The Music Show

Though best known as a musicologist - the author of 16 books - Lawrence Kramer's other life as a composer shines through all his writings. He says he has become increasingly aware that music is made of sound, a fact that in Kramer's view has perhaps been 'too obvious for its own good'. Accordingly, he has turned his attention to writing about the nature of sound and ways in which we perceive it, first in The Hum of the World and now in Experiencing Sound: The Sensation of Being. We welcome him back to The Music Show to discuss everything from Martian winds to Bing Crosby singing 'White Christmas'.

At 13 years old Janis Ian wrote one of the most iconic American songs of 1960s, Society's Child. Ten years later At Seventeen spoke to millions of women and girls around the world and made her even more of a household name. Janis' extraordinary life is told in a new documentary by filmmaker Varda Bar-Kar, who follows the highs (GRAMMY awards, multi-platinum albums) as well as the lows (homophobia, misogyny and heartbreak) that follow Janis throughout her career. The director is on to celebrate this living songwriting legend.And we hear Janis Ian from The Music Show archives: in 1994 following the release of her album 'Breaking Silence', and in 2005 in front of an adoring crowd at Port Fairy Folk Festival. Janis Ian: Breaking Silence is screening as part of the Jewish International Film Festival which is currently on in Perth, WA.

Sam Lee spends a lot of time walking in, thinking about, and singing of the UK's wild places. The singer, folk song collector, pilgrim and activist released his fourth studio album songdreaming earlier this year. Traditional songs are brought into the 21st century with lush arrangements, lyrics addressing contemporary issues, and the inclusion of Trans Voices, a London-based choir. Andrew Ford catches up with Sam before he heads our way for the Woodford Folk Festival.Carla Blackwood is one of Australia’s finest horn players and surely the most versatile. She plays the modern French horn in her trio Quercus and the natural horn with groups such as the Australian Haydn Ensemble and Pinchgut Opera. With the latter, she’s just finished a season of Handel’s Julius Caesar and she brings her baroque horn into the studio for a demo.

Forty years on, to the day, from when Do They Know It's Christmas? stormed the UK charts and remained at number #1 for five weeks, Bob Geldof is a guest on The Music Show to talk about the song's complicated legacy, how he looks back on Live Aid, and why he thinks pop music doesn't unite us like it used to.Sydney soul artist CINTA has lived a life of performing and sharing, over-sharing she says, on the streets as an itinerant young busker, touring in the giant 27-piece funk collective The Regime, and now with her own band. Drawing on the best of classic soul and modern groove, her deeply resonant voice rings out on songs of love and betrayal on second album WORTH CONTROL, and she discusses it with producer Niall on this week’s Music Show.

We’re used to seeing him with a guitar strapped to his chest or playing keyboards on stage with Midnight Oil, but Jim Moginie returns to the Music Show to sit at the grand piano this time. He’s joined by drummer Hamish Stuart to play songs from his latest solo album Everything’s Gonna Be Fine. He’ll reveal the importance of optimism, irony, and telling personal - not just political - stories.A life spent in hip hop has culminated in Kultar Ahluwalia’s most recent show and EP The Mixed-Race Tape. The rapper, singer, producer, poet, husband, father, occupational therapist, music educator and writer has drawn upon all of these things, as well as his Pubjabi/Sikh heritage, to create his most personal work to date. And he'll perform live from our Adelaide studio.

Paul Kelly’s 29th (!) album Fever Longing Still is a modern twist on the contemporary Paul Kelly formula. An “attempt to present all kinds of love songs into one forty minute album”, it features his devoted band, vividly drawn characters, and a mature sort of melancholy. Paul performs live in The Music Show studio and talks to Andy about the album, his community of great and often young collaborators, and the How To Make Gravy film.Amanda Brown is the recipient of this year’s Don Banks Music Award, one of the highest honours for composers in Australia. She’s in to give the lie of the land for composers and working musicians who are facing threats from AI, pitiful streaming royalties and an uncertain future for Australian screen content quotas.

From the very first shot of John Travolta strutting his stuff down a busy New York street, Saturday Night Fever is an iconic film, and the music is even more iconic. Well, the five Bee Gees’ tracks that occupied side A are anyway—don’t get music writer Clinton Walker started on the ‘highway robbery’ of making fans pay for a double-album just to get those songs!Clinton Walker brings disco fever to The Music Show and explains the Australianness of the film and its soundtrack, thanks in large part to Adelaide-born producer Robert Stigwood and the Bee Gees who we claim as our own.Clinton Walker's book Soundtrack From Saturday Night Fever is published by Bloomsbury.

JADE Ensemble are four Brisbane-based musicians who compose and improvise across musical styles: Wakka Wakka man and didgeridoo player David Williams, Japanese koto master Takako Haggarty, Nepalese tabla virtuoso Dheeraj Shrestha and guitarist/composer Anthony Garcia. Anthony and Takako join Andrew ahead of a performance at Brisbane Powerhouse next week to share how each member contributes equally to the group’s unique sound world while retaining their strong cultural identities.Dharug composer Christopher Sainsbury has been writing guitar music that’s been played by guitarist Ken Murray for the best part of twenty years. Both are on The Music Show to talk about the endless possibilities of the instrument, how place can seep through in music, and the joys of bringing in other collaborators like soprano Merinda Dias-Jayasinha. 

Jerron Paxton’s music sounds like it could have been unearthed from a time capsule buried in the 1920s or 30s. His new album of original songs, Things Done Changed, finds the multi-instrumentalist playing guitar, banjo, piano and harmonica across blues, folk, ragtime and old-time Black music styles. He tells Andy about being glued to the radio as a young child, his deep love of acoustic instruments, and the recipe for his grandmother’s salmon court bouillon.Chloe Kim has been on The Music Show in the past in her capacity as a drummer, but this time she’s on as a sort of wrangler (and composer) for six double basses. One of the six, Jacques Emery, joins her to tell Andy about the premiere of Music For Six Double Bassists at Sydney’s Phoenix Central Park – and how this quiet, oddly fragile big beast of the orchestra can operate amongst its own kind. Music heard in the show: Title: Music for Six Double BassistsComposer: Chloe KimArtist: Paddy Fitzgerald (double bass), Oscar Neyland (double bass), Helen Svoboda (double bass), Harry Birch (double bass), Jonathan Zwartz (double bass), and Jacques Emery (double bass)Album: Music For Six Double BassistsLabel: People SoundTitle: What’s Gonna Become of MeComposer: Jerron PaxtonArtist: Jerron PaxtonAlbum: Things Done ChangedLabel: Smithsonian FolkwaysTitle: Things Done ChangedComposer: Jerron PaxtonArtist: Jerron PaxtonAlbum: Things Done ChangedLabel: Smithsonian FolkwaysTitle: Little ZydecoComposer: Jerron PaxtonArtist: Jerron PaxtonAlbum: Things Done ChangedLabel: Smithsonian FolkwaysTitle: Oxtail BluesComposer: Jerron PaxtonArtist: Jerron PaxtonAlbum: Things Done ChangedLabel: Smithsonian FolkwaysTitle: Music for Six Double BassistsComposer: Chloe KimArtist: Paddy Fitzgerald (double bass), Oscar Neyland (double bass), Helen Svoboda (double bass), Harry Birch (double bass), Jonathan Zwartz (double bass), and Jacques Emery (double bass)Album: Music For Six Double BassistsRecorded by Felix Abrahams and Nathan Moas, Audio courtesy of Phoenix Central Park and Judith Neilson AMTitle: EclipseArtist: Alter BoyAlbum: I Don’t Live Here AnymoreLabel: Independent releaseThe Music Show was produced this week on Gadigal, Gundungurra and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Land. Engineers were Tim Jenkins, Simon Branthwaite, John Jacobs and Brendan O'Neill. 

Bill Bailey is best known for his stand-up comedy, but one of his first public performances was a Mozart piano concerto, with his own cadenza, in his hometown of Bath. He joins Andy to explain what Mozart has in common with dancing on television, how timing is crucial to both comedy and music, and making sure there’s enough affection in his musical parodies.Modern troubadour Darren Hanlon has performed in hundreds of halls and pubs around Australia, and is on a mission to visit at least one new town per tour. His observational songwriting, sharp wit and catchy melodies earn him fans everywhere he goes. Darren is on The Music Show to reflect on a life on the road and talk about making his latest album Life Tax in an old church hall (he was able to record when the hall wasn’t being used for swing dance or yoga classes).