Free Republic

Rivalry between stars of a unique accordion-based style of music in the southern African kingdom of Lesotho has sparked years of deadly gang warfare that has turned the tiny country into the murder capital of the continent. "Maybe I've survived because I'm a woman," Puseletso Seema says quietly, her whisper a shadow of the powerful voice that once entranced thousands of fans in beer-halls and stadiums across southern Africa and beyond. Acclaimed as the Queen of Famo, the popular national music of Lesotho, she sits on a scuffed sofa in her tiny, bare, cement-block home, with little to show for...

Sit back to the soothing tunes.

I have seen some amazing musicians, but this kid's performance ranks. I can't remember last time I saw something musical that made my mouth hang open in astonishment, but this one did. This guy plays Vivalid's Concerto In G Minor (for Violin, String Orchestra and Continuo, Op. 8, No. 2, RV 315, "L'estate" (Summer): III. Presto) on Accordion) And it isn't just that he plays it...he absolutely smokes it! You have got to see this (linked to YouTube: Kid nails Vivaldi on an accordion!

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A medical ailment that has worried male members of string sections across the music world for over 30 years has been exposed as a hoax.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The elderly parents of parody musician "Weird Al" Yankovic have died of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning at their home outside San Diego, the county medical examiner's office said. Nick Yankovic, 86, and his 81-year-old wife, Mary, were discovered on Friday by family members at their Fallbrook, California, residence. It was unclear how long they had been dead. A fire was still burning in the fireplace and authorities said that the home had filled with toxic fumes because the chimney flue was closed. Their son, Al Yankovic, known as "Weird Al," could not immediately be reached for...