By Ian BrennanThe GuardianMarch 11th, 2021 Lebanon’s Mashrou’ Leila, Japan’s OOIOO and Syria’s Omar Souleyman are among artists from regions…
Ian Brennan’s Blog
The Grammys have a major problem with global diversity. Lip service isn’t going to solve it
By Ian BrennanThe GuardianMarch 10th, 2021 Renaming the world music category does little to fix its pattern of exclusion, which…
Songwriter U: The Highs of Lo-Fi
By Ian BrennanAmerican SongwriterFebruary 22nd, 2021 A true pleasure offered in life is a genuinely elegant sounding recording. Given over…
The Good Ones: Rwanda, You Should Be Loved
By Ian Brennan Afropop Worldwide September 30th, 2020 The musical trio Good Ones are genocide survivors, as is every Rwandan…
The Earth Is a Drum
A Grammy-winning, world-traveling producer makes the case for looking beyond technology and academia for rhythmic and musical inspiration. By Ian…
The Good Ones: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
By Bob Boilen NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert September 29th, 2020 Credit: Courtesy of the Artist The Tiny Desk is…
‘Music Was Our Language’: Grammy Award-Winning Producer Turns the Mic on His Sister
By Ariella Markowitz, Amanda Font KQED September 26th, 2020 Musician Ian Brennan was born in Oakland and made a name…
My sister is nonverbal but she knows the words to every song. Now we’ve made an album together
By Ian Brennan The Guardian September 17th, 2020 Through my sister Jane, who has Down’s syndrome, I learned how to…
“Who You Calling Slow?” an album by the Sheltered Workshop Singers on BBC World
BBC World July 31st, 2020 Ian Brennan on BBC World talking about “Who You Calling Slow?” an album by the…
Malawi Mouse Boys: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert on NPR
NPR Tiny Desk Home Concerts July1 st, 2020 The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing…