The Cat Empire & Xavier are coming!
Widely held as two of Australia’s most outstanding live acts, The Cat Empire and Xavier Rudd will hit the highways together for the first time in January and February 2017 for a series of unique concert events to be held in picturesque open-air settings. Xavier Rudd’s diverse and acclaimed career is going from strength to strength, with his message of global togetherness, acceptance and respect as well as his dynamic musical connection gaining him more than 700k combined online followers and further solidifying his place as one of Australia’s greatest artists, activists and spirits. For over a decade, virtuosos The Cat Empire and Xavier Rudd hold commonalities; they’ve remained current in global markets while treading a path less travelled, continually doing it in their own way. Celebrated for their individual genre-crossing sounds and their enduring careers at a global level, they’ve accrued massive followings throughout Europe, Canada, the USA, South Africa and South America with their legendary live performances. Their incredible musicianship has resulted in successful sold-out tours year in and year out, both increasing awareness by putting their music into the hands of overseas travellers who then took their tunes home in their backpacks and spread the word organically across the globe.
Saturday 4 February at Red Devil Park in Byron Bay. Tickets from Ticketmaster – www.ticketmaster.com.au.
In the Percussion Garden
The people who created the Young Drums Percussion Orchestra present their brand new show: Shaman.
A multi-media mix of extraordinary percussion and theatre, created by Peter Jäggle, it is an exploration of the oldest and most ubiquitous of all the drums, the Frame Drum. The drum of the medicine man, the wise woman, and the minstrel poets of the ages, it is the drum of the storyteller. The drum of the shaman!
It is the drum of healing, a drum of the spirit, and a drum of magic!
You will see and hear frame drums of many styles and sizes from small hand-held instruments to Australia’s largest frame drum, the gigantic and awesome 2-metre, soul-shaking, ‘Thunder-maker’.
You will see virtuosic percussion performances wrapped around a multi-media show featuring artworks by acclaimed northern rivers artist Hamish Graham.
Along with the frame drum the Percussion Garden group will perform music of the Orient upon the immensely powerful Taiko Drums.
The Percussion Garden band, Drum Jungle, perform original contemporary rhythm music and arrangements of works ranging from Frank Zappa to JS Bach: Afro-Cuban, jazz, funk, Arabic and other world music genres.
The women of the newly formed Northern Rivers Taiko group Thunderland will also perform for you!
Come along with your friends to enjoy this incredibly innovative percussion music show.
Wednesday 4 and Friday 6 January at St Finbarr’s Primary School Hall Byron Bay.
Doors open at 7pm, show starts at 8pm.
Tickets available at the door and other venues TBA.
$30 Adult | $15 Child | $25 Con | $75 Family of 2 adults 2 children
Parcels from Berlin
Byron-bred and Berlin-dwelling band, Parcels, have kicked off their first Australian tour since signing with mega-hip Parisian label Kitsuné, and have added a new Byron farewell show before they head back to Berlin.
The Aussie-born five-piece were welcomed home in style with a packed-out crowd at Byron’s Great Northern Hotel with their version of David Bowie’s Let’s Dance being the talking point of the evening. ‘It’s hard to see this Australian trip as a “tour’ really”,’ said the Parcels boys. ‘We’re playing 12 shows over the month but we’re able to spend time every week just hanging out in our old hometown, Byron Bay, before we drive to the next show. Sun, beach, friends, it’s a true summer holiday! It’s strange to be back after so long and we all struggled with some post-travel sickness but it’s absolutely beautiful here and the lifestyle change is refreshing after a hectic Berlin year.’
Parcels play on 7 January at the Byron Theatre with Vinnie Laduce and Merryn Jean. Tix available at www.byroncentre.com.au/whats-on.
Music with a Vieux
The son of the late Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré inherited his dad’s dazzlingly fluid phrasing but clearly also digs the fiery African blues rock of bands such as Tinariwen. Here, Vieux Farka joins American peers for a crossover set that slays.
Join us at the Mullumbimby Civic Memorial Hall for an unforgettable musical experience with Vieux Farka Touré.
Vieux’s live performances are nothing short of breathtaking, highly energised, and dazzling crowds with his speed and dexterity on the guitar, and his palpable charisma.
Thursday 5 January at the Mullumbimby Civic Hall. Starts at 7.30pm.
Sangeet joins Tahir
Special guest Sangeet Mishra from India will be performing alongside Tahir Qawwal on 6 January for the Byron Theatre’s annual Sufi Qawwali concert. Due to perform at Woodford Festival again over New Year, Sangeet Mishra is a gifted musician who plays a classical string instrument called the sarangi. This instrument is able to produce a huge range of tonal colour and emotional nuance, requiring a very high level of skill to master. Sangeet has performed previously in Australian with his father and teacher Pt Santosh Mishra. To see this sort of classical musicality in Byron Bay is a rare treat that everyone can savour. In older times qawwali music was accompanied by the sarangi, so Tahir Qawwal is thrilled and honoured to have Sangeet Mishra play with his Sufi music ensemble.
Sufi Qawwali at Byron Theatre 6 January – byrontheatre.com.
Freq Out!
Earth Frequency Festival is a four-day outdoor festival, based in southeast Queensland, Australia. While drawing from many cultural niches such as transformational festival, tribal gathering, doof and boutique festival, the aim of Earth Frequency Festival is to go beyond these traditional tags and to exist as a multi-faceted gathering focused broadly on creativity, community, connection, intention and inspiration. Their aim is to create nothing short of a life-changing, transformative experience.
Nurtured by the setting of the beautiful Australian outdoors, we gather together to celebrate life with music, art and other creative forms, and to educate, connect, heal and inspire.
Over the four days you can expect a full range of music, performance, arts, lectures and workshops, creative activities and market stalls. For those attending, it may just be the defining weekend of your summer! Earth Frequency Festival is an inclusive, community-minded event. We aim to provide a meeting place – people from many different backgrounds, ages and walks of life come together with the shared interests of music, nature, technology, culture, community and peace. Now in its second decade, Earth Frequency Festival has grown and evolved to become a calendar highlight for the southeast QLD / northern NSW region and beyond.
17–20 February at Ivory Rock. Tickets at earthfrequency.com.au.
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