NEW YORK (AP) _ It's tough to keep a pregnancy a secret when you're in the public eye, and for a while, Beyonce thought the jig was up.``The whole time I definitely was thinking, `Everyone knows, everyone can see,''' said the singer before the screening of her new concert DVD Sunday in New York.It b

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Taylor Swift was crowned artist of the year at the American Music Awards for a second time.``This is so crazy!'' the country superstar said after beat such contenders as Adele, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry to capture all three awards that she was nominated for at Sunday's ceremony, in

K-pop groups KARA and TVXQ have been nominated for the top prize of the 53rd Japan Record Awards, while 2NE1 has been nominated for Best New Artist, the awards committee announced on Saturday.A major music awards show held annually in Japan, the Japan Record Awards is organized and hosted by the Japan Composer’s Association.  Ten acts have been nominated for the top award this year, including Nishino Kana, Mizumori Kaori, Hikawa Kiyoshi, and AKB48. KARA has been nominated for “Go Go Summer!” wh

NEW YORK (AP) ― The sound of insistent drumming bounces off the sides of nearby office towers announcing the location of the Occupy Wall Street home base long before its inhabitants are otherwise seen or heard.Turn a corner in Zuccotti Park and you’re likely to run into a drum circle or find someone strumming a guitar. Maybe it’s an amateur trying to keep spirits up, or it could be the real deal ― recording artists such as David Crosby and Graham Nash.Music and musicians are woven into the fabri

Busker Busker, the three-member indie band runners-up of Mnet’s reality talent show “Superstar K3,” announced they will withdraw from the music scene indefinitely.The group lost the top prize to Ulala Session, the vocal-oriented quartet led by Im Yoon-taek who has stage four stomach cancer, in the finale of the show broadcast live last Friday.The indie trio had been scheduled to participate in a press interview on Monday along with three other top contestants ― Ulala Session, Twogaewol, and Chri

Classical Music“Kumho Art Hall Chamber Music Concert”: Kumho Art Hall-representing ensembles -- the Chamber Music Society of Kumho Art Hall (CMS) and Kumho Asiana Soloists -- will peform on Dec. 8 and Dec. 29, respectively. The CMS, led by artistic director and pianist Kim Dae-jin, is to stage Brahms Piano Trio No. 1 in B major, Op. 8 and invite renowned American clarinetist Jon Manasse to collaborate on Brahms Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115. The CMS has been offering “Brahms Essentials” c

Rossy PP’s first studio album outRossy PP“Alohaoe”(Sony Music Entertainment Korea)After releasing her first single in 2006, singer-songwriter Rossy PP gained the reputation of a new genre pioneer with her unusually dreamy sounds. She has released her first studio album “Alohaoe,” writing, composing and producing all of the 10 tracks in the album herself. The title track “A Dialogue with a Cat” is narrated by a feline who asks a woman what it means to live in the human world. She answers that lif

Fans wept as he was drafted into the army last month but South Korean pop sensation Rain is apparently adjusting well to military life.Rain, whose real name is Jung Ji-Hoon, will become an assistant instructor next month at the boot camp which he entered in October, the defence ministry said Wednesday.“Assistant instructors are chosen based on outstanding training results and their willingness, and Jung has shown that,” a ministry spokesman told AFP.Rain was recently also named top marksman at t

NEW YORK (AP) ― On a night he was honored for his way with words, Keith Richards was clearly winging it.“This is one for the books, if you get my drift ― you hacks,” the 67-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist joked Tuesday as he accepted the Mailer Prize for Distinguished Biography, a prize earned by his million-selling memoir “Life.”Wearing tinted glasses, a long scarf around his neck and a wide red band around his sprawl of salt and pepper hair, Richards stood before hundreds dressed in suits an

The merit of going to a chamber music concert is being able to enjoy individual artists’ different performing styles along with the harmony of the instruments.The intimate nature of chamber music will be displayed at the Kumho Art Hall and Seoul Arts Center’s IBK Chamber Hall through to the end of the year.At the Kumho Art Hall, a series of three chamber music concerts will be held on Thursday, Dec. 8 and Dec. 29.The first performance is by Curtis and Friends, consisting of pianist and Yonsei Un

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Heavy D, the self-proclaimed “overweight lover” of hip-hop who became one of rap’s top hit-makers with wit, humor and a positive vibe, has died. He was 44.Lt. Mark Rosen of the Beverly Hills police said Heavy D died in a Los Angeles hospital Tuesday after collapsing at his condominium building.Rosen said Beverly Hills police officers were dispatched to Heavy D’s condominium building Tuesday morning after receiving a report of an unconscious person laying on the walkway of a bu

Taiwanese violinist Yu Chien Tseng has topped the 2011 Isang Yun Competition, the Tongyeong International Music Festival Foundation said on Monday. In the final competition in the violin category this year held on Saturday, Tseng performed Brahms Violin Concerto with the TIMF Ensemble, led by Adriel Kim. Despite her young age, the 17-year-old’s academic but seasoned performance not only put him at the top of the competition, but won him the Isang Yun Special Prize, which is given to a musician w