The Music Show

Ziggy Ramo, a musician with a unique blend of folk and rap genres, discusses his new album 'Human?' and the accompanying book. The project delves into dark histories and big questions, incorporating themes of personal growth, societal injustices, and the impact of colonization. Ziggy shares insights on his songs 'Sorry' and 'April 25th' while exploring humanity, differences, and the importance of collaboration for a better future.

Artist Jeremy Deller first made the connection between acid house music and brass bands back in 1995. The project that emerged, ACID BRASS, brings community bands together in raucous live events. Deller says he was “liberated by brass bands” – since then he’s won the Turner Prize, made conceptual, installation and video art across the world, and represented the UK at the Venice Biennale. Now he brings ACID BRASS to Melbourne’s Rising festival, and he talks to Andy about what music has given his art practice, and what his art has given his music.Bach’s St John Passion is not his most famous Passion oratorio – often eclipsed by the St Matthew Passion, this earlier work is wilder and more extravagant. John O’Donnell is getting ready to conduct Accademia Arcadia, Ensemble Gombert, and a cast of soloists in a period instrument performance of the Passion to mark its 300th anniversary.Composer, artist, and archaeologist Victoria Pham joins us on The Music Show to talk about her latest bio-installation Listening Gardens ii - soil fields showing at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery. Her work crosses the boundaries of music and sound in order to communicate otherwise-unheard symphonies of nature. She leans on her background as a biological anthropologist to create a mushroom opera, an orchestral Boeing 747, and draught conservation plans told through synthesisers. Performance dates:Jeremy Deller1 - 16 June, ACID BRASS, Rising Festival Melbourne. Full details of free performance locations here.Bach's St John Passion 8 + 9 June, Bach's St John Passion, Woodend Winter Arts Festival. St Ambrose Church Templeton St, Woodend.Victoria Pham4 May - 23 June, Listening Gardens ii -- Soil Fields, Season One: Terrestrial. Bathurst Regional Art Gallery.Technical production by Simon BranthwaiteThis episode of the music show was produced on Gadigal Land and on Gundungurra Country

Errollyn Wallen’s memoir Becoming a Composer is a look into the mind of the composer as well as the life of one. Born in Belize but now based in the far-flung north of Scotland, where she sometimes inhabits a lighthouse, she works at a brisk pace, composing prolifically for orchestra, chamber ensemble, choir, and over twenty operas.Her major public commissions have included music for The Last Night of the Proms, the Paralympic Opening Ceremony, and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and she joins us from her home in the Orkney Islands to talk about Becoming a Composer, and becoming a composer.Music heard in the show:Title: Horseplay i. Dark and mysteriousArtist: The Continuum Ensemble/Philip HeadlamComposer: Errollyn WallenAlbum: The Girl In My AlphabetLabel: Avie AV0006Title: DervishArtist: Matthew Sharp (cello), Dominic Harlan (piano)Composer: Errollyn WallenAlbum: The Girl In My AlphabetLabel: Avie AV0006Title: Sojourner TruthArtist: Madeleine Mitchell (violin), Errollyn Wallen (piano)Composer: Errollyn WallenAlbum: Violin ConversationsLabel: Naxos 8574560Title: Cello ConcertoArtist: Matthew Sharp (cello), Ensemble X, Nicholas KokComposer: Errollyn WallenAlbum: PhotographyLabel: NMC NMCD221Title: Boom BoomArtist: Palaver Strings, Nicholas PhanComposer: Errollyn WallenAlbum: A Change is Gonna ComeLabel: Azica Records 71365The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra CountryTechnical Production by Simon Branthwaite and Tegan Nicholls

Playwright, screenwriter, and actress Kate Mulvany has been commissioned with the task of writing the lost prologue for the first true English opera, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. She joins Andy on The Music Show to chat about getting into the head of the queen of Carthage, and what it was like writing for opera for the first time. Independent hip-hop label Elefant Traks has had a huge cultural impact on the Australian music industry, and in 2024 after 26 years they are wrapping up operations. Back in 2018 we chatted to Tim Levinson and L-Fresh the Lion for Elefant Traks 20th birthday, and we're bringing it back for this week's show as the label begins preparations for their farewell concerts.Plus, a new release of an old tune by Louis Armstrong, recorded live at the BBC. Technical production by Tegan Nichols and Simon BranthwaiteThis episode of the music show was produced on Gadigal Land and Gundungurra Country.Performance dates:Dido and Aeneas by Pinchgut Opera:30 May, City Recital Hall, Sydney, 7pm1 June, City Recital Hall, Sydney, 2pm2 June, City Recital Hall, Sydney, 5pm3 Jun, City Recital Hall, Sydney, 7pmElefant Traks:26 May, Elefant Traks 25th Anniversary – The Finale, Sydney Opera House, 7:30pm8 June, Elefant Traks: 25 The Finale, Open Season at the Tivoli Brisbane, 7pm15 June, Elefant Traks 25th Anniversary – The Finale, Melbourne Recital Centre, 3pm and 7:30pm

Omar Musa is an author, artist, poet, and woodcutter making music and art from Borneo to Brooklyn. He is back in Australia to talk about his latest album The Fullness. His third album touches on the environment, culture, religious identity, and mortality. He creates poetry from a spoken-word background, melding hip-hop, jazz, and electronic sounds with earnest lyricism. Gillian Dooley joins us on The Music Show to talk about her latest book She Played and Sang, which explores the music of Jane Austen. From Haydn piano sonatas to Scottish folk songs, Gillian gives us a sense of what not only Elizabeth Bennett and the Dashwoods were playing in their parlour, but also Jane Austen herself. Also new music from Leila and Sean ShibePerformance Dates -- Omar Musa4 May – 2 June All My Memories Are Mistranslations, Humble House Gallery Canberra, 2 August ACO Up Close: Omar Musa and Mariel Roberts, ACO Pier 2-3 - The Nielson, 7pmGillian Dooley -- She Played and Sang: Jane Austen and Music, Manchester University Press

Australian tenor Stuart Skelton returns to The Music Show as he prepares to sing Mahler’s Song of the Earth (Das Lied von der Erde) with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Looking over his increasingly heroic career from oddball roles like the titular Peter Grimes to the pantheon of Wagner’s men, Stuart reflects on growing into his voice, and what he learned from the conducting and musical leadership of the late Andrew Davis.Story of Another Soul is a “decolonial dreaming of new futures that seeks truth in the roots of improvisation”, from Meanjin/Brisbane based spoken word poet Huda Fadlelmawla and jazz trumpeter, composer and producer Reuben Lewis. They join Andy to talk about the process of improvisation in which words and music come together.Stuart Skelton performs Mahler’s Song of the Earth with the Australian Chamber Orchestra until 26 May.Story of Another Soul is out now via Life Before Man.Title: These StoriesComposer: Reuben Lewis, Huda FadlelmawlaArtist: Huda The Goddess & Reuben LewisAlbum: Story of Another SoulLabel: Life Before ManTitle: Das Lied von der Erde; i. Das Trinklied von Jammer der ErdeComposer: Gustav MahlerArtist: Stuart Skelton, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon RattleAlbum: Das Lied von der ErdeLabel: BR Klassik 900172Title: “Now the Great Bear and Pleiades” from Peter GrimesComposer: Benjamin BrittenArtist: Stuart Skelton, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward GardnerAlbum: Peter GrimesLabel: Chandos CHSA5250Title: “Take me away, and in the lowest deep there let me be” from The Dream of GerontiusComposer: Edward ElgarArtist: Stuart Skelton, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew DavisAlbum: The Dream of GerontiusLabel: Chandos CHSA5140Title: When People Ask You, BreakComposer: Reuben Lewis, Huda FadlelmawlaArtist: Huda The Goddess & Reuben LewisAlbum: Story of Another SoulLabel: Life Before ManTitle: Love So DeepComposer: Omar MusaArtist: Omar MusaAlbum: The FullnessLabel: Monkeycat MusicThe Music Show is produced on Gadigal and Gundungurra CountryTechnical production by Ann-Marie Debettencor

Andrew is at the Canberra International Music Festival, where we get to catch up with an Australian who lives in the UK, a Belgian who tours the world, and another Belgian who lives in Australia.Lotte Betts-Dean, Aussie mezzo-soprano now based in London, makes a trip home to perform a series of form-expanding vocal works from composers like Michael Finnissy, one of the masters of so-called "new complexity". Belgian jazz pianist Bram de Looze invites The Music Show into the Belgian Embassy where he's staying with the two resident llamas to talk about where improvisation and composition meet for him, and what he's taken from jazz idols like Hank Jones, Keith Jarrett and Thelonious Monk. And CIMF Artistic Director Roland Peelman looks back on his ten years leading the festival, the joys and tribulations of wearing multiple hats, and the particular way the city of Canberra has shaped the festival. Look out for Bram De Looze on ABC Jazz’s Jazztrack Live in June.Music heard in the show:Title: Spotting GatewaysArtist: Bram de LoozeLive in Canberra – courtesy of ABC JazzTitle: Blessed Be IArtist: Lotte Betts-Dean, Marsyas TrioComposer: Michael FinnissyAlbum: Alternative ReadingsLabel: Divine Art MEX77102Title: Botany BayArtist: Lotte Betts-Dean, Marsyas TrioComposer: Michael FinnissyAlbum: Alternative ReadingsLabel: Divine Art MEX77102Title: parallaxis formaArtist: Lotte Betts Dean, Explore EnsembleComposer: Catherine LambAlbum: 3 Compositions for Voices and EnsembleLabel: Another Timbre at-215CDTitle: BowArtist: Bram De LoozeComposer: Bram De LoozeAlbum: Spotting GatewaysLabel: Independent releaseTitle: Monk’s MoodArtist: Bram De Looze, Joey Baron, Robin VerheyenComposer: Thelonious MonkAlbum: MiXMONKLabel: UCJTechnical production by Simon BranthwaiteRecorded on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country, produced on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country.

Rainbow Chan returns to The Music Show to discuss her latest audio-visual project, The Bridal Lament. In an attempt to preserve her mother's mother tongue, Rainbow has spent the last five years researching and learning the Weitou language, an endangered Cantonese dialect, through learning traditional bridal laments. Rainbow talks to Andy about the defiant tradition of performing these laments in the face of arranged marriages, and her process of learning the language through song from the 'grannies' preserving it. You might think Broadway composer George Gershwin and pioneer of 12-tone music Arnold Schoenberg would have had little in common, but when Gershwin arrived in Beverly Hills in August 1936, he found Schoenberg (who had fled Nazi Germany in 1933), was his neighbour. Gershwin was in the last year of his life, but during that time the two composers played tennis together every week. They also admired each other’s music - and Schoenberg admired Gershwin’s business acumen. When Gershwin asked Schoenberg for lessons, the older man enquired how much Gershwin earned, suggesting he should the one taking lessons from Gershwin. When George Met Arnold is the title of a film/concert from pianist Simon Tedeschi and conductor/violist Roger Benedict with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and they’ll be in the music studio to This week’s show was recorded on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country and produced on Gadigal Land.Technical production by Simon Branthwaite.

Bringing huge amounts of energy, musicianship and a sense of humour to the Australian folk scene is Apolline. They chat to Ce Benedict about their trio's unusual line up (fiddle, cello, bass), their approach to arranging and layering tunes, and having varied musical influences—from jazz to Scandi folk and Eurovision. They'll also perform two sets of tunes live in The Music Show studio.American jazz pianist and singer Blossom Dearie would have turned 100 this week. We revisit a delightful interview from 1995 (one of the first Andrew Ford ever recorded), where he gets a strong telling off for suggesting that she played chords like Thelonious Monk. And we hear new music from Tessa Bird, Cedric Burnside, and Allysha Joy.

Norwegian trumpet player Tine Thing Helseth returns to The Music Show as she prepares to play with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. She talks to Andy about the peculiarities of trumpet concertos, about composers writing for her versus writing for her instrument, and about expanding her musical life to include playing and writing.Maanyung is a proud Aboriginal man with strong connections to Gumbaynggir and Yaegl nations. His songwriting comes from Language and Country – he’s a surfer, a youth worker and a songwriter and he’s released a string of singles in the last few years. He’s on The Music Show to talk about saltwater, sand, and sound.Plus new music from Charlie Grey and Joseph Peach.The Music Show is produced on Gadigal and Gundungurra LandTechnical production by Roi Huberman and Tim Symonds