Aurelia Butler

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    Zakir Hussain, Peerless Indian Tabla Player, Dies at 73

    Considered a national treasure in his homeland, the percussionist transcended genres and brought classical Indian music to a global audience.Zakir Hussain, a peerless Indian tabla player who transcended genres and brought classical Indian music to a global audience, died on Sunday. He was 73.He died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic lung disease, in San Francisco, where he lived, his family said in a statement.Considered a national treasure in his native India, Mr. Hussain won four Grammy Awards and collaborated with a range of superstar artists that included the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the jazz master Charles Lloyd, the sitarist Ravi Shankar and George Harrison of the Beatles.He was born Zakir Allaraka Qureshi on March 9, 1951, in Bombay, now Mumbai. His father was the tabla master Alla Rakha Qureshi, better known as Alla Rakha or sometimes Allarakha. Zakir’s mother, Bavi Begum, changed his surname to Hussain a few days after he was born, on the advice of a Muslim saint, he said.Mr. Hussain was a child prodigy who began performing concerts on the tabla by age 7 and was touring by age 12, according to the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts, which gave him a fellowship.Both father and son were given the honorific Ustad, which means master. Together, they helped elevate the status of the tabla, a pair of Indian drums played by hand, from an accompanying instrument to one played by virtuosos. In 2009, Zakir Hussain performed four sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York.Earlier this year, he won Grammy Awards for contemporary instrumental album, global music album and global music performance. In 2009, he won the best contemporary world music album award.Mr. Hussain is survived by his wife, Antonia Minnecola; his daughters, Anisa Qureshi and Isabella Qureshi; his brothers, Taufiq Qureshi, and Fazal Qureshi, also tabla players; and his sister, Khurshid Aulia, according to his family.A complete obituary will follow.Alexandra E. Petri More

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    When ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Gets the Anime Treatment

    “The War of the Rohirrim” is the latest and most high-profile anime adaptation of a Western franchise to hit screens big and small.When Warner Bros. approached the filmmaker Peter Jackson and his longtime screenwriting partner Philippa Boyens about making a new animated “Lord of the Rings,” Boyens at first had a hard time wrapping her head around the notion. But when studio executives suggested that the film could be told via Japanese anime — suddenly it clicked.They could tell a stand-alone story from J.R.R. Tolkien’s appendices about the people of the kingdom of Rohan, which has now become “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,” directed by Kenji Kamiyama. Jackson is one of the film’s executive producers and Boyens one of its producers.“It was that moment of form meeting the story,” Boyens said in a video call. She said she thought anime would be an appealing approach because “it’s a story that ultimately deals with the wreckage of war, and that’s something that Japanese storytelling on film has been really good at telling.”“The War of the Rohirrim” (in theaters) is the latest and most high profile anime adaptation of a Western franchise to hit screens big and small. In recent years there’s been “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” on Netflix, an anime version of the 2010 movie “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”; a “Rick and Morty: The Anime” for Adult Swim; and “Terminator Zero,” a show set in James Cameron’s “Terminator” universe, also on Netflix. Kamiyama also made an installment of “Star Wars: Visions,” a 2021 anime anthology featuring a galaxy far, far away on Disney+, as well as “Blade Runner: Black Lotus,” a co-production of Adult Swim and the anime streaming service Crunchyroll.BenDavid Grabinski, one of the creators of “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off,” said in an interview that he sought to tap into some of the artistry of anime that “can feel fresh and different than a lot of the traditional animation coming out of the west.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    ‘Home Alone’ Star Macaulay Culkin Delights Fans With Nostalgic Screening and Q&A

    In Chicago, where the suburbs served as locations, a showing of the film featured an appearance by the star. Delighted fans made their devotion known.It has been 34 years since Kevin McAllister paint-canned two sour-faced bandits in “Home Alone.” And every Christmas since, fans have taken self-made tours of suburban Chicago sites in the classic holiday movie, which finds 8-year-old Kevin defending himself against robbers after his family leaves for a vacation without him. The stately residence where exteriors were shot in Winnetka, Ill., is the area’s top tourist attraction, with thousands of visitors annually.This year, Macaulay Culkin, who played Kevin and became a 10-year-old international superstar as a result, created his own multicity tour, holding screenings of the comedy followed by a Q&A. Billed as “A Nostalgic Night With Macaulay Culkin,” it played last week in Rosemont, Ill., just outside Chicago, and that proved a big draw for “Home Alone” stans.They flocked to the Rosemont Theater in T-shirts quoting John Hughes’s script — “Keep the change, ya filthy animal!” — and roared at the burns and pratfalls of the bumbling thieves (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern). Parents toted fleece blankets and stuffies for past-bedtime children; many were watching the movie, directed by Chris Columbus, on the big screen for the first time.The appeal was intergenerational and uncomplicated. “It feels like growing up,” said Monti Smith, 26, a mega-fan from Nashville.The SettingFans have been flocking to the house where the film’s exteriors were shot ever since “Home Alone” was released. Lyndon French for The New York TimesThe five bedroom, 9,126-square-foot brick home at 671 Lincoln Ave. in Winnetka has been a Mecca for movie buffs — and real estate agents. Its sale listing, for more than $5 million, went viral this year. (After a week on the market, the house found a buyer.) When a car pulled into the gated driveway last Friday, the driver paid no mind to the steady stream of onlookers or the traffic stopping for selfie-takers.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Richard Gere Calls ‘Blonde on Blonde’ His All-Time Favorite

    “He’s our Picasso,” the actor said of Bob Dylan.It has been more than four decades since an Armani-clad Richard Gere slunk around Los Angeles in Paul Schrader’s “American Gigolo.”Now Gere, 75, and Schrader have reunited on “Oh, Canada,” an adaptation of Russell Banks’s 2021 novel, “Foregone,” about a dying documentarian who wants to confess, mostly to his wife.Gere and Schrader were each dealing with end-of-life losses when they jumped into the project: Banks, a close friend of Schrader’s, had died from cancer in 2023. Gere’s father also died that year.“We were coming from emotional places,” Gere said.In addition to “Oh, Canada,” Gere made his American TV series debut last month in “The Agency,” an adaptation of the French hit “The Bureau.”“My wife and I binge-watched the French show and genuinely loved it,” he said. “So when I got a call saying they wanted to do an English-language version, I thought, Hmm, that’s kind of a double-edged sword. One, yeah, that sounds interesting, but two, the French one was so good, would they screw this up?”Gere was about to travel from Paris to Marrakech to meet his family when he called to talk about his admiration for former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and the chef-humanitarian José Andrés, the Dylan song he can’t imagine not existing and the importance of Tibet. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Why More Brides Are Skipping the Traditional March Song

    More couples are skipping the traditional processional to Richard Wagner’s “Bridal Chorus.”When Becky Pedroza began planning her wedding, she imagined a celebration as vibrant and free-spirited as her relationship with Erik Revelli.At their wedding in May 2023 at Rimrock Ranch in Pioneertown, Calif., the Atlanta couple bypassed the usual wedding routines: no mother-son dance, no bouquet toss and absolutely no “Here Comes the Bride,” a song also known as “Bridal Chorus” by Richard Wagner. Instead, Ms. Pedroza walked down the aisle, flanked by her parents, to “She’s a Rainbow” by the Rolling Stones.“We wanted something that felt more like us,” said Ms. Pedroza, a 33-year-old graphic designer. She added that she wanted a song that made her “incredibly happy,” not one that honored tradition.Ms. Pedroza isn’t the only one ditching traditional processional music. An online search for “Bridal Processional Songs” will return everything from Neil Young to Billie Eilish before Wagner even gets a mention. And the composer doesn’t even make an appearance on a list of “114 wedding processional songs you should definitely use” by the wedding website the Knot.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Miley Cyrus Gives Showgirl Pathos, and 8 More New Songs

    Hear tracks by Benjamin Booker, Julien Baker and Torres, and more.Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new tracks. Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes) and at Apple Music here, and sign up for The Amplifier, a twice-weekly guide to new and old songs.Miley Cyrus: ‘Beautiful That Way’At 32, Miley Cyrus is an old soul in the guise of a provocative modern pop star, which means that she can nail a slow, torchy ballad in her sleep. She brings expected, husky-voiced pathos to “Beautiful That Way,” a Golden-Globe-nominated song from the soundtrack of “The Last Showgirl,” Gia Coppola’s moody character study that stars Pamela Anderson. “Just like a rose, she’ll cut you with thorns,” Cyrus croons on the track, co-written with Andrew Wyatt and the Swedish musician Lykke Li. “She’s beautiful that way.” LINDSAY ZOLADZSnoop Dogg featuring 50 Cent and Eminem, ‘Gunz N Smoke’Self-congratulation reigns on “Missionary,” the new Snoop Dogg album that reunites him with the producer Dr. Dre and other 1990s Dre protégés — including, on “Gunz N Smoke,” 50 Cent and Eminem. Flaunting a “Gun smoke, gun smoke” sample from “Dead Wrong” (by the Notorious B.I.G. featuring Eminem), the track has the three rappers revisiting belligerent poses that have become all too familiar: “I come from freestylin’ over gunshots and sirens / Nothing more gangster than my voice over these violins,” Snoop Dogg claims. But Eminem admits, “Now I’m much older, and I may be calmer.” JON PARELESMario, ‘Questions’We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    The Messy Modern Music Business, According to Larry Jackson

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicThe music executive Larry Jackson, a founder of the entertainment company Gamma, has seen several sea changes in the recording business from different vantages over different eras of disruption.As head of A&R at Arista Records/RCA Music Group under Clive Davis, he oversaw albums by Whitney Houston and Jennifer Hudson while CDs were giving way to the iTunes Store. At Interscope, alongside Jimmy Iovine, he helped sign Chief Keef and Lana Del Rey as YouTube made new stars. As the global creative director at Apple Music, Jackson partnered with artists like Drake, Frank Ocean and Taylor Swift to bring streaming to the masses, while competing with Spotify — and the major labels.On this week’s episode of Popcast, Jackson spoke with the hosts Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli about a topsy-turvy year in music — headlined by the battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake — and how Jackson is applying lessons from his label days to whatever the industry has become.Connect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our host, Jon Caramanica, on Twitter: @joncaramanica. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. More

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    What Song Did You Discover, or Rediscover, in 2024?

    We want to know why it resonated with you.In a recent edition of The Amplifier newsletter, Lindsay Zoladz shared the music that shaped her year. She rediscovered a classic from the Smiths thanks to a karaoke party, dug into Neil Young’s back catalog after seeing him in concert, and revisited a Frank Sinatra standard because it reminded her of a cherished trip to Vermont.As she pointed out, not all of the music that will remind us of this year actually came out in 2024. Maybe your favorite song this year was an old tune you fell back in love with, a new-to-you discovery or a piece of music linked with an important event in your life. With that in mind, we’re asking readers: What song explains your 2024? Why did it resonate with you this year?If you’d like to share your story with us, fill out the form below. We may publish your response in an upcoming newsletter. We won’t publish any part of your submission without reaching out and hearing back from you first. More