The Music Show

Judy Small is a fixture of the Australian folk scene, a writer and performer of songs about politics and people. She joins Andy to recap the thirty-ish years since she was last on the show, including a career in family law and as a federal judge, and the process she's been undertaking of recording some of her last songs (Swansongs) and appearing at the 60th National Folk Festival.
And Ce Benedict reports from the festival itself, where transcontinental dulcimer jams, children busking, and bardic reinterpretations of Smashmouth all contribute to one of Australia's most distinctive festival experiences. 
Music heard in the show: 
Title: Home HomeArtist: ApollineComposer: Hickey, LuisaAlbum: Home HomeLabel: Independent Release
Title: Stand Or Fall, Within These Walls (Yad Vashem)Artist: Judy SmallComposer: Small, JudyAlbum: SwansongsLabel: Independent Release
Title: The White Bay Paper SellerArtist: Judy SmallComposer: Small, JudyAlbum: Mothers, Daughters, Wives / Ladies and GemsLabel: Independent Release
Title: You Don't Speak For MeArtist: Judy SmallComposer: Small, JudyAlbum: Judy Small - Best of the 80sLabel: Independent Release
Title: EncantoArtist: Maryam RahmaniComposer: Rahmani, MaryamAlbum: KamandLabel: Independent Release
Label: Independent ReleaseTitle: Home HomeArtist: ApollineComposer: Hickey, LuisaAlbum: Home Home
The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country Country
Technical production by Emrys Cronin and Timothy Jenkins

Xiu Xiu has been a leading figure in American avant-pop for more than two decades: combining abrasive noise and extremely dark subject matter with a catchy pop sensibility. It’s perhaps no surprise then that they’ve been drawn to the work of David Lynch, releasing their version of the music of Twin Peaks, and now, appearing at Dark Mofo in Tasmania to present their take on Eraserhead. Jamie Stewart talks passion, performance, and Dolly Parton.
 in 1707 Alessandro Scarlatti wrote an oratorio called il primo omicidio - The First Murder. It features Cain, Abel, their parents Adam and Eve, and (naturally) God and Satan providing a bit of sung commentary too. Ashlyn Tymms, Madison Nonoa, and Erin Helyard share Pinchgut Opera's approach, which uses a distinctly Australian setting.
Pinchgut Opera are performing The First Murder at Roslyn Packer Theatre from May 23
Music heard in this program:
Title: JoleneArtist: Xiu XiuComposer: Dolly PartonAlbum: Xiu MF'n XiuLabel: Polyvinyl Record Company 
Title: Common LoonArtist: Xiu XiuComposer: Xiu XIuAlbum: 13" Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto With Bison Horn GripsLabel: Polyvinyl Record Company 
Title: Il primo omicidio, Parte prima; 'La fraterna amica pace'Artist: Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and René JacobsComposer: Alessandro Scarlatti Album: Scarlatti: Il primo omicidioLabel: Harmonia Mundi
Title: La Fraterna amica paceArtist: Erin Helyard, Ashlyn Tymms, Madison NonoaComposer: Alessandro Scarlatti Album: Live Performance
Title: The White Bay paper sellerArtist: Judy SmallComposer: Judy SmallAlbum: Ladies & GemsLabel: Crafty Maid
The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country Country
Technical production by Emrys Cronin and Timothy Jenkins

American Singer-songwriter Connie Converse would be hard enough to pigeonhole had she not disappeared without a trace in 1974. She wrote folk songs, and art songs, and the story of her life and disappearance is a fascinating one. It's the subject of a biography called To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse by Howard Fishman, who joins Andy to tell the tale and listen to her wonderful and wonderfully strange songs. 
Gia Margaret's new album is called Singing, fitting for her first return to vocal music after eight years of having lost her voice. As she tells Andy, adversity led her to finding creativity in instrumental writing, which she's now brought back to the voice for her latest release. 
And we hear new music by tar virtuoso Hamed Sadeghi from his new album, Convergence. 
Join us for The Music Show at Sydney Writers' Festival on 21 May with Ziggy Ramo, Leah Senior and Kate Fagan

Voiceless Mass, by Raven Chacon, can be performed in 'any space of worship with high ceilings and pipe organ' and plays with the amplifying power of a church's architecture, while commenting on the silencing of voices and languages that churches have been active in throughout their history. It won the composer the Pulitzer Prize for music in 2022 and is heading to the Rising Festival in Melbourne.
Raven talks to Andy about the intersection of politics and music, his role as a mentor, and what he wants to add to John Cage's understanding of silence.
The huge sound of the Melbourne Town Hall grand organ might seem like an unusual choice for the composer and guitarist Cam Butler, but for his latest album, he had a chance to take over the hall - and brought along a rock band and a string orchestra to complete the mix. Cam’s project is a cinematic album of guitar-organ-strings-rock maximalism, called World Forever and he shares how he approached this latest challenge, and how he gets the most from his normal instrument, the guitar.
Cam Butler will be performing World Forever live at the Melbourne Town Hall on May 22. 
Join us for The Music Show at Sydney Writers' Festival on 21 May with Ziggy Ramo, Leah Senior and Kate Fagan
Music heard in this program:
Title: Haunted RuinsArtist: Cam ButlerComposer: Cam ButlerAlbum: World ForeverLabel: Heavy Machinery Records
Title: Voicless MassArtist: Present MusicComposer: Raven ChaconAlbum: Raven Chacon: Voiceless MassLabel: New World Records
Title: Don't Cry (Your Father & Grandfather Are GoodArtist: Himba Hymn CollectiveComposer: Himba Hymn CollectiveAlbum: Himba Hymn: Ghosts Of Namibia's Skeleton CoastLabel: Sublime Frequencies
Title: World ForeverArtist: Cam ButlerComposer: Cam ButlerAlbum: World ForeverLabel: Heavy Machinery Records
Title: Clear InfinityArtist: Cam ButlerComposer: Cam ButlerAlbum: World ForeverLabel: Heavy Machinery Records
Title: RottenArtist: Gia MargaretComposer: Gia MargaretAlbum: SingingLabel: Jagjaguwar
The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country Country
Technical production by Isabella Tropiano

The American pianist Ruth Slenczynska, who died last week at the age of 101, was a childhood prodigy (although she denies the label). That came at a huge price, including a punishing concert schedule from the age of 4, orchestrated in the main by a tyrannical teacher-father. She went on to be one of the great pianists of the 20th century, playing duets with Harry Truman, touring with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops and being taught by Artur Schnabel, Egon Petri and Sergei Rachmaninov - to whom she was possibly the last remaining student link. Andy spoke to her in 2020 at the tender age of 95.