Shafer Videos

It’s a story a la Slumdog Millionaire: Kailash Kher used to live in cheap hotels in Mumbai while pursuing a music career. He is now one of Bollywood’s biggest stars and a judge on the TV show Indian Idol. He joins us with his band for a live performance.

Many people have faced a life dilemma or crisis that could be helped by a piece of music: dinner with the boss's wife, a second date with a die-hard Philip Glass fan, a wedding or a funeral. After our popular segment last year, The Record Doctor - aka British classical music critic and author Norman Lebrecht - returns to take your calls and comments. The surgery is open: What's troubling you? What do you want to know about buying classical recordings? Ask The Record Doctor below.

The stagehands that push the pianos onto the stage at Carnegie Hall make more than the musicians who play them. Bloomberg News recently revealed that the top stagehands there earn $500,000 a year. Reporter Philip Boroff tells us about this specialized corner of the music industry. City Opera Launches a New Season New York City Opera opens its 2009-10 season with a gala tonight after an off-season of drastic cost-cutting measures. General manager George Steel sought concessions from unions – including stagehands – as part of his efforts to bring the beleaguered company back to financial stability. We get a prognosis from Robin Pogrebin, New York Times culture reporter, and James Jorden, author of the opera blog Parterre Box.

This week's picks include some icy sounds, an economic power trio and a multicultural bunch. Click here to read our full reviews.

The Very Best is the collaboration between Malawian-born, London-based singer Esau Mwamwaya and the British DJ duo Radioclit. The eclectic-sounding group was tapped to be this year’s buzz band at the CMJ Music Festival -- until travel issues scuttled Mwamwaya’s visit. Now, the group joins us to talk about a critically lauded second album, Warm Heart of Africa, which features guest appearances from rapper M.I.A. and Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend.

Roger Nierenberg is a conductor and creator of the Music Paradigm, a program that invites executives to sit inside an orchestra and even try their hand at conducting. He joins us to share his observations on why he thinks conducting can turn business executives into successful leaders as recounted in his new book, Maestro: A Surprising Story About Leading by Listening.

Composer and pianist Vijay Iyer has long mixed two genres in his work: jazz and Indian music. On his latest album, Historicity, he not only covers the jazz standards, but also sets his sight on popular music with covers of songs by M.I.A and Stevie Wonder.

Last year's presidential election brought out a groundswell of political action by musicians. This year, the causes are lower in profile: Singer Will.i.Am is pushing for health care reform. Trent Reznor, R.E.M. and Pearl Jam are joining a movement to close Guantanamo. But can they effect any real change? On this Election Day Soundcheck Smackdown, we debate whether musicians should get involved in political causes with Dorian Lynskey, a music writer at London's Guardian newspaper and Katherine Mangu-Ward, a senior editor of Reason magazine and Reason.com.