9 Must-Listen Podcasts on Music, Culture, and Arts in Asia
A curated list of podcasts exploring Asia’s vibrant music, arts, and cultural stories.
A curated list of podcasts exploring Asia’s vibrant music, arts, and cultural stories.
Asia’s creative landscape is as diverse as its people, and podcasts have become one of the most engaging ways to explore it. From the rhythms of traditional music to the voices shaping contemporary art and culture, these conversations offer unique insights into how Asia’s artists, musicians, and cultural thinkers are redefining creativity on the global stage.
Whether you’re a curious listener looking to discover new sounds or a culture enthusiast eager to understand the forces shaping Asia today, this list of 10 English-language podcasts will guide you through the region’s vibrant music, culture, and arts scenes.
Talking Contemporary
A Southeast Asia–centered arts & culture podcast hosted by Bianca Winataputri, featuring conversations with artists, curators, and creatives about what it means to make art today in and around Southeast Asia. In a July episode, she sat down with Indonesian-Australian artist nd researcher Tintin Wulia, who before becoming an artists, was also a trained musician, composer, and architect.
Extended Asia
A podcast (and project) that probes experimental sound, music, and related networks across Asia, often from a DIY / underground perspective. Why listen? Extended Asia is for listeners who want to peek into the fringes of Asia’s music scenes, sound art, and creative sonic experiments.
Asia on Piano (Smithsonian / National Museum of Asian Art)
More music-centred: this series presents piano performances and reinterpretations of folk, classical, and modern works from Asian traditions. Why listen? It’s a refined, contemplative journey into musical textures across Asia, ideal for immersion. In its Silk Road Stories series, we listened to volunteers from the Washington DC community who have cultural ties to various sites along the ancient Silk Road.
Click here to listen to the episode: Dilber, The Beautiful Girl Whose Wish Was Not Fulfilled
Asian Entertainment & Culture
A podcast that aims to promote awareness, understanding, and advancement of Asian arts, entertainment, and culture. Why listen? It covers a wide cultural scope—film, music, literature, visual arts—and is suitable if you want a broad sampler of contemporary Asian cultural production.
Click here to listen to AEC’s recent podcast, an interview with Neil Rosenbaum, concert producer of Kendrick, Travis Scott, and many more.
The Pearl Lam Podcast
Hosted by Pearl Lam (林明珠), this podcast engages with artists, thinkers, and cultural leaders (often based in or connected to Asia) in candid conversations. Pearl Lam (林明珠) is a gallerist and cultural influencer and is a leading authority on Asian art and the global contemporary art market, with a network spanning the world. The Financial Times calls Pearl Lam “a powerhouse of the contemporary art world”. The New York Times calls her “a tour de force of the art world”. And Forbes names Pearl Lam as “one of Asia’s most powerful women”.
Why listen? The guests tend to be established figures pushing boundaries; it’s inspiring for listeners who want insight into the art world. In a recent July episode, she sits down with internationally acclaimed author, Kevin Kwan, whose rise to fame can be attributed to his bestselling book, Crazy Rich Asians. During their discussion, they delve into the intricate dynamics of East–West cultural dialogue and emphasise the significance of telling Asian stories in a global context.
Glass Eye: A Podcast on Visual Culture from South Asia
Focusing on photographic practice, visual culture, criticism, and cultural imaginaries in South Asia. Hosted by three visual artists – Adira Thekkuveettil, Akshay Mahajan & Kaamna Patel – it delves into the story of photographic practice in South Asia, exploring its unique concerns, vocabulary, and possible trajectories. This podcast has been made possible by PhotoSouthAsia & by Art South Asia Project’s publications grant.
Why listen? If you’re particularly interested in how images and visual culture function in South Asia, this is one of the stronger voices in that niche.
The Last Supper – Art in Asia
This podcast aims to shift the lens toward Asia, featuring dialogues with artists, curators, and cultural actors to surface alternative worldviews. In a recent interview with Burmese artist Thee Oo Thazin, she shares insights into her artistic journey, on exploring her identity, the pressure to entertain, and raising environmental awareness.
Why listen? It helps counterbalance the dominance of Western art narratives by centering voices from Asian art ecosystems. Find the list of episodes here.
Nuances: Our Asian Stories
Though not purely about “arts” in the narrow sense, this podcast explores the cultural, historical, and social dimensions of Asia (e.g. gender, sexuality, identity) through narrative + commentary. In its third season, one of their topics includes an interview on becoming a thriving music and tech journalist from a Chinese American.
Why listen? It enriches your understanding of cultural layers and intersections—useful for anyone interested in how art, identity, and society overlap. Click here to visit their official website and start listening.
ArtsEquator
This Singapore-based podcast (from the ArtsEquator platform) discusses arts events, critical issues, performance, theatre, and cultural infrastructure in Southeast Asia. Its aim? To cultivate and support the arts ecosystem by creating platforms for discourse about, and conducting research into, the art making environment in the region.
Why listen: It’s one of the more consistently critical voices in regional arts journalism, with strong interviews and coverage of local performance scenes. Click here to find out more.
