The Music Show

Tabaran, the 1990 album by Not Drowning, Waving and the musicians Of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea featuring Telek, has been inducted into the National Film and Sound Archive as one of the Sounds of Australia. David Bridie looks back on the album, which saw the band head to Papua New Guinea to work with George Telek for the first time.The music of Australian composer Carl Vine serves as a swan-song for the Goldner Quartet, who have wrapped up by releasing their final album Child's Play. The title comes from one of Carl's pieces, and he joins Andy to talk about the music and collaborating with the Goldners. Music heard in this program:Title: Piano Quintet "Fantasia" IIIArtist: Goldner String Quartet & Piers LaneComposer: Carl VineAlbum: Carl Vine: Child's Play, Piano Quintet & Other Chamber MusicLabel: HyperionTitle: TabaranArtist: Not Drowning, Waving And The Musicians Of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea Featuring TelekComposer: Not Drowning, Waving & Telek Album: TabaranLabel: WEATitle: The Kiap SongArtist: Not Drowning, Waving And The Musicians Of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea Featuring TelekComposer: Not Drowning, Waving & Telek Album: TabaranLabel: WEATitle: Call Across The HighlandsArtist: Not Drowning, Waving And The Musicians Of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea Featuring TelekComposer: Not Drowning, Waving & Telek Album: TabaranLabel: WEATitle: String Quartet No. 6 "Child's Play" I. PlayArtist: Goldner String Quartet Composer: Carl VineAlbum: Carl Vine: Child's Play, Piano Quintet & Other Chamber MusicLabel: HyperionTitle: String Quartet No. 6 "Child's Play" V. RunningArtist: Goldner String Quartet Composer: Carl VineAlbum: Carl Vine: Child's Play, Piano Quintet & Other Chamber MusicLabel: HyperionTitle: This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of UsArtist: SparksComposer: Ron Mael & Russell MaelAlbum: Kimono My HouseLabel: Island RecordsThe Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country CountryTechnical production by Emrys Cronin

Alan Menken’s name is synonymous with Disney’s 1990s purple patch: a so called ‘renaissance’ of the animation empire’s fortunes, where a run of films starting with 1989’s The Little Mermaid cut through to a new generation. Ahead of a series of solo performances in Australia, he talks to Andy about how he's brought characters to life through songs. And from the archives, conversations with three musicians inducted into the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia for 2026: Marcia Hines, Joe Dolce, and Missy Higgins.A Whole New World Of Alan Menken is in Melbourne on 6 May and Sydney 8 May. 

We're digging into the archives for a special program looking at the role that music played in the UK miners' strikes: a political, industrial and personal struggle. From Peggy Seeger to Paul Weller, Billy Bragg to brass bands—there's music supporting the striking miners, songs tormenting strikebreakers and tracks referencing (and sometimes sampling) National Union of Mineworkers leader Arthur Scargill and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of East Anglia John Street guides us through the history and music of this divisive time, plus we hear interviews from the ABC archives with folklorist A L Lloyd, singer songwriter Billy Bragg, Grimethorpe Colliery Band, folk singers Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger and composer David Lumsdaine.

Zoe Knighton of Flinders Quartet is undertaking a multi-year project with composer Melody Eötvös. It's fittingly called The Eötvös Cycle, and The Music Show will be following this creation of new Australian repertoire over the next five years. Composer Cassie To has told other people's stories when she's scored for the screen and advertising, but her debut album, Heart Songs, takes her into a deeply personal space. Mantis is the 2025 Pacific Break winner, for his track Weatherman. It's a breakthrough song for Mantis, a Vanuatu artist inspired by Kendrick Lamar and the West Coast sound. He talks to producer Ce on the ground at WOMADelaide where he performed for the first time in Australia.Music heard in this program:Title: Cassie ToArtist: The StormComposer: Cassie ToAlbum: Heart SongsLabel: Amica RecordsTitle: The Unspoken EightArtist: Flinders QuartetComposer: Melody Eötvös & Rishin SinghTitle: ShivelightArtist: Quercus TrioComposer: Melody Eötvös Title: Cassie ToArtist: Open HeartComposer: Cassie ToAlbum: Heart SongsLabel: Amica RecordsTitle: WeathermanArtist: MantisComposer: Ethan-Xavier HakwaAlbum: SingleLabel: Palm Tree StudiosTitle: There Is Power In A UnionArtist: Billy BraggComposer: Billy BraggAlbum: Talking With The Taxman About PoetryLabel: Liberation RecordsThe Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, Kaurna, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country CountryTechnical production by Tegan Nicholls

Writing about and scholarship of Bob Dylan tends to focus on the words - he's a Nobel Prize winner for literature, after all - but his music deserves a deeper look too. Between the jangling guitar sound, rusty-hinge vocal stylings, and highly variable intonation, his unpolished and constantly shifting attitude towards performing his own music demands a long conversation with Steven Rings, author of What Did You Hear: The Music of Bob Dylan.Title: Things Have ChangedArtist: Bob DylanComposer: Bob DylanAlbum: The Essential Bob DylanLabel: ColumbiaTitle: A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall Artist: Bob DylanComposer: Bob DylanAlbum: The Freewheelin' Bob DylanLabel: ColumbiaTitle: Lord Randall Artist: Jean RitchieComposer: Jean RitchieAlbum: Ballads (From Her Appalachian Family Tradition)Label: Smithsonian FolkwaysTitle: 1913 MassacreArtist: Woody GuthrieComposer: Woody GuthrieAlbum: Documentary # 1: StruggleLabel: Asch RecordsTitle: Song To WoodyArtist: Bob DylanComposer: Bob DylanAlbum: Bob DylanLabel: ColumbiaTitle: It's Hard On We Poor FarmersComposer: TraditionalAlbum: ArchivalTitle: Running ScaredArtist: Roy OrbisonComposer: Roy Orbison & Joe MelsonAlbum: CryingLabel: London RecordsTitle: Lay Lady LayArtist: Bob DylanComposer: Bob DylanAlbum: Nashville SkylineLabel: ColumbiaTitle: One More Cup of CoffeeArtist: Bob DylanComposer: Bob DylanAlbum: DesireLabel: ColumbiaTitle: A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall Artist: Bob DylanComposer: Bob DylanAlbum: The Concert For Bangla DeshLabel: Apple RecordsTitle: A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall Artist: Bob DylanComposer: Bob DylanAlbum: Live 1975 (The Rolling Thunder Revue)Label: ColumbiaTitle: The Jean GenieArtist: David BowieComposer: David Bowie & Mick RonsonAlbum: Aladdin SaneLabel: RCA VictorTitle: It's Gonna RainArtist: Steve ReichComposer: Steve ReichAlbum: Works: 1965-1995Label: NonesuchTitle: A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall Artist: Bob DylanComposer: Bob DylanAlbum: The Great Music Experience 1994Title: I Believe In YouArtist: Bob DylanComposer: Bob DylanAlbum: Slow Train ComingLabel: CBSTitle: Blind Willie McTell (Take 5 - Infidels Outtake)Artist: Bob DylanComposer: Bob DylanAlbum: Springtime in New York: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 16Label: Third Man RecordsTitle: Blind Willie McTellArtist: Bob DylanComposer: Bob DylanAlbum: The Bootleg Series Volumes 1 - 3 [Rare & Unreleased] 1961-1991Label: ColumbiaThe Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, Kaurna, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country CountryTechnical production by Ann-Marie Debettencor

Riccardo Tesi and Giua are bringing their melodeon, guitar, and Italian folk tradition to Australia for a series of concerts called Retablos. These are Peruvian magic boxes which create windows into different worlds. Riccardo and Giua join Andy to open a window into their worldPoints of Inaccessibility, the latest album by Rafael Anton Irisarri, began as an audio-visual improvisation at a former psychiatric prison in Utrecht. The ambient composer was interested in the emotional distance that exists through our online existence - eternally connected, but drifting further apart - and he explains how that led to melodies on the new record that never fully resolve.Tour dates for Riccardo Tesi and Giua are here.Title: Signals from a Distant AfterglowArtist: Rafael Anton IrisarriComposer: Rafael Anton IrisarriAlbum: Points of InaccessibilityLabel: Black Knoll EditionsTitle: Martini On The RocksArtist: Giua & Riccardo TesiComposer: Giua & Riccardo TesiAlbum: Retablos (Live)Label: Independent ReleaseTitle: Mex MoonArtist: Giua & Riccardo TesiComposer: Giua & Riccardo TesiAlbum: Retablos (Live)Label: Independent ReleaseTitle: Breaking the UnisonArtist: Rafael Anton IrisarriComposer: Rafael Anton IrisarriAlbum: Points of InaccessibilityLabel: Black Knoll EditionsTitle: Empire SystemsArtist: Rafael Anton IrisarriComposer: Rafael Anton IrisarriAlbum: A Fragile GeographyLabel: Black Knoll EditionsTitle: A Hard Rain's Gonna FallArtist: Bob DylanComposer: Bob DylanAlbum: The Concert For Bangla DeshLabel: Apple RecordsThe Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, Kaurna, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country CountryTechnical production by Ann-Marie Debettencor

Irish singer and multi-instrumentalist Andy Irvine has been coming on The Music Show for over thirty years, so he's the perfect person to start our occasional 2026 series Music Now & Then, in which Andy (Ford) speaks to long-running guests about how the world of music around them has changed over the years. Andy spoke to Andy in front of a gaggle of session-goers at the Gaelic Club in Sydney.The Music Show is recorded on Gadigal, Gundungurra and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung CountryTechnical production by Harvey O'Sullivan and Simon Branthwaite

Spanish violinist María Dueñas makes her Australian debut with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, playing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Signed to Deutsche Grammophon since she was nineteen, her distinctive style of playing, her expressiveness, and her youth have all captured audiences. She talks to Andy about embracing canonical repertoire like Beethoven, and new music like the work she's premiered by Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz. Claire Edwardes is an old friend of the show: one of Australia's pre-eminent percussionists, a composer, and the artistic director of new music group Ensemble Offspring, which celebrated its 30th anniversary last year. Her new album, Dual Attractor, is a celebration of marimba and vibraphone, as well as the music of women composers and arrangers... and it ends with a bang. María Dueñas performs with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra March 13 & 14, and with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra March 19, 20, & 21. Claire Edwardes launches Dual Attractor in Melbourne, Amsterdam, Adelaide, and Canberra between now and July. Asteroid Ekosystem launch Sounds Have Dreams in Sydney 20 & 21 March.

On stage at WOMADelaide, the world's festival on Kaurna Country, Andy hosts bands from Tanzania, Colombia, and India via the USA. The Zawose Queens, La Perla, and Ganavya demonstrate their diverse musical languages in front of a live audience. The Music Show is made on Kaurna, Gadigal, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country CountryTechnical production by Ann-Marie Debettencor

First discovered as a 17-year-old, Annahstasia found the music industry had a vision for her that she didn't recognise. Leaving the industry behind gave her a chance to find her voice - both metaphorically and literally, with months spent testing various mics and studios to get the right right for her latest album, Tether. While she points to influences like Nina Simone and Bill Withers, Annahstasia shares with the Music Show that it was schoolyard bullying that originally made her realise that she could sing.When four jazz students in Sweden developed an interest in Scandinavian folk songs, they blended those influences together into an a cappella group, Åkervinda, that pays tribute to the past, while creating something entirely their own. Iris Bergcrantz, Agnes Åhlund, and Linda Bergström talk about their love for traditional music.Title: Om Du är LedsenArtist: ÅkervindaComposer: ÅkervindaAlbum: Så Skall Hat och Avund SmältasLabel: NaxosTitle: VillainArtist: AnnahstasiaComposer: Annahstasia EnukeAlbum: TetherLabel: Drink Sum WtrTitle: Be KindArtist: AnnahstasiaComposer: Annahstasia EnukeAlbum: TetherLabel: Drink Sum WtrTitle: I Was Unhappy in My MarriageArtist: Bhutan BalladeersComposer: Bhutan BalladeersAlbum: Your Face Is Like The Moon, Your Eyes Are StarsLabel: Glitterbeat RecordsTitle: Jag Står Upp en MorgonArtist: ÅkervindaComposer: ÅkervindaAlbum: Så Skall Hat och Avund SmältasLabel: NaxosTitle: En MidsommaraftonArtist: ÅkervindaComposer: ÅkervindaAlbum: Så Skall Hat och Avund SmältasLabel: NaxosTitle: BlågetaArtist: ÅkervindaComposer: ÅkervindaAlbum: Så Skall Hat och Avund SmältasLabel: NaxosTitle: GuaracharArtist: La PerlaComposer: Diana Sanmiguel, Giovana Mogollón, Karen ForeroAlbum: GuaracharLabel: Independent releaseThe Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, Kaurna, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country CountryTechnical production by Ann-Marie Debettencor