As we inch towards the end of year two of the pandemic, the literal Tiny Desk — the one that belongs to Bob Boilen himself — remains empty in the NPR HQ. It’s hard to think of a place where so many people once gathered to celebrate and dance and sing along to their favorite artists as being lonesome — but in spirit, the Tiny Desk has been all over the world. From a high school in Virginia to an avant-garde studio in Melbourne to a performance space in Lagos to a room full of family in Madrid, the Tiny Desk has never been more regionally expansive as it was this year.
The range of artists and locations in the nearly 200 Tiny Desk (home) concerts published this year, as well as the sneak peak of life back in the office with Tiny Desk Contest winner Neffy, gives the series as a whole a new life, a new meaning and new outlook on the world of music. No one understands this more than the staff at NPR Music: Here are just a handful of some of their favorite Tiny Desk (home) performances of 2021.
Mahani Teave
It’s not only the fine performances, but also the fairytale-like backstory which clinches this as my favorite Tiny Desk (home) concert of the year. In 1992, in the faraway land called Rapa Nui – better known as Easter Island, located some 2000 miles off the coast of Chile – the first ever piano finally arrives. A 9-year-old girl named Mahani Teave falls in love with the instrument, leaves her homeland and studies to become a concert pianist. Instead of launching her international career, Teave moves back to Rapa Nui to build a school out of recycled materials to teach children not only the classics but the music of the island. In this concert from the school, which opened in 2016, we get a tour of the building, lovely performances of Handel and Chopin and an encore featuring the voices of two young girls singing a traditional song. Shout-outs to runner up performances by Max Richter, Joseph Keckler and Arooj Aftab. —Tom Huizenga