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Fifty years ago, a wind stirred, a slight breeze, a melodic air if you will. It rose and died. It barely touched the earth during its time of life. It was the sound and soul of Nick Drake. The young singer-songwriter released three albums from 1969 until 1972, the first when he was 21. He
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Iggy Pop is perhaps the last of his kind. Certainly, the last of his kind still recording new music and touring – Bowie is dead, Lou Reed is dead, Lemmy is dead … Iggy Pop has been dubbed “the Godfather of Punk” for his role as frontman of The Stooges and it is his work
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It was mid-February in Athens and cold and sunny as we sat on the balcony of an apartment sipping cloudy ouzo and eating salty olives. Vallejo Gantner and I did this almost every afternoon to celebrate another day’s end of Athens Burns Bright; Creative Ecology Tour. “Mate, I signed the contract, it’s real, it’s happening,” Gantner said, breathing out a big
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By Daily Review
Last night’s Federal Budget once again showed the LNP ’s adhoc and grudging tolerance of the arts. The organisation representing the major performing arts companies, AMPAG, is one of nine arts sector bodies that has created an infographic showing national participation in the arts and how its economic impact contributes $4.2 billion to Australia’s GDP. According to AMPAG (it represents the 28 major performing arts companies lucky
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Last night’s federal budget documents offered stark insights into our nation’s culture by setting out Australia’s political priorities in financial terms. In the absence of a written policy, how do these political decisions reveal the unwritten values that frame our cultural life? asks arts industry advocate Esther Anatolitis. Surprisingly, identifying those values is much easier than
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Bon iver – bon iver It seems almost impossible to mention Bon Iver without recounting the story behind his debut album, 2007’s For Emma, Forever Ago. Following the break-up of his band and long-term relationship, man retreats to the woods alone and writes and records an entire album alone. The mythology of the album almost seemed to
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Rebetien are four musicians (pictured above) from Athens who are headlining this year’s Melbourne Rebetiko Festival. I spoke to bouzouki player, vocalist and the group’s co-founder Fotis Vergopoulos as they were about to hop on a bus to Port Fairy Folk Festival and then fly to WOMAdelaide. Rebetiko began as the music of Greek refugees from the Asia Minor Catastrophe
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It has been seven years since the release of Amanda Palmer’s masterful Theatre is Evil album she recorded with the Grand Theft Orchestra. The wait for her third solo album There Will Be No Intermission is understandable given that she’s been busy been working with other artists, publishing a memoir and becoming a mother. Amanda Palmer came to the public’s attention as the
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Angélique Kidjo is a legend of “Afro Pop” and is no stranger to our shores and especially WOMADelaide, Australia’s World Music festival of renown, where she is performing again this weekend. Born and raised in the former French colony of Benin, Kidjo enjoyed an education in music from an early age. The political turmoil in
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Maarja Nuut & Ruum present a dichotomy of sound that operates in an ethereal musical zone. It is a sound rooted in a cultural worldview of days past, present and future. The Estonian folktronica duo has arrived in Australia to play three gigs in Melbourne, Sydney and at WOMADelaide, where they will perform two live shows and
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