People talking about the French composer Pierre Boulez tend to wear out the word iconoclast pretty quickly. To celebrate the “High Priest of Modernism” on the occasion of his centenary, The Music Show looks beyond Boulez’s clockwork reputation to the sensuality and emotion of his music and his kind, collegiate relationship with other musicians. Authors Edward Campbell and Caroline Potter, pianist Paavali Jumppanen and archive from the man himself bear witness to Boulez’s complex and beautiful legacy.Caroline Potter is the author of Pierre Boulez: Organised Delirium, published by Boydell.Edward Campbell is the editor of the forthcoming Boulez in Context and several other Boulez books published by Cambridge University Press.Paavali Jumppanen performs as part of ANAM’s Boulez Rules! at Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne on Friday 11 April. Listen to David Robertson talk to Andy about Boulez the conductor from The Music Show's archives.Technical production by Simon BranthwaiteThe Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country
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The legacy of the Shangri-Las, and Palestinian band 47SOUL
Melbourne historian and musician Lisa MacKinney has written the first full-length history of 1960s New York pop group The Shangri-Las. They were responsible for hits like Leader of the Pack and Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand), teenage soap opera songs that sounded like nothing else on radio at the time.MacKinney’s book Dressed In Black: The Shangri-Las and their Recorded Legacy flips a lot of the accepted narrative about the group on its head, and argues that their talent and musicality has been overlooked due to their age and gender, and that the emotional impact of their (relatively small) collection of songs is of lasting importance.47SOUL are a band with members scattered between Jordan, London and the US, all sharing roots in Palestine. Responsible for pioneering the genre 'Shamstep', their music blends Dabke (Levantine folk dance) traditions with electronica, R&B and hip hop. Synthesiser player Ramzy Suleiman sat down with producer Ce Benedict to talk about how his synth can emulate the sounds of traditional instruments like the mijwiz (pipe), mijwad (bagpipes) and rebab (a bowed string instrument). He also reveals what it's like taking his group's music to the other side of the world, and why he wants people to listen, and to dance. 47SOUL's new EP Dualism Pt. 1 is due 2 May.Lisa MacKinney launches her book Dressed In Black: The Shangri-Las and their recorded legacy at Readings in Carlton, Melbourne on Friday 28 March.
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From the Bronx to BBQs to Barkaa—the evolution of Australian hip hop
In the years since it originated in New York City in the late 1970s, hip hop has become a global music phenomenon. Reaching Australian shores in the early 1980s, tensions quickly arose between those looking to emulate their American rap heroes, and those using their own Australian accents. Dr Niall Edwards-FitzSimons takes us on a potted history of Australian hip hop and the 'accent debate' that came to a head in the 2000s. With voices from The Music Show archives like Urthboy, Bliss, L-FRESH The LION, Omar Musa, Barkaa, Mau Power, Wire MC, Elsy Wameyo and MC Trey, we learn about the evolution of Australian hip hop and what it tells us about class, racism and the music industry.
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Anarchy and acoustics: Sex Pistols and Pistols in St. Paul's
For a band that weren't around very long and only really put out one studio album, the cultural and musical impact of the Sex Pistols is staggering. Guitarist Steve Jones opens up to Andrew Ford about starting the group when he was just a kid, how it feels to be considered a guitar hero now, and why he thinks we're still talking about the band fifty years on. Sex Pistols tour Australia next month (with singer Frank Carter replacing Johnny Rotten).When a gunshot rang out in St Paul’s Cathedral back in 1951, it wasn’t the start of a classic British criminal mystery, but rather a scientific experiment. The understanding of acoustics -- from a scientific, architectural, and musicological perspective -- accelerated throughout the 1900s, as Dr Fiona Smyth describes in her book Pistols in St. Paul’s: Science, music, and architecture in the 20th Century. She joins Andy to tell tales of the science’s development and the ‘consulting detectives’ of acoustics who drove it.And we remember the Soviet-born composer Sofia Gubaidulina, who has died at the age of 93. Sex Pistols (with Frank Carter) are touring Australia in April playing Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane and Fremantle.Dr. Fiona Smyth’s Pistols in St Paul’s: Science, music and architecture in the twentieth century is published by Manchester University Press.
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Nana Benz du Togo, Sauljaljui and The Joy live at WOMADelaide
The Music Show is back on Kaurna Land at Adelaide's Botanic Park for WOMADelaide 2025, a festival celebrating music from all over the world.Named after a group of powerful grandmas in the 1970s and 80s who sold wax print fabrics at the Lomé central market and drove a Mercedes Benz, Nana Benz du Togo are a five-piece band with three female lead vocalists. PVC pipe percussion, a DIY drum kit and Korg synthesizer form their hypnotic rhythm section, and their music is inspired by their shared voodoo beliefs.From the Paiwan tribe of southern Taiwan, Sauljaljui (戴曉君) is a songwriter and musician who plays the two-stringed yueqin (moon lute). Blending traditional folk song with contemporary sounds from around the world, her music seeks to strengthen Indigenous language, culture and the natural world.Forming by accident when they were all early for choir practice and started jamming, five piece South African group The Joy are bringing the Zulu traditions of a cappella singing to the attention of the next generation. Performed live by Nana Benz du Togo:LibertyTitePerformed live by Sauljaljui:Cemavulid (Battle Song)Dipin Kari TangPerformed live by The Joy:Amaqatha AmancaneMathandana Wami
Australia