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National Geographic will commemorate Black History Month with its flagship podcast, Overheard at National Geographic through a month-long, four-part series of episodes focused on music and exploration featuring influential Black musicians and accomplished National Geographic Explorers. The weekly series, The Soul Of Music, premieres on Feb. 7 and drops every Tuesday through Feb. 28. It comes as National Geographic rings in its 135th anniversary with an emphasis on celebrating its creative and explorer community.

Hosted by “Overheard” producer Khari Douglas and edited by Carla Wills, manager of audio, these four episodes will feature world-famous musicians Rhiannon Giddens, Sampa the Great, Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah (formerly Christian Scott) and Meklit Hadero in conversation with Nat Geo Explorers Alyea Pierce, Danielle Lee, Justin Dunnavant and Jahawi Bertolli. The Explorers and artists will discuss how nature, history and culture influence their work, what music inspires their adventures, and how they address some of the world...

As promised last week, here’s the list of my favorite Christmas movies, starting with all my very favorite-est…

It’s A Wonderful Life (1946). Directed by Frank Capra, who declared it his favorite of all his films and showed it every Christmas at his home, it stars James Stewart as “everyman” George Bailey, Donna Reed as his wife Mary Hatch Bailey, Lionel Barrymore as the banker Mr. Potter, and a veritable Who’s Who of notable character actors, including Beulah Bondi as Ma Bailey, Thomas Mitchell as Uncle Billy, Ward Bond as Bert the cop, Frank Faylen as Ernie the cab driver, Gloria Grahame as Violet the “bad” girl, Sheldon Leonard as Nick the bartender, and Harry Travers in the pivotal role of the angel Clarence Odbody. The story of an ordinary man who lives an ordinary life, driven to despair of having his dreams crushed once and for all...

New York -- Pianist Herbie Hancock will celebrate the special connection between Turkey and jazz music forged decades ago when the Turkish ambassador opened his residence to white and black musicians at a time when segregation held sway in the U.S. capital.

Hancock, a Unesco Goodwill Ambassador, is organizing a gala concert with jazz stars from around the world on April 30 at the famed Hagia Irene in the outer courtyard of Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, which has been designated the host city for the second annual U.N.-sanctioned International Jazz Day.

"There's an amazing history of the relationship between Turkey and jazz," Hancock told The Associated Press in a telephone interview ahead of Tuesday's official announcement of the 2013 International Jazz Day program.

It began in the `30s and `40s when the two sons of Turkish Ambassador Mehmet Munir Ertegun pursued their passion for jazz by frequenting the capital's...

AP Protestors Lakesha Hall, 32, of Sanford, center, and her son, Calvin Simms, 12, right, gather early for a rally for Trayvon Martin.

When trumpeter Christian Scott wrote and recorded the song, “Trayvon” for his fifth album “Christian aTunde Adjuah,” due out in July, the song was still untitled. Trayvon Martin himself was still alive, and Scott, a native of New Orleans and a current Harlem resident, did not know who Trayvon Martin was.

But after Martin, an unarmed African American teen,...

Continuing to focus on New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina, the second season of the critically-acclaimed HBO series Treme tells the colorful, interwoven stories of a group of ordinary people who endure in the midst of unthinkable loss and hardship. From creators/executive producers David Simon and Eric Overmyer (HBO's The Wire), the show has been hailed as "remarkable" (Chicago Tribune) and "riveting" (Reuters) with "fascinating characters" (The Washington Post). Releasing April 17, 2012, Treme: The Complete Second Season on Blu-ray ($79.98), DVD ($59.99) and Digital Download contain engaging featurettes that explore the vibrant culture and music that makes New Orleans one of America's most distinctive cities.

It's now 14 months post-Katrina and residents of the Crescent City are finding it harder than ever to rebuild their lives, much less hold on to their special cultural and musical identity. Some have left to become expatriates in places like New York City; others have...

Beverly Hills, CA . .¡Sí Cuba! SoCal,. a multi-venue Southern California festival celebrating the culture of the island nation through art, dance, film, music and discussion, runs now through Sunday, October 2, 2011. Building on the momentum of the ¡Sí Cuba! festival currently in New York, .¡Sí Cuba! SoCal. will be presented by seven Southern California-based organizations and will include three exhibitions, hand-silkscreened film posters, political cartoons, and photographs documenting Cuba.s history; performances by the renowned Ballet Nacional de Cuba in Costa Mesa and Los Angeles; a film series with filmmaker Q&As; and a concert by the Buena Vista Social Club® orchestra.

The following is the .¡Sí Cuba! SoCal. calendar of events:

Cuban Film Posters: From Havana to the World

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Grand Lobby Gallery, Beverly Hills

Now . August 28

www.oscars.org/sicubasocal

This exhibition will showcase 125 hand-silkscreened posters from Cuban and international films created by...

It's more than a year since Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. The national spotlight on the Crescent City has dimmed, and residents are finding it harder than ever to rebuild their lives. Some have become expatriates in distant cities. The insurance checks that never arrived for homeowners were followed by the bureaucratic nightmare that was the Road Home program, and a land-grab is underway as developers and disaster capitalists press their advantage. Crime and drug use are up, and corruption and graft are endemic, with civic institutions unable to counter any of it.

And yet the culture of New Orleans somehow endures. Created by David Simon (HBO's "The Wire") and Eric Overmyer ("St. Elsewhere"), the Emmy&#174-nominated drama series Treme kicks off its 11-episode second season Sunday, April 24 (10:00-11:00 p.m. Et/Pt), exclusively on HBO.

While the spirit is alive in New Orleans, its residents are still...

It's more than a year since Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. The national spotlight on the Crescent City has dimmed, and residents are finding it harder than ever to rebuild their lives. Some have become expatriates in distant cities. The insurance checks that never arrived for homeowners were followed by the bureaucratic nightmare that was the Road Home program, and a land-grab is underway as developers and disaster capitalists press their advantage. Crime and drug use are up, and corruption and graft are endemic, with civic institutions unable to counter any of it.

And yet the culture of New Orleans somehow endures. Created by David Simon (HBO's "The Wire") and Eric Overmyer ("St. Elsewhere"), the Emmy&#174-nominated drama series Treme kicks off its 11-episode second season Sunday, April 24 (10:00-11:00 p.m. Et/Pt), exclusively on HBO.

While the spirit is alive in New Orleans, its residents are still...

Christina Aguilera, you are not alone. Here are five other stars who brought down the house—in an un-Whitney Houston way—when they botched the National Anthem. As Aguilera herself might say (and/or, um, sing at the Super Bowl), what so proudly we didn't watch… 1. Roseanne Shrieks 'n' Spits: This 1990 rendition, at a San Diego Padres baseball game, is the ultimate National Anthem gone wrong. "It was to me like burning of the flag," opera star and frequent "Star -Spangled Banner" singer Robert Merrill criticized at the time. (And that was one of the kinder things said…) Years later, Roseanne explained the problem: she started in the wrong key, knew she...

The Montreal international jazz festival on Tuesday announced its lineup for the June 25-July 6 event that includes jazz luminaries Sonny Rollins, Bobby McFerrin, Ahmad Jamal and Herbie Hancock. Lionel Richie and Cassandra Wilson will kick off the festival with an opening gala concert on June 25. Also featured this year are the Steve Miller Band, the Doobie Brothers, Cyndi Lauper, Smokey Robinson, rising trumpeter Christian Scott, Keith Jarrett's piano-double-bass-drums trio, and the Robert Glasper trio. Hancock is to play songs from his new album The Imagine Project. The Roots and Anti-pop Consortium will offer up some rap, alongside activist ...

Masterworks Broadway celebrates the unparalleled Rodgers & Hammerstein catalogue and makes available these gems on all digital service providers and on CD exclusively through ArkivMusic.com Carousel - 1965 Broadway Revival Cast Recording Oaklahoma! - 1952 Studio Cast Recording Rodgers Conducts Rodgers The 1965 Music Theater of Lincoln Center recording of Carousel, featuring its original star John Raitt, is extended with tracks from Raitt's 1952 studio recording of excerpts from Carousel, as well as a 1955 studio recording of the musical with opera stars Robert Merrill and Patrice Munsel, led by one of Broadway's most authoritative maestros, Lehman Engel. Digital booklet to include exclusive rare recording session photographs shown for the first time.