Music

Iain Softley’s cult 1994 directorial debut chronicles the Beatles’ wild early days in Hamburg’s red-light district

The iconic French singer has died after a long battle against cancer

Ligeti’s rigorous antipathy to ideology was maintained throughout his life and extended way beyond his music

Brexit and streaming are killing off the tradition of British musicians touring Europe in a van. One who did it says that’s a tragedy

Before Segovia, the guitar was not an instrument to be taken seriously. In a matter of minutes, everything changed

The question of whether Israel's Eden Golan should have been allowed to perform plagued this year's competition

Dutch sensation Froukje makes dance music with lyrics about grief, the climate crisis and her own brand of radical optimism

This year’s contest in Malmö is at risk of being overshadowed by a fear of violence

New Order’s Bernard Sumner has nailed the problem with British politics

Whatever and wherever he played, his deep feeling for the music made the instrument seem like an extension of him

Beethoven’s fascination with the Enlightenment eventually led him to adapt Schiller’s poem An die Freude (Ode to Joy) into his Ninth Symphony

ECM has been producing stylish jazz since 1969. But with its founder now 80, where do its solemn, spacious sounds go next?

The actor – reliably excellent as the singer’s father, Mitch, in Back to Black – on addiction, social media rage and antisemitism

In 1974, the group won Eurovision.. and changed Sweden

Finesse, sensuality and richness are what Debussy brought to a staid musical world unprepared for such an emphatic upending of form and technique

Over seven weeks in Almería Lennon worked tirelessly on arguably his greatest, and most personal, Beatles composition, Strawberry Fields Forever

As good a musician as Keith Richards, the German was never entirely comfortable in the limelight

After 40 years on hiatus, south London’s Cymande are stars of a superb biopic and out on a European tour

A century old, Rhapsody in Blue blends rhythms from the Black jazz age and from the Europe that George Gershwin left behind

The singer almost came to embody the nation’s revival before it all ended at the dawn of a decade that could have been made for him

The Beatles gave young Americans gold standard permission to be different from their parents

Blending headbanging with head-nodding, Norway’s genre-bending guitarist is having her moment in the sun

The continent became a safe haven in the postwar years for American musicians escaping racism and drugs. Decades on, they are still coming

Artists from across the continent will grace UK stages in 2024

Sabaton’s animated first world war film, The War To End All Wars, makes for poetic viewing

At the age of 75, synthesiser pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre is back with two new projects and a determination to innovate and disrupt

After over half a century of trying, 2023 was the year that continental European rock truly broke the rest of the world

Taylor Swift’s crowning as TIME’s Person of the Year is a prime example that our culture must appeal to the lowest common denominator

Each new performance is a comment on his genius.. and his vile antisemitism

The Labour leader’s love of EU anthem Ode to Joy has caused faux outrage.. and hopes that he might just be a Rejoiner after all

A journey on the Paris Métro can be a kaleidoscope of cultures, stories and impromptu musical performances

There was no other with his extraordinary improvising in the medium