Hear the interview of the week from the Music Show, where composer Andrew Ford entertains and informs a wide audience each week, providing two hours of essentia...
Víkingur Ólafsson's infinite variety; Angélique Kidjo's re-imagining of a Talking Heads’ classic
In 2024 Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson undertook an international tour that saw him playing Bach’s Goldberg Variations almost a hundred times, including his first ever performances in Australia. He joins Andy in the studio, in front of the piano, to talk about finding infinite variety in those Variations.Angélique Kidjo shares the story behind her 2018 album Remain In Light, a track-for-track re-imagining of the Talking Heads’ classic, highlighting the African influences across the record.
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54:05
Lisa O'Neill and Cormac Begley live at WOMADelaide
Live from WOMADelaide 2024, an hour with two Irish living legends, singer songwriter Lisa O’Neill and concertina master Cormac Begley. Both stalwarts of the Irish traditional music scene, they united for an intense, wailing version of All the Tired Horses which was used in the final moment of Peaky Blinders.They play live and talk to Andy about what tradition means, how new writing can sing alongside the old songs, and the highs (piccolo) and lows (bass) of having a concertina collection.
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54:05
Experiencing Sound
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'.
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54:07
Janis Ian: Breaking Silence
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.
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54:06
Songdreaming with Sam Lee and horn playing with Carla Blackwood
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.
Hear the interview of the week from the Music Show, where composer Andrew Ford entertains and informs a wide audience each week, providing two hours of essential listening from the world of music.
New Zealand