Music

Rock historian Ed Ward takes us back to 1980 for the birth of rap music.

Milo Miles plays some international dance singles, and speculates on their chances to make it as hits in America.

Rock historian Ed Ward plays a retrospective of Santa Claus songs by black popular musicians from Charles Brown singing "Merry Christmas, Baby" in the 1940's to James Brown's "Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto" in the 1960's. Also features songs from: the Pilgrim Travelers, Roy Milton, Oscar McLollie and His Honey Jumpers, the Voices, the Marquees (not the Stax group), andClyde Lasley.

World Music critic Milo Miles takes a look at the music of two Latin American singers who live as ex-patriots: Celia Cruz and La Lupe. And he considers how being an ex-patriot can influence a singer's work.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead takes a historic look at boogie-woogie piano music. Includes such piano players as Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, and Jimmy Yancey.

Commentator Ilene Segalove (seg-ah-loff) bucks the trend toward the compact disc, and rediscovers the joys of old LPs.

Rock critic Ed Ward profiles Miami's TK Studios. In the mid-70s, TK cranked out some of the biggest hits of the disco era, such as "Rock Your Baby" by George McCrae and "That's the Way I Like It" by K.C. and the Sunshine Band.

World music commentator Milo Miles explains how Peter Gabriel transformed folk music of the Middle East into the world pop sound that became the soundtrack for Scorsese's film "The Last Temptation of Christ."

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles Leon Huff and Kenny Gamble, creators of the Philadelphia International label -- one of the great black pop record labels of the early '70's.

World music commentator Milo Miles reviews David Byrne's "Brazil Classics" series and talks about the recent trend among Western rock stars to borrow rhythms and singers from the musical traditions of Africa, the Near East, and South America. He asks whether this is valuable exposure for little-known musicians or a form of exploitation.