Something to get you in the mood for green beer!

Have you ever wondered about the origins of Irish step dancing?  This video provides a little insight

And here are the Corrs with an upbeat track that will get your evening started right! 

Norway’s Etnisk Musikklubb label is offering up another page from its traditional music playbook: Rammeslag II from Daniel Sanden-Warg and Sigurd Brokke. Two instruments dominate this album—the fiddle (both regular fiddle and the Hardanger fiddle) and the jew’s harp. The jew’s harp (or mouth harp) is a small instrument with a big, unusual sound—think low-tech synthesizer. The songs here are traditional folk music, and the liner notes include historic photos of some of the performers who have passed down the tradition. It’s not an album that will appeal to a wide audience, but folk music devotees will find much of value here.

Everybody loves a top-10 list. So, why not a top-50? That’s what NPR Music has come up with—50 of the greatest voices from today and the past—and they are revealing one per week for the rest of the year. The list isn’t all-encompassing, and many of your personal favorites may be missing from the roster. This is intentional—the panel that whittled the thousands of suggestions down to 50 focused on “discovery,” highlighting performers who may be well-known in certain parts of the world or to certain generations but may be new to modern or Western listeners.

Here’s who’s been featured so far: Iggy Pop, Ahmad Zahir, Mahalia Jackson, Maria Callas, and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (a TravelTracks favorite). This week we have Asha Bhosle, the great Bollywood singer. You can also listen to a mystery music clip and try to guess who will be featured next week—answer correctly and you could win a NPR Music tote bag. Tune in and enjoy a year of musical discovery!