The Music Show

In the years since it originated in New York City in the late 1970s, hip hop has become a global music phenomenon. Reaching Australian shores in the early 1980s, tensions quickly arose between those looking to emulate their American rap heroes, and those using their own Australian accents. Dr Niall Edwards-FitzSimons takes us on a potted history of Australian hip hop and the 'accent debate' that came to a head in the 2000s. With voices from The Music Show archives like Urthboy, Bliss, L-FRESH The LION, Omar Musa, Barkaa, Mau Power, Wire MC, Elsy Wameyo and MC Trey, we learn about the evolution of Australian hip hop and what it tells us about class, racism and the music industry.

For a band that weren't around very long and only really put out one studio album, the cultural and musical impact of the Sex Pistols is staggering. Guitarist Steve Jones opens up to Andrew Ford about starting the group when he was just a kid, how it feels to be considered a guitar hero now, and why he thinks we're still talking about the band fifty years on. Sex Pistols tour Australia next month (with singer Frank Carter replacing Johnny Rotten).When a gunshot rang out in St Paul’s Cathedral back in 1951, it wasn’t the start of a classic British criminal mystery, but rather a scientific experiment. The understanding of acoustics -- from a scientific, architectural, and musicological perspective -- accelerated throughout the 1900s, as Dr Fiona Smyth describes in her book Pistols in St. Paul’s: Science, music, and architecture in the 20th Century. She joins Andy to tell tales of the science’s development and the ‘consulting detectives’ of acoustics who drove it.And we remember the Soviet-born composer Sofia Gubaidulina, who has died at the age of 93.  Sex Pistols (with Frank Carter) are touring Australia in April playing Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane and Fremantle.Dr. Fiona Smyth’s Pistols in St Paul’s: Science, music and architecture in the twentieth century is published by Manchester University Press. 

The Music Show is back on Kaurna Land at Adelaide's Botanic Park for WOMADelaide 2025, a festival celebrating music from all over the world.Named after a group of powerful grandmas in the 1970s and 80s who sold wax print fabrics at the Lomé central market and drove a Mercedes Benz, Nana Benz du Togo are a five-piece band with three female lead vocalists. PVC pipe percussion, a DIY drum kit and Korg synthesizer form their hypnotic rhythm section, and their music is inspired by their shared voodoo beliefs.From the Paiwan tribe of southern Taiwan, Sauljaljui (戴曉君) is a songwriter and musician who plays the two-stringed yueqin (moon lute). Blending traditional folk song with contemporary sounds from around the world, her music seeks to strengthen Indigenous language, culture and the natural world.Forming by accident when they were all early for choir practice and started jamming, five piece South African group The Joy are bringing the Zulu traditions of a cappella singing to the attention of the next generation. Performed live by Nana Benz du Togo:LibertyTitePerformed live by Sauljaljui:Cemavulid (Battle Song)Dipin Kari TangPerformed live by The Joy:Amaqatha AmancaneMathandana Wami

Alice Keath presents The Music Show for International Women’s Day, with some of the great international and local women on the WOMADelaide line-up.Latin American pop and classical sensibilities meet in the music of Cuban cellist and singer Ana Carla Maza. She joins Alice to explain why producing her own record was an act of power in the male-dominated Latin music industry.Mudburra and Garrawa woman Eleanor Jawurlngali is based in Marlinja, in the remote Northern Territory. Her debut, self-titled album has an incredible, totally unexpected sound that comes out of a new collaboration with Mick Turner from Dirty Three and award-winning cellist Stephanie Arnold.Duo Ruut are two distinct voices, and four hands on one instrument. They are Ann-Lisett Rebane and Katariina Kivi, two Estonian women who play one kannel (Estonian zither) together.Plus music from Inuk singer Elisapie and the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir.

In the final episode, for now, of Cover Story, singer and rapper Ziggy Ramo and musician and broadcaster Alice Keath look at Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin’ – a political anthem just vague enough to apply to the US civil rights movement, the Velvet Revolution, Perestroika, and in some cases seemingly nothing at all.Music details:The Times They Are A-Changin'Composed by Bob DylanOriginally recorded by Bob Dylan for the album The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964) on Columbia RecordsCovers by:The Byrds (1965)Billy Joel (1987)Frazey Ford (2021)Burl Ives (1968)Golden Kids - Marta Kubišová, Helena Vondráčková and Václav Neckář (1994)Bettye LaVette (2018)Timothée Chalamet (2024)Nina Simone (1969)Bob Dylan - Live at Budokan Hall, Tokyo (1979)

Aspirations of modernity, progress and innovation drove music through the 20th century. For French composer Maurice Ravel, inspiration from (and imitation of) his peers, of the voices and styles around him, made him a true original. He pulled from Spanish music, 18th century music, Viennese waltz and jazz, and yet within seconds it’s always possible to hear Ravel’s own, distinct, voice. To mark the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birth, director-composer-lyricist-translator and friend of The Music Show Jeremy Sams is Andy’s guest, to explore not only where Ravel’s music came from, but where it led. 

In 1987, Steve Kilbey and Karin Jansson were living together, and armed with a joint and a piano, one night they came up with the bones of Under The Milky Way. It became a hit for The Church as part of their fifth studio album, Starfish, and since then it’s featured in almost every list of great Australian rock songs (and a fair few car ads too). On Cover Story, Andy is joined by poet, singer-songwriter and academic Kate Fagan, and Youth Group member, singer-songwriter, academic Toby Martin to analyse the song’s wide – and wild – range of versions.Music details:Under the Milky WayComposed by Steve Kilbey and Karin JanssonOriginally recorded by The Church for the album Starfish (1988) on Mushroom RecordsCovers by:Emily Barker, Lukas Drinkwater, Fanny Lumdsen - Room 822 (2022)The James Valentine Quartet- The Power and the Passion (2011)George - Special Ones (2001)The Cherry Pickers - Hand Picked (2016) John Kane & Ian Simpson - Banjo Australis (2013)Strawpeople - Broadcast (1994)Jimmy Little - Messenger (1999)The Church and the George Ellis Orchestra - Live at the Sydney Opera House (2014)Kate Fagan's latest book is Song in the Grass (Giramondo 2024), and she's doing an author event talk at Megalong Books in Leura on 5 March. Toby Martin's latest album is Dang Lan and Toby Martin, 'Song Khúc Lượn Bay (Two Sounds Gliding) (ABC Music). The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country. Technical Production by Hamish Camilleri and Bethany Stewart

Sisters Mabel and Ivy Windred-Wornes have been making music as Charm of Finches since they were children. Now seasoned touring artists with four albums under their belts, they swing by The Music Show studio to play live and tell Andy about the joy of singing in unison, and why they’re drawn to really dark stories. Comprised of five female musicians The Cloud Maker transports listeners through song, using cello, drums, clarinet and Taonga Pūoro (Maori Singing Treasures) to channel the power of breath, collaboration and the energy of the moon. Taking inspiration from folkloric takes and their relationship to music, the Cloud Maker celebrates goddesses across Maori, Filipino, Jewish and Irish cultures with an eerie, and at times fierce, musical performance.Andrew Ford speaks to Te Kahureremoa Taumata, Aviva Andean and Freya Schack-Arnott following a performance at Judith Neilson’s Phoenix Central Park.

In 1985, Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love album made a moderate showing in the pop charts. In 2022, the single Running Up That Hill burst back into the charts after a particularly impactful needle-drop in the Netflix show Stranger Things. So perhaps it’s no surprise that there are dozens of cover versions from around 2022 - as well as a handful from earlier in the song’s 40 year lifespan. Cover Story this week looks at some of the best, worst and weirdest, with singer and producer June Jones, and opera artist Jane Sheldon.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners are advised that this program contains the name and voice of someone who has died. Written from the small shed on his allotment in Northern England, the lyrics on Richard Dawson’s new album End of the Middle are filled with small observations and rich characters. He's a prolific and verbose songwriter, likening his habit of jamming too many syllables into the end of lines with "putting too many clothes in a suitcase". Rich's record is replete with his unusual guitar tunings and arresting singing voice. Bidjigal Elder and musician Vic Simms had a six-decade career, starting as an 11 year old touring with Col Joye and The Joy Boys. In an interview with Andrew Ford from 2016, Vic recounts the incredible story of writing and recording his debut album The Loner from Bathurst prison, and the concerts he got special leave to play - including at Sydney Opera House and shopping malls. When he decided he didn't want to play these concerts anymore, he was put in solitary confinement and the album was all but forgotten. The album has since been remastered, recreated and is widely celebrated, including by Luke Daniel Peacock who also joins this interview. Vic Simms died last week at the age of 78.