ContactMusic — Folk veteran Joan Baez has urged her fans to sign a petition calling for the freedom of jailed Russian rockers Pussy Riot Three stars of the band are behind bars awaiting a court verdict on charges of hooliganism after they performed a p... more info

Guardian Music — From civil rights to Rick Santorum, readers look at the political songs that mean the most to them. Does your favourite make the list?Earlier this week, we asked readers to send us their nominations for their best-loved examples of popular political ... more info

Guardian Music — Faouzi Skali founded Morocco's spiritual music festival, a haven of peace among the bloodshed across the Arab worldThe Moroccan philanthropist Faouzi Skali founded the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music in 1994. For the past 12 years the programme ha... more info

Guardian Music — Don't restrict yourself to Latitude and Glasto. Travel to one of these exotic festivals for a truly memorable tripHoly Ship!, CaribbeanTake a huge cruise ship, fill it with young hedonists, pump in dance music and pray no one falls overboard … Holy... more info

Guardian Music — Banjo player with a breathtaking style who shaped bluegrass and explored other genresIf Bill Monroe was the architect of bluegrass music, the banjo player Earl Scruggs, who has died aged 88, was his chief construction worker. Scruggs, who played with... more info

Mercury News, California — Composer Festinger, a professor at San Francisco State, also directs the university's Morrison Artists Series, which presents top chamber music groups to the public -- for free. As a guitarist, he performed at Woodstock with Joan Baez. more info

Guardian Music — Royal Festival Hall, LondonIt was all very cosy. At the back of the stage was a pink sofa, a lamp and side-table with a vase of daffodils, and in front of them was the world's best-known female folk singer, playing guitar and easing into a two-hour s... more info

Guardian Music — (World Village)Here's a world diva with a difference. Mathlouthi's lament for her homeland, "Ya Tounes Ya Meskina" (Poor Tunisia), became a soundtrack to last year's uprising, along with the celebratory "Kelmti Horra" (My Word is Free). Arriving afte... more info

Guardian Music — 'I had an overwhelming urge to express the joy, the delirium, I felt listening to the radio and going to shows by the Stones and Dylan'Greil Marcus lives in a newly built, cedar-shingled house on the border between Oakland and Berkeley. Inside, the l... more info

Dlisted — Duchess Catherine (30) Nina Dobrev (23) Paolo Nutini (25) A.J. McLean (34) Chad Ochocinco (34) Maggie Rizer (34) Angela Bettis (39) Lara Fabian (42) Joey Lauren Adams (44) Dave Matthews (45) Haddaway (47) Joely Richardson (47) Imelda Staunton (56) J.... more info