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1 week ago | 
bostonglobe.com | Noah Schaffer
When the deadly Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in 2017, members of Boston’s Puerto Rican community gathered at the Villa Victoria in the South End. “Everyone was so sad, and then someone just decided to sing a song by Haciendo Punto en Otro Son,” remembers Elsa Mosquera-Sterenberg, who helped organize the event for Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción, where she worked at the time.
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2 weeks ago | 
wbur.org | Noah Schaffer
In the 1960s, Jim Kweskin was famous for finding 78 RPM records of early jazz, blues and country. That collection helped fuel the sound and repertoire of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, his influential combo that was a major attraction at Cambridge’s Club 47 and the Newport Folk Festival. The successor to Club 47, Club Passim, still displays in its tiny lobby a framed album that Kweskin recorded live at Club 47 in 1968.
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3 weeks ago | 
wbur.org | Maddie Browning |Victoria Wasylak |Noah Schaffer
From left, album art for Ghost Girl's "Fragment" (courtesy); Copilot's "Vroom Vroom, etc" (courtesy Julia Paccone); and Roger Clark Miller's "Curiosity for Solo Electric Guitar Ensemble" (courtesy). As winter fades into spring, our critics share local music to transition us into this new season. An EP capturing a personal turning point full of snapshots of the artist's life. A Boston stalwart's latest transfixing project inspired by NASA's Mars rover, Curiosity.
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1 month ago | 
bostonglobe.com | Noah Schaffer
In the 1960s Motown founder Berry Gordon Jr. had his employees audition future hits on low-fi car radios rather than fancy studio speakers. One of reggaeton’s top hit makers, J Balvin, reveals that he does something similar when crafting the songs that pour out of car windows in much of the world today. “That’s what we always focus on – is it going to feel good blasting in the car or in the club?” he says.
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1 month ago | 
wbur.org | Noah Schaffer
But a few weeks prior to the engagement Wolf cancelled the event, citing the recent upheaval at the Kennedy Center, which has seen the organization’s president and members of its board of supervisors fired. Besides installing his own set of board appointees, President Trump has appointed himself chairman and his special envoy Richard Grenell is now the center’s president. A number of artists have cancelled their appearances and the producers of the musical “Hamilton” pulled a planned 2026 run.
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1 month ago | 
bostonglobe.com | Noah Schaffer
When Sona Jobarteh was a young girl, she dreamed of becoming a soccer player. But at the time, women’s soccer hadn’t become the global sensation it is today, and she didn’t see a path forward in what was a male- dominated sport. Ironically, she ended up making her mark in a world that was even less welcoming for women: as a virtuoso of the kora, the majestic 21-string instrument that her West African griot family has played for generations.
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1 month ago | 
wbur.org | Noah Schaffer
Clockwise from top left: Aversed (Courtesy Tom Couture); Lady Pills (Courtesy Sophie Adams); Mehmet Ali Sanlikol (Courtesy DÜNYA); John Lentz and Harvey Diamond (Courtesy Isabella Dellolio); Hallelujah the Hills (Courtesy Ben Stas); Mark Erelli + His String Quintet (Courtesy Bri Gately); and Naomi Westwater (Courtesy Ally Schmaling). After an especially frigid end to this New England winter, we’re likely all craving a bit more warmth and light. Local musicians seem to be answering that call.
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1 month ago | 
wbur.org | Amelia Mason |Maddie Browning |Noah Schaffer |Victoria Wasylak |Lukas Harnisch
Clockwise from top left: Cape Crush (Courtesy Brittany Rose Queen); Album art for Connis and loe4t's "New Sky" (Courtesy Connis); The Pomps (Courtesy the band); JoJo (Courtesy Callum Hutchinson); and Other Brother Darryl (Courtesy Pat Piasecki). Our critics' local music picks for the month of February are, dare I say, fun?
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2 months ago | 
wbur.org | Amelia Mason |Solon Kelleher |Noah Schaffer
Clockwise from top left: Jared Sims (Courtesy the artist); Lutalo (Adam Alonzo); OH THE HUMANITY! (Courtesy Brittany Rose Queen); Dutchy DoBad (Courtesy Cal Xander and Adam Johnson); and Heather Maloney (Courtesy Carly Rae Photo). The year is barely a month old, but New England’s musicians have hit the ground running. Melodic punk, melancholy rap, acoustic folk, even a few jazz standards – it’s all on order.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
bostonglobe.com | Noah Schaffer
When The Elovaters first started playing their easygoing reggae rock at Boston clubs like The Sinclair and Brighton Music Hall, they were nervous about filling the rooms. So they had the venues provide physical tickets that the band members sold by hand to their fans, friends, and family in their native South Shore. The gambit worked: The shows were full, and the band kept getting booked into larger clubs, like the House of Blues, which they sold out last year.
