by Olsen Brothers, also in Sweden.

De Forest performed the winning entry barefoot - as has been her trademark since she...

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The Eurovision Song Contest brings the countries of the European Broadcasting Union together through music. Each country enters a song that is performed live. Then listeners in each country vote. This year an artist from Denmark won. Watch the video and see what you think.

An unusual instrument for sale at the Smithsonian Craft Show

The Smithsonian Craft Show is the most respected show of its kind in the United States. It is also one of the most difficult for artists to enter. This year, more than 120 artists displayed their work in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Building Museum in Washington. Steve Ember tells us about one of them.

Bob McNally considers himself both an artist and a musician. He invented an instrument he calls a Strumstick. He says it is designed to get everyone to make music.

“People are capable of playing musical instruments, but if you play an instrument and get frustrated with it early enough, you decide, it’s you, there’s something lacking in you. And I wanted to make an...

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There are various interesting topics in this report. I was surprised to learn that a man has invented a new instrument. It is supposed to be very easy to play even for beginners. Read on for more interesting stuff.

Songs about spring can be happy or sad

On earlier shows, we have brought you some of our favorite songs about summer, autumn and winter. Now it is spring in the northern part of the world so it is time to celebrate that season. Many people think of this classical music piece when they think "spring." It is Allegro from Concerto Number One "Spring" from the "Four Seasons." Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi wrote it in the seventeen hundreds.

Spring is a wonderful season to celebrate rebirth and new life. The long, cold winter is over. The weather is warmer and sunnier. The trees again have leaves and the flowers are blooming. The season represents hope, joy and beauty.

However, not all songs about spring are happy. This song by K.D. Lang is about dreaming of spring in cold dark places. She recorded "I Dream of Spring" in two thousand eight.

Unlike the other seasons, there are not many rock songs about spring. Most of the songs about this season were written in...

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Many artists find inspiration in nature and the changing seasons are a common theme in poems, painting, and songs. It is interesting the emotions seasons can stir in us.

Rock musicians 'Carry On' in Pakistan

Rock and roll never really died in Pakistan. But it did fade away.

Pop and rock bands used to play in clubs across Pakistan in the more liberal 1980s, but have largely receded from the public eye. One band is still playing and reaching out to other musicians, though, in an effort to keep Pakistani rock and roll alive.

Drummer Allan Smith of the band "RockLite" says 20 years ago there were dozens of bands playing in clubs, discos and parties across the country. Now he says there are only five.

"A lot of people went abroad from Pakistan. And, we have this whole new group of people that have come into Pakistan and...

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Some say music is a universal language. This report about Rock bands in Pakistan certainly makes it seem true.

'I eat, sleep, breathe, live and love electronica'

Technology influences our lives in many ways. Consider how forms of entertainment have changed - radio, television, 3D movies, the Internet. Technology is also being used to create new kinds of music.

Nomadic hip-hop on show in Mongolian Bling

An Australian documentary-maker says his film about Mongolia's hip-hop culture is part of a growing interest in musical culture from outside the mainstream.

Benj Binks' movie Mongolian Bling is doing the international festival circuit now, opening in Jakarta on Friday.

He's told Radio Australia's Connect Asia program making the film was an eye opener as far as the changing Mongolian society.

"I first went to Mongolia when I was a tour guide...and I rocked up to Mongolia expecting nomads and herders and a traditional lifestyle," he said.

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Hip-hop has become an international music form. What do you think makes hip-hop music and dance so appealing to so many people? A film about hip-hop in Mongolia might help us learn more about its popularity.

Learning teamwork in a kids band

A summer camp in Washington D.C. in the U.S. is teaching kids how to play, write, and produce music in just one week. If you were going to write a song, what kind of song would it be?

Singing apes

Humans have vocal folds very similar to those of apes, but we can also precisely control the shape and size of our vocal tract. For powerful high notes, soprano singers match the natural frequencies of the two.

But how to find out if gibbons can do the same? Give them some helium. Helium raises the natural frequency just of the vocal tract but not the vocal folds. In helium-huffing gibbons, calls stayed just as piercing because the animals tuned their vocal tracts to match the higher frequencies. In short, gibbons sing soprano all the time.

It's not just a primate party trick - this separation between the

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Air guitar championships

The 17th annual Air Guitar World Championships have taken place in Finland.

Eighteen contestants battled in front of an audience of 5,000 for the ultimate prize for imaginary instrumentalists.

In the first round, they have to play a song of their choice; those who make it through to the next stage perform a number chosen by the judges.

This year's winner was Justin "Nordic Thunder" Howard from the USA.

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Jailed punk rockers plead not guilty in Moscow

Three young women have pleaded not guilty to charges of 'hooliganism' for staging a punk-rock protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral.

The trio, members of an all-female punk rock band, called Pussy Riot, entered Christ the Savior Cathedral in February, where they staged an impromptu performance of a song whose lyrics call on the Virgin Mary to throw out Putin. The three were arrested in March and have been awaiting trial while in jail.

During Monday's hearing, the three expressed remorse that people were offended by their performance, but added that they would not accept the charges.

Their protest stunt was staged just weeks before the...

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Itzhak Perlman: A citizen of the world, with his violin as a passport

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Band keeps European musical heritage alive

To see Harmonia founder Walt Mahovlich at work with his band, Harmonia, is to see a man passionate about music from the so-called old country. It's a love that developed during his Cleveland childhood decades ago, when his Hungarian mother and Croatian father exposed him to the music at home, in taverns, on picnics and at weddings.

Today, he's on a mission to spread its joy with a nine-member Eastern European folk ensemble from Cleveland that has released a new CD, “Hidden Legacy.” .

“Number one, I would like people to know that our music represents America and the American experience as much as anything," Mahovlich says. "We certainly want people frankly to enjoy it and to share in the exuberance and passion of this music. We don’t want it to be remain hidden.”

 Today, the cultural traditions of Cleveland’s Hungarians, Serbs,...

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