Into the Music (ABC)

The authentic cowboy music of Texas: a personal story.

Just on 60 years ago, Elvis Presley went into Sun Studio in Memphis and recorded his first ever single - “That’s All Right”. Along with his guitarist Scotty Moore, he produced a song that sparked a revolution in rock 'n roll and changed music forever.

This is the story of The Gramophone Company of London's early 20th century recording trips by donkey-back and train along the Silk Road and of the relationship of the music they recorded onto wax cylinders to Silk Road musicians today.

Why did that very modern 20th-century composer, Maurice Ravel, compose images of spectres, goblins and death? Gaspard de la Nuit is the title of one of the most arresting and spectacularly difficult works ever written for the piano, but this remarkable piano work by Ravel is actually a conversation between the composer and a little-known poet living more that 60 years earlier. And today's Into the Music feature enters into their dialogue—between the words and the music.

The Black Panther movement was underscored by funk, rhythm and blues and early hip hop.

The Lion King is a celebratory and dynamic musical that's hugely successful worldwide - ITM goes behind the scenes.

It's 51 years since Doctor Who first stepped onto our tv screens. Into The Music focuses on its famous and enduring musical theme and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop that created it.

What makes a song 'the perfect song'?

Keeping it real in an unreal world—episode 6 of our series on on alternative rock music in the 1990s.

How and why musicians start their own record labels - we meet Milk! records

Integrity in the marketplace—episode 4 of our series on on alternative rock music in the 1990s.

Martin Elbourne has been at the forefront of the festival scene for decades.

Nostalgia and national identity in Britpop—episode 3 of our series on on alternative rock music in the 1990s.

The role of merchandising in the making of a band's reputation

Alternative rock breaks through to the mainstream—episode 2 of our series on on alternative rock music in the 1990s.

Neil Finn talks about some of his hits from the 1990s

What did they mean when they sang about freedom?—episode 1 of our series on alternative rock music in the 1990s.

A prestigious ensemble with a murky past is soon to open its archives.

Into the Music goes behind the curtain of one of this years biggest political stories - the civil war in Ukraine.

The lives of Australian composers explored