Music

Fifty years ago, the pop superstars ABBA donated all proceeds from the song “Chiquitita” to UNICEF. The song is still making money, and that money is now being spent exclusively in Guatemala where it’s funding health workers who work in rural areas with children on sexual health issues. 

Chile’s biggest carnival is kicking off at full speed today. As many as 150,000 people have traveled to the northern Chilean town of Arica to participate. But this is not your typical carnival. Most of the dances and music come from Bolivia. It is a celebration of Indigenous Aymara, Quechua and Afro-Chilean identities.

Before the invasion of Ukraine, Serhii Zenin was the host of one of the nation’s most popular hard rock radio shows on Radio ROKS 103.6. Some three years later, Serhii is a soldier and Radio ROKS has taken on a whole new role.

A group of young musicians in New York City have gotten together to form the Riwaya Ensemble featuring classical music by Middle Eastern composers of diverse nationalities. They perform music by Palestinians, Lebanese and Syrians. 

With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, East German culture disappeared practically overnight, cast aside for the newly accessible West. But today, amid dissatisfaction with the progress of German reunification, some former East Germans are taking a new look back at the past.