NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, that launched in 2007.
The Tiny Desk, a unique space where NPR concerts are held, is the desk of All Things Considered host, Bob Boilen. The location is Washington, D.C., and the now-famous desk’s been quite occupied since 2008.
Many beloved musicians from all genres have had a Tiny Desk Concert, from Adele to Yo-Yo Ma.
Then in 2014, the Tiny Desk Contest was launched. Each year, an undiscovered musician gets the chance to perform with NPR, and the 2020 winner is Linda Diaz. She couldn’t go on tour due to the current coronavirus pandemic, but there is always some creative alternative.
The Tiny Desk idea is as much about discovery as it is about celebrity.
At first, the whole purpose of NPR Tiny Desk space was to host famous names from the music industry and to give some space to talented people who are yet to be discovered. The discovery part grew to a nationwide search in 2014—that’s when the Tiny Desk Contest came to life.
Thousands of talented, unique, innovative and undiscovered musicians submitted their videos over the past six years.
The only two conditions are that the musician is performing the original song in the video and that they haven’t been signed yet. To talk about the project’s success, let’s just say that all winners are signed to major labels now and are working on their original material. On top of it all, the 2015 winner, Fantastic Negrito, even won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album! The guys at NPR Tiny Desk Contest seem to know how to spot talent.
When Linda Diaz uploaded her home-made video in February 2020, it was one of over six thousand submissions.
Here is a quick reminder of the original video, and the story we wrote about it.
Yes, it was quite easy to see that Miss Diaz is a lovely, talented lady who deserves to be in the spotlight!
However, a panel of seven judges who were choosing a winner had a tough task.
Why? Because pretty much everyone who participated in the contest was amazing. Of course, it’s hard to give 15 minutes of fame to all participants. Linda’s soulful “Green Tea Ice Cream” was dreamy enough to make her dream come true.
The girl with amazing vocals told a personal story in a song that makes you think twice bout where you want to go next, and what you should focus on.
With the help of her friends, Linda breathed life into those powerful lyrics, and the winning video was created.
Linda and her band had to put together a socially-distanced video to celebrate.
One of the benefits of being an NPR Tiny Desk Concert winner is the chance to perform a concert at NPR’s Tiny Desk.
Because coronavirus has changed everything, Linda, a native New Yorker who grew up in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, had to come up with the idea of a home version of the concert. It wasn’t an easy task: she had to get her band and the NPR team together and to figure out how to shoot safely. Just when everything was prepared, Linda tested positive for COVID-19. She had to wait until she fully recovered, and everything was organized one more time. We can’t imagine how many phone calls it took.
The video was filmed for the first time on top of New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
Linda performs three songs, everyone’s got wind in their hair and the atmosphere is amazing. You can feel their joy to be able to perform like that!
In all, her original emotional song reflected her personal experiences.
“Green Tea Ice Cream” was written shortly after Linda’s grandfather passed away. Then she lost the job, and everything started to fall apart.
Diaz decided to calm down and figure out what to do next, rather than burn out.
Well Linda, listen to your advice and keep safe—we wish you the best of luck!
Check out the full performance in the link below:
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