Listening Lyrics

Listening Lyrics

By Pieter Pastoor
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Listening Lyrics episodes

  • Listening Lyrics’ four forms of Christmas, Dec. 19, 2025

    Christmas doesn’t arrive as just one feeling.

    It shows up in many forms—joy, melancholy, loneliness, and wonder—sometimes all in the same room.

    1. Joyous

    Christmas, at its brightest, feels like the world leaning in.

    Laughter fills the room, music drifts through the house, and even ordinary moments feel generous. Hands are busy, hearts are open, and for a brief time, kindness feels effortless. Christmas joy isn’t about perfection—it’s about connection, shared in light, sound, and warmth.

    That’s one way Christmas sounds, when joy takes the lead.

    2. Melancholy

    Christmas can be beautiful and heavy at the same time.

    Lights glow a little softer, songs carry memories, and silence speaks between the notes. It’s a season that remembers for us—people we’ve loved, moments that have passed. In that quiet ache, there’s tenderness, and a reminder that meaning often lives alongside loss.

    That’s Christmas, when memory and music meet.

    3. Loneliness

    For some, Christmas arrives quietly.

    The world seems full, but the room feels empty. Decorations glow without warmth, and the season’s promise of togetherness feels just out of reach. Still, there is strength in naming the loneliness—because being seen, even in solitude, is its own kind of grace.

    This is Christmas too, even when it’s quiet.

    4. Wonder

    To a child, Christmas is pure wonder.

    Lights sparkle brighter, time slows down, and everything feels possible. Wrapping paper matters, magic is real, and tomorrow can’t come fast enough. Christmas, through a child’s eyes, is belief without doubt—and joy without explanation.

    That’s Christmas, before we learned to doubt it.

    58 min
  • Escuchando Letras, or Hispanic music in America, on Listening Lyrics, Dec. 12, 2025

    When we talk about Hispanic music in America, we’re talking about a story that’s been here all along.

    In the 1950s and ’60s, this music lived mostly inside the community. Mexican rancheras and mariachi carried stories of home and heartbreak. Cuban rhythms like mambo and cha-cha-chá filled dance halls. Spanish-language radio became a cultural lifeline.

    By the 1970s, identity moved front and center. The Chicano movement gave music a political voice. Santana blended Latin rhythms with rock, and salsa exploded in New York. This music wasn’t asking for permission anymore — it was claiming space.

    In the 1980s and ’90s, doors opened wider. Artists like Gloria Estefan, Selena, Ricky Martin, and Shakira brought bilingual and Spanish-language music into the American mainstream.

    In the 2000s, regional sounds took hold — reggaeton, banda, norteño — telling stories about immigration, work, and daily life.

    Today, Hispanic music isn’t crossing over. It is the mainstream. Artists like Bad Bunny and Karol G don’t translate themselves — they invite the world in.

    So when we listen to Hispanic music in America, we’re listening to history, resilience, and culture — shaping the sound of America itself.

    58 min
  • A hint of techno, on Listening Lyrics, Dec. 5, 2025

    This week on the show, we’re stirring things up with a playlist that carries just a hint of techno. Not a full dive into the club scene—more like the perfect recipe where a pinch of something unexpected transforms the whole dish. A subtle pulse here, a shimmering synth there… just enough to wake up your senses without stealing the spotlight.

    So settle in, get comfortable, and let these rhythms sneak up on you in the best possible way. It’s a little familiar, a little futuristic, and absolutely worth the ride. Enjoy the mix.

    59 min

About Listening Lyrics

From the publisher's feed

Welcome to an hour of Listening Lyrics, right here on KDRT 95.7 FM in Davis, California.

No musical passports required. Folk can sit next to funk, jazz can dance with rock, and a…