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Home , 100 Club, Buddy Holly Center, Masonic Temple (Toronto), Ramones Museum, The Crocodile

TWENTY MUST-VISIT DESTINATIONS AROUND THE WORLD THAT SHOULD BE ON EVERY MUSIC LOVER’S RADAR.

by DANA RAIDT / Illustration by JAMES TAYLOR tevie Wonder once said that music gives us memories, while Anthony Bourdain noted what many of us know: Travel forever changes MUMBAI Bollywood films might be Mumbai’s us, leaving marks on our memory. They’re both right—and for music- most famous entertainment export, but the city also has a rich music scene. heads and travelers, the most sublime memories happen when we com- George Harrison came here in the late 1960s to learn sitar from Ravi Shankar bine these two loves. Whether Tango dancers in and record part of the first solo album Caminito of La Boca from a Beatle; one of Harrison’s is you’re paying homage to a mu- now on display at Café Gostana. Experi- ence traditional South Indian Carnatic sical hero or simply seeking out new sounds, Buenos Aires music at Sri Shanmukhananda Chan- drasekarendra Saraswathi Auditorium these 20 music-centric cities are full of venues, Tango has many diverse influences, but there’s no question that its heart and soul lie in or Western-style classical performances Buenos Aires. That’s despite the music and dance being censored, and even banned, at National Centre for the Performing artists, record stores, museums and landmarks during much of the 20th century as Argentina went through political upheaval. Get Arts—home to India’s only professional a crash course at the Buenos Aires Tango Festival & World Cup, which features tango orchestra. International EDM fans flock waiting to be seen, heard and remembered. orchestras, dance competitions and tango-related film and art exhibitions, or at the to the annual Sunburn and Supersonic classic Rojo Tango show at Hotel Faena. Jump into the action at the unassuming Bar festivals. Los Laureles, which transforms into a milonga (dance hall) in the evenings. Tango Queer breaks tango’s traditional heteronormative rules, allowing people of all sexual identities AUSTIN and genders to learn in a relaxed, LGBTQ-friendly environment. The massive La Bomba CHICAGO de Tiempo percussion improv ensemble takes over outdoor venue Ciudad Cultural Konex on Monday nights. Buenos Aires is full of EDM, hip-hop, rock and reggaetón clubs such Ever since 1940s Delta artists as Club Crobar, Cocoliche and Niceto Club. Thelonious Club has upscale cocktails (try the arrived and began electrifying their you can’t swing a 10-gallon hat in without hitting a music landmark: Gang of Youths at Keith Richards: vodka, lemon and sugar), a low-key atmosphere and live Wednesday sound, Chicago has been an incubator Austin City Limits San Antonio has amazing mariachi bands; Lubbock’s Center through Sunday. for groundbreakers, from woke rappers honors the hometown hero; a Littlefield liquor store doubles as a shrine to (Common, Chance the Rapper, Lupe Fi- country outlaw ; and the tiny town of Turkey celebrates asco) to alt-rockers (Wilco, Smashing the king of western swing (the official state music of Texas) with the Bob Wills Day celebra- Pumpkins, Liz Phair). Relive the city’s tion. But nowhere in the state is music appreciation as apparent and accessible as in Austin, blues heyday by immersing yourself in the self-proclaimed live music capital of the world. In the early 1970s, Willie Nelson ditched the history of Chess Records at Willie Nashville’s cookie-cutter country scene to grow out his hair and find community in Austin, Dixon’s Blues Foundation, tak- spurring the once-sleepy college town to blossom into a haven for musicians who don’t SEOUL counts BoA, the queen of ing in big acts at the annual outdoor follow the rules. Two annual music festivals, Austin City Limits and SXSW Music Festival, Korean pop, among its Chicago Blues Festival (the largest bring in floods of fans and transform the entire metropolis—from hotel conference rooms artists. SMTown includes free blues festival in the world) or with to church pulpits—into makeshift venues. Laid-back spots such as the Continental Club, a theater that showcases a show at ’s Legends. The Emo’s, Mohawk, Antone’s and Historic Scoot Inn keep the music flowing year-round. k-pop artist psy’s 2012 hit both hologram and live Chicago Blues Experience museum is “Gangnam Style” was an concerts, as well as a new slated to open next year. internet sensation—but K-pop museum that offers more importantly, it was augmented reality tours a catalyst for the Korean (sign up well in advance cultural wave known as for the AR component).

Long before Nirvana made music also thrives here to- : Home and Away at Hallyu. Gangnam enthusi- Myeongdong Underground the Pacific Northwest syn- day thanks to local luminar- the Museum of Pop Culture. asts can explore the song’s Shopping Center is rife onymous with angst (and ies Fleet Foxes, Neko Case, It’s hard to go wrong with live namesake Seoul neighbor- with K-pop records and flannel), artists such as the and music in Seattle, but Re-bar, hood, a sophisticated dis- tchotchkes, while record Ventures, the Fastbacks, Modest Mouse—and in no the Crocodile and Neumos trict south of the Hangang store Vinyl & Plastic lets and Heart small part thanks to radio all are mainstays. Sub Pop River that was rural rice audiophiles while away were giving the Emerald station KEXP, whose Gath- Records—the Seattle up- paddies just a few decades hours at listening stations. City a reputation for jaw- ering Space at the Seattle start that took a chance on ago; the light-up “Gangnam Dig through hip-hop, soul dropping rock ’n’ roll. Wan- Center hosts concerts and Nirvana back in 1989—is now Style” sculpture is a must, and stacks at Rm360, der through Jimi Hendrix co-working. Browse through one of the most influential of course. SMTown is an ur- owned by local DJs, then Park, next to the Northwest one-of-a-kind records from labels in the country. Shop ban theme park run by one cap off a successful vinyl African American Museum, all over the world at the Light its wares at the Sub Pop Air- of South Korea’s biggest hunt by renting a private where a Hendrix exhibit in the Attic Record Shop and port Store in Seattle-Tacoma entertainment companies, karaoke room at Luxury Chicago Blues Festival runs through May 5. Indie check out exhibits such as International Airport. SM Entertainment—which CANDICE LAWLER (AUSTIN);MICHEL SETBOUN/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES (BUENOS AIRES); SCOTTOLSON/GETTY IMAGES (CHICAGO) Su Noraebang.

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Sample the City of Light’s offerings—be it classical, jazz, opera, hip-hop, rock, did end the Cold War? It depends on whom you ask. some believe sparked the downfall of the Eastern Bloc. Take the cabaret or chanson—at the Cité de la Two centuries after Johann Sebastian Bach similarly found inspi- Bowie Berlin Walk to follow in Mr. Stardust’s footsteps; Berlin Musique-Philharmonie de Paris, home ration in the German capital—composing works you might now Music Tours also offers tours of local punk, club and rock land- to a symphony hall, amphitheater, hear at Berlin’s neoclassical Konzerthaus—Bowie came to West marks. Hansa Studios has seen the likes of Bowie and and is music museum and library. Wander rue Berlin with in 1976, remaining for two years. The resulting sometimes open to visitors who want to get a glimpse into the city’s Oberkampf for rock and dance clubs or albums—Low, Heroes and Lodger, collectively known as his Berlin musical past and present. Contemporary jazz performers and fans rue des Lombards for jazz. On June 21, Trilogy—convey the hopelessness of a city divided by the Berlin take over the city each May during the XJAZZ Festival. And while performers take over city streets for Fête Wall. When Bowie returned in 1987 to perform on the steps of may be forever linked with New York City, the only de la Musique. The Olympia has been Reichstag, East Berliners braved the threat of police violence to museum dedicated to the Fast Four—Ramones Museum, Bar & graced by everyone from Jeff Buckley to gather near the wall to try to hear the forbidden music—an event Café, run by a German superfan —is in Berlin’s district. Edith Piaf (whose 11th arrondissement apartment is now the Musée Edith Piaf) and today hosts French and international acts nearly every night.

MEMPHIS

Build ample time for music into any Memphis itinerary, because it’s bound to be busy: Beale Street, Graceland, the Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, The Bob Marley the Stax Museum of American Soul and Museum Sun Studio are all musts. In Memphis you can start exploring the state’s new london is home to some of the best-known pop, rock, punk, metal, EDM, psychedelic, hip- Tennessee Music Pathways or launch hop, soul and dance artists of our time—and that’s not counting the expats, such as Handel Kingston into the Mississippi Blues Trail, a series and Hendrix, who have found inspiration in its Georgian architecture and cozy clubs. of markers at distinguished sites that Several companies offer tours of the city’s many musical landmarks, including memorials Without crunching the numbers, it’s tell the story of America’s musical evolu- to the departed. (David Bowie and Amy Winehouse both have impressive murals.) Geek safe to say that the per capita music tion. Don’t miss the Grammy Museum out on guitars at Denmark Street Guitars, where relics previously owned by David Gilmour exports of Kingston, Jamaica, run Mississippi, the B.B. King Museum, of Pink Floyd and are for sale. Rifle through All Ages Records for rare punk and on the high end. Bob Marley, Grace Dockery Farms and the Blue Front Café, DIY titles, Phonica Records for dance and soul, Honest Jon’s for jazz and reggae and Rough Jones, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Desmond an authentic juke joint where owner and Trade for everything else. For live music, the 02 and Wembley Stadium are no-brainers, Dekker and Harry Belafonte are just blues legend Jimmy “Duck” Holmes but big-time acts play in equally impressive but more intimate venues such as KOKO, 02 some of the innovators who have performs out front. Academy Brixton and Eventim Apollo. Cafe Oto, 100 Club and the glitter-adorned Moth lived here and gone on to greatness, Club are perfect for catching up-and-coming indie artists. Of course, don’t forget to follow bringing reggae, dub, ska, rocksteady in the Fab Four’s footsteps and snap your obligatory Instagram at Abbey Road Crossing. Berlin’s Konzerthaus and dancehall to global audiences. NEW YORK CITY Trench Town Culture Yard, the first urban location to be designated a The home base of American punk National Heritage site, is considered (CBGB in the East Village) is now a John the birthplace of reggae. Its restored Varvatos boutique, but there’s still proof a superknowledgeable staff. Any local worth her buildings show what life was like for of New York’s musical relevance in the vinyl collection will suggest a pilgrimage to First Marley and other reggae innovators. form of venues such as Sidewalk Bar & Minneapolis Avenue, the star-bedecked club immortalized in Marley’s later home and studio are on Restaurant in the East Village, Birdland Purple Rain. (Its little sister next door, the 7th display at the Bob Marley Museum. in Hell’s Kitchen and Elsewhere and Few cities are as obsessive—or posses- St Entry, is ideal for seeing up-and-coming and Beat ‘n Track Productions organizes Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn. Ghosts of sive—about their prodigal sons and local bands.) Since the Purple One’s untimely an in-depth Kingston Reggae Tour, Greenwich Village’s folk-y history haunt daughters as Minneapolis. That’s not death in 2016, his Paisley Park studio complex in run by Jamaican music industry Café Wha?, while jazz legends convene surprising when you consider the tal- nearby Chanhassen has been converted into a veteran Andrea Lewis. Learn about at Blue Note Jazz Club. Hush ent that has sprung from the City of museum. The Minneapolis sound is just the tip Jamaica’s complex music history, Tours shows off rap landmarks, and Lakes: Prince, the Replacements, Bob of the iceberg, though. In southern Minnesota, which mirrors its struggle for inde- the renowned Apollo Theater in Harlem Dylan, Soul Asylum, Atmosphere, the the annual Mahkato Wacipi pow wow showcases pendence and social change, at the remains a cultural landmark. When the Suburbs, Hüsker Dü, Babes in Toyland traditional music of the state’s Native American nations. Up north, slow-core Jamaica Music Museum. For live mu- city gets too loud, bathe in sonic bliss at Eduardo Kobra’s and Morris Day and The Time, to name a superstars Low occasionally perform in their native Duluth; the public library sic played Jamaican sound-system Tribeca’s Dream House Sound and Light mural of few. Eclectic record store Electric Fetus in the Iron Range town of Hibbing honors the life of its most famous resident, style (by several different DJs and in Minneapolis.

Environment, cofounded by experimen- hosts in-store performances and boasts RAYMOND BOYD/GETTYIMAGES (BOB DYLAN MURAL); INDEPENDENT PICTURE SERVICE/ALAMY (FIRST AVE); DAVID VON BECKER (BERLIN); LEIVA/AGEALVARO FOTOSTOCK /ALAMY (KINGSTON); Robert Allen Zimmerman, before he dubbed himself “Bob Dylan.” MCs), hit up the Kingston Dub Club. tal composer La Monte Young. 66 delta sky / march 2019 delta sky / march 2019 67 ATLANTA Cash Museum and Café, Nudie’s Honky Tonk and Countless music and production innova- the Hall of tors such as Janelle Monáe and Jermaine Fame and Museum. (The Dupri have put Atlanta on almost every museum also offers tours musical map: R&B, soul, hip-hop, coun- of Historic RCA Studio try, folk and beyond. Use the literal Rap B, the birthplace of the Map created by Georgia State University Nashville sound.) Jack students to pinpoint all the ATL refer- White opened his first ences immortalized in songs by Outkast, Third Man Records record Childish Gambino and Ludacris. Spring store/venue in his adopted brings a slew of big-time festivals: hometown in 2009. Away SweetWater 420 Fest, Shaky Knees, from the hustle and bus- Shaky Beats and the Candler Park Music tle, The Bluebird Cafe is a and Food Festival. T.I.’s ingenious pop- hot spot for singer-song- up Trap Music Museum is worth a visit, writers and East Nash- and the ambitious Southern Museum of ville’s The 5 Spot and The Music is set to open in the next few years. Arnaud’s in New Orleans Basement East are perfect for catching local and indie bands. A side trip even farther east takes New Orleans DETROIT you into the Great Smoky Didn’t spot Drake at a hometown Mountains, where coun- concert or Toronto Raptors game? There’s no need to look for music in try music emerged from You might have better luck running New Orleans. It will find you, in the NASHVILLE its bluegrass and gospel into Champagne Papi at his OVO form of jazz wafting out of clubs, soul-soothing r&b, mind-melting punk, cutting-edge hip-hop and throw- roots. Dolly Parton’s epic streetwear store. Counterculture icons French Quarter street musicians back garage-rock—it’s all sympatico in Motor City. Twelve years after a young Dollywood theme park Joni Mitchell and Neil Young haunted and a near-constant string of brass Aretha Franklin wowed parishioners with hymns at New Bethel Baptist in Pigeon Forge includes Toronto’s Bloor-Yorkville neighborhood bands parading down side streets. Church, Iggy Pop and his band the Stooges debuted at the Grande Ballroom they don’t call Nashville City Walk of Fame Park, the Southern Gospel Mu- in the ’60s, and there’s now a historical Find painstakingly researched and less than two miles away; the MC5 recorded the seminal proto-punk album “Music City” for nothing. Ryman Auditorium, Ernest seum and Hall of Fame, marker where the iconic River Boat curated self-guided NOLA music Kick Out the Jams onstage there the same year. (The venue is closed, but it Within a few blocks down- Tubb Record Shop, Toot- while Bristol is home to Coffee House—the subject of Young’s tours on the A Closer Walk website. is up for redevelopment and was recently added to the National Register of town, you’ll hit all the sies Orchid Lounge, Hatch the Birthplace of Country song “Ambulance Blues”—once stood. Park is home to Historic Places.) Decades later, Detroiters the Gories, the Dirtbombs and the classic landmarks: Music Show Print, the Johnny Music Museum. Before you hit up Sonic Boom or Invisible Mahalia Jackson Theater, named White Stripes helped spur a garage-rock revival, frequenting venues such as City Record Shop (which specializes in for the Queen of Gospel who, like the Detroit Masonic Temple, Old Miami, the Majestic and the Magic Stick. obscure Caribbean funk and soca), see Armstrong, was a NOLA native. Experience where Marvin Gaye’s magic happened at the Motown Museum. if the Toronto Public Library is offering No one epitomized New Orleans’ Detroit Music Weekend, which Aretha Franklin headlined in 2017—her last any workshops in record collecting, as musical diversity quite like Fats hometown show—happens each June. Another local, Eminem, got his start at it has in the past; the library boasts a Domino, whose iconic former home The Shelter, a small venue in the basement of Saint Andrew’s Hall. The uncle Stockholm collection of about 17,000 LPs and its stands in the Lower Ninth Ward. of legendary hip-hop producer J Dilla opened Dilla’s Delights, a doughnut own recording studio. For live music, The Spotted Cat shop honoring the late Dilla and his beloved album Donuts; the menu also Known as the Nashville of the Nordics, sophisticated Music Club, Chickie Wah-Wah and pays homage to fellow Detroit native Aaliyah. Stockholm is a pop music lover’s paradise. Not only Siberia Lounge stand out. Forget is it home to ABBA, Robyn, Lykke Li and Ace of Base PRAGUE the booze and beads during Mardi (not to mention Spotify’s global headquarters), its Gras; instead, keep an eye out for plethora of gifted producers and songwriters draws Czech musicians Dvořák and Smetana are Mardi Gras Indians—groups of top American pop artists—Britney Spears and all celebrated in Prague, as is Austrian African American performers who Taylor Swift among them—who are trying to create Pop House Hotel Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who pre- pay homage to Native Americans their next earworm. ABBA The Museum showcases miered his Don Giovanni at the historic with colorful costumes, percussion, the splendor of Sweden’s biggest pop export. And Estates Theatre. See a performance at chants and ceremonial dances. New at the Pop House Hotel in the same building, the ABBA Gold Suite is an homage to the the circa 1783 Estates to transport Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest, Bayou band’s 1992 greatest hits album (which became a surprise runaway hit despite their long yourself back to this magical time. The Boogaloo, French Quarter Festival hiatus). The black and gold-themed suite houses ABBA’s gold and platinum records as annual Bach for All International Music and Voodoo Music + Arts Experi- well as Urbanears speakers for when you just need to blast “Dancing Queen.” The Royal Festival brings Baroque performers and ence bring music fans of every stripe Swedish Opera won’t disappoint—but for something edgier, try Folkoperan, known for fans together in some of the city’s most to the bayou. Recover with a musi- its nontraditional works. The hip Södermalm neighborhood is home to indie rock venues awe-inspiring venues. The Czech Philhar- cal brunch: For gospel, go to House Debaser Strand and Pet Sounds Bar and its sister store, Pet Sounds Records. Södra Teatern monic performs at the neo-Renaissance of Blues. For Dixieland Jazz, try is the city’s oldest theater, welcoming diverse international acts such as Wu-Tang Clan’s Rudolfinum, where the company debuted Detroit’s Motown Museum Monument to Joe Lewis

Arnaud’s. GEORGE H. LONG,(ARNAUDS); JOHANNA ÅKERBERGKASSEL (STOCKHOLM); IAN DAGNALL/ALAMYSTOCK PHOTO (MOTOWN MUSEUM); PANORAMIC IMAGES (BLACK FIST MONUMENT) GZA and Sharon Van Etten. in 1896, conducted by Dvořák.

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