![]() ![]() The shows are recorded and then posted to YouTube and NPR Music’s website, where they garner millions of views.Ĭonfining an artist to a desk has a very real effect on the outcome of sound. No PA system, no elaborate effects rigs, no fancy electronics. There’s only one rule: All equipment has to fit behind the desk. ![]() ![]() They could be quiet acoustic duos, metal acts, 23-piece Brazilian brass bands, or hip-hop artists. They run the gamut from little-known alt-rock bands ( Car Seat Headrest, Mothers) to legends ( Yo-Yo Ma, Adele). The concept of the show is simple: Musical acts come to play a show behind the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen. What is Tiny Desk? Blue Man Group performs at NPR’s Tiny Desk. It reassures us that our vulnerabilities are meant to be celebrated, not hidden. In an age of overproduction and digital manipulation, Tiny Desk offers us something honest: performances rife with awkward pauses, untuned guitars, and hiccups. Over eight years, more than 550 musical acts have played at this “Tiny Desk.” The show has attracted a cult following on the internet, partly thanks to its musical curation - a peculiar mix of indie rock, hip-hop, world music, and jazz - but more so because of its authenticity. #Tiny desk concert series#And that’s what makes NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series so special. There is an awkward intimacy in our closeness to the act, and to each other everyone senses it. The crowd leans in, feet away - a confluence of cardigan-wearing hipsters and old fogeys in suits. In seconds, the desk becomes an impromptu stage, lit up with strange noises, lively instrumentation, and performance art. Then a gong rings out - and Blue Man Group emerges from a utility closet. It is the middle of a workday, and it’s business as usual. It sits in the middle of a quiet floor, surrounded by cubicles, stacks of CDs, and coffee-buzzed interns. The desk, made out of some kind of composite material, is no coming attraction. On a hot day in June, I’m packed like a sardine in an 80-person semicircle around a desk at NPR’s Washington, DC, office. ![]()
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