The Music Show

Tim Finn and Neil Finn have worked together in a number of guises over the years: Crowded House, The Finn Brothers, and guesting on each other’s solo projects. But it all began with Split Enz, and there’s something about that music that keeps bringing them back together. Neil and Finn reminisce about their early collaborations, explain how a setlist comes together, and share how The Eagles were a surprising influence on the band.
Back in 1948, a major scientific expedition travelled to Arnhem Land to catalogue that place and its people, including recordings of the music and ceremony they witnessed there. Those recordings drew the ethnomusicologist Dr Reuben Brown to Arnhem Land many decades later and, on that trip, Reuben met senior western Arnhem Land songmen who invited him to make recordings of his own - to document their songs for future generations. It also led to a book, The Gift of Song.
Andy Irvine is on tour now - Newcastle, Bathurst, Sydney. And next week, Andy (Ford) will be in conversation with him at the Gaelic Club in Sydney, at 6pm - all welcome.
Split Enz's Australian tour dates are available here.
Listeners are advised that the episode discusses people who have died. The music in this episode is the Indigenous cultural intellectual property (ICIP) of Bininj/Arrarrkpi ceremony leaders and custodians. Use without proper attribution of the ICIP owners may breach customary laws as well as copyright and moral rights under the Copyright Act 1968 (Australian Govt).
Reuben Brown wishes to thank the people of Gunbalanya, Warruwi, and Jabiru and surrounding outstations who have hosted him on their Country and to the Bininj and Arrarrkpi ceremony leaders, custodians, and knowledge holders who generously contributed to the book and knowledge discussed in this episode.
Music in this program:
Title:  Nganaru songset Artist: Billy NamunurrAlbum: Archival recording
Title: Give It A WhirlArtist: Split Enz Composer: Neil Finn, Tim FinnAlbum: FrenzyLabel: Mushroom
Title: Late Last NightArtist: Split EnzComposer: Phil JuddAlbum: Second ThoughtsLabel: Mushroom
Title: I Got YouArtist: Split Enz Composer: Neil FinnAlbum: True ColoursLabel: Mushroom
Title: One Step AheadArtist: Split EnzComposer: Neil FinnAlbum: WaiataLabel: Mushroom
Title: Missing PersonArtist: Split EnzComposer: Neil FinnAlbum: True ColoursLabel: Mushroom
Title: Six Months In A Leaky BoatArtist: Split EnzComposer: Split Enz, Tim FinnAlbum: Time and TideLabel: Mushroom
Title: Spellbound (Eddie Rayner remix)Artist: Split EnzComposer: Phil Judd, Tim FinnAlbum: Enzyclopedia: Volumes One & TwoLabel: Warner Music Australia
Title:  Marrwakara ‘goanna’ and Mularrik Mularrik ‘green frog’ songsetArtist: Harold Warrabin & Micky YalbarrAlbum: Archival recording
Title:  Inyjalarrku ‘mermaid' songArtist: Rupert Manmurulu, Renfred Manmurulu, Solomon NangamuAlbum: Archival recording
Title:  Mirrijpu ‘seagull’ songset featuring the Nigi or ‘mother’ song Artist: Solomon Nangamu, Russell Agalara, Rupert ManmuruluAlbum: Archival recording
Title: My Heart's Tonight In IrelandArtist: Andy IrvineComposer: Andy IrvineAlbum: Rain On The RoofLabel: AK Records
The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country
Technical production by Ann-Marie Debettencor

Lucy Dacus is now perhaps best known for being one third of boygenius, one of the great sad girl groups of all time. But her latest album, Forever is a Feeling, is bursting with romantic joy. On her way to Australia for a series of shows, she talks to Andy about finding its lush sound, performing it live, and about singing for Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral inauguration in New York City.
Útóipe Cheilteach (Celtic Utopia), a film by Dennis Harvey and Lars Lovén, explores what has happened to Irish folk music in both the south and north of the island in the century since independence, how it keeps alive tradition, history and grievance, while also encouraging conciliation and healing. Andy speaks to the film makers.

Singer and actor Ursula Yovich joins Andy to talk about Nina Simone. Yovich has been taking on Simone's music for a show at Sydney Festival and she explores what set Simone apart, what part of her story she wanted to tell, the continuing importance of Simone's politics, and the cost to an artist to perform and share themselves on the stage.
And Toshi Maeda, from the Australian punk band Mach Pelican, shares the band's first new music in almost two decades, and explains how he got involved in tour promotion - bringing Japanese bands to Australia and vice-versa.
Music in this program:
Title: Born to DeliveryArtist: Mach PelicanComposer: Mach PelicanAlbum: Mach PelicanLabel: Shagpile
Title: I Put a Spell on YouArtist: Nina SimoneComposer: Jalacy Hawkins, Herb Slotkin; Arranged by Hal MooneyAlbum: Feeling Good (The Very Best Of Nina Simone)Label: Mercury
Title: You Can Have HimArtist: Nina SimoneComposer: Irving Berlin; Arranged by Nina SimoneAlbum: Nina Simone At Town HallLabel: Spectra Records
Title: SinnermanArtist: Nina SimoneComposer: Les Baxter, Will Holt; Arranged by Nina SimoneAlbum: Feeling Good (The Very Best Of Nina Simone)Label: Mercury
Title: Strange FruitArtist: Nina SimoneComposer: Lewis Allen; Arranged by Nina SimoneAlbum: Feeling Good (The Very Best Of Nina Simone)Label: Mercury
Title: Four WomenArtist: Nina SimoneComposer: Nina SimoneAlbum: Ultimate Nina SimoneLabel: Verve Records
Title: Partita no 6 in E Minor - AirArtist: Vikingur OlafssonComposer: Johann Sebastian Bach; Arranged by Vikingur OlafssonAlbum: Opus 109Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Title: Dance In ChicagoArtist: Mach PelicanComposer: Mach PelicanAlbum: Mach PelicanLabel: Shagpile
Title: Remember ItArtist: Mach PelicanComposer: Toshi MaedaAlbum: A Secret SessionLabel: Cheersquad Records & Tapes
Title: Just Another DayArtist: DYGLComposer: DYGLAlbum: Who's In The HouseLabel: Easy Enough
The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country
Technical production by Mickey Grossman

From a teenage band driving up and down the coast in a station wagon to one of the biggest Australian bands of all time, Midnight Oil survived on the backbone of drummer, founding member, and songwriter Rob Hirst. Hirst, who has died at the age of 70, was a frequent guest on The Music Show, both as an Oil and with his blues band the Backsliders, and we remember him with a selection of appearances, including his demonstration of the musical washboard.
And Pinchgut Opera remembers three great opera performers with a new release of the 2019 production of Vivaldi's Farnace. Featuring stunning performances by Taryn Fiebig (1972-2021), Max Riebl (1991-2022), and Jacqueline Dark (1967-2023), it's a vivid record of the production in its own right, but also a memorial to the memories of three artists gone too soon. Pinchgut artistic director and conductor Erin Helyard joins Andy to listen to their voices. 
Music heard in the program:
Title: Beds Are BurningComposer: Hirst, Rob; Moginie, Jim; Garrett, PeterArtist: Midnight OilAlbum: Diesel and DustLabel: Columbia
Title: Feeling BlueComposer: John FogertyArtist: BackslidersAlbum: Starvation BoxLabel: Fuse Music
Title: US ForcesComposer: Hirst, Rob; Moginie, Jim; Garrett, Peter, Rotsey, Martin, Gifford, PeterArtist: Midnight OilAlbum: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1Label: Columbia
Title: Sinfonia. Allegro (1)Composer: Antonio VivaldiArtist: Taryn Fiebig, Pinchgut Opera, Orchestra of the Antipodes, Erin HelyardAlbum: FarnaceLabel: Pinchgut Live
Title: Tito Manlio, RV 738, Act II Scene 18: Aria. Fra le procelleComposer: Antonio VivaldiArtist: Max Riebl (Gilade), Pinchgut Opera, Orchestra of the Antipodes, Erin HelyardAlbum: FarnaceLabel: Pinchgut Live
Title: Farnace Act III Scene 1: Aria: Non trova mai riposo Composer: Antonio VivaldiArtist: Jacqueline Dark (Berenice), Pinchgut Opera, Orchestra of the Antipodes, Erin HelyardAlbum: FarnaceLabel: Pinchgut Live
Title: Ottone in villa, RV 729, Act II Scene 6: Aria. Leggi almeno, tiranna infedeleComposer: Antonio VivaldiArtist: Taryn Fiebig (Selinda), Pinchgut Opera, Orchestra of the Antipodes, Erin HelyardAlbum: FarnaceLabel: Pinchgut Live
Title: Don't Let Me Be MisunderstoodComposer: Bennie Benjamin, Horace Ott, Sol MarcusArtist: Nina SimoneAlbum: Broadway-Blues-BalladsLabel: Philips
The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country. 
Technical production by Micky Grossman.

The bouzouki has been a feature of Irish folk music since the mid-1960s, and one of the instrument’s finest modern exponents is Daoirí Farrell. He’s also a singer and a song collector, and he's brought his instrument into our studio to demonstrate how the three things fit together.
Post-post-modern chanteuse Meow Meow returns to The Music Show to talk about The Red Shoes, the third show in her series of Hans Christian Anderson adaptations. She goes into both the music and the research behind the show, including the revelation of a Danish ballet dancer whose "feet ran away with her", that may have inspired the tale.