Kathryn Jones’ Lazy Sunday Sessions with Dan Hannaford and Sam Hosie
Ocean Shores Country Club | Sunday | 1pm | Free
Lazy Sunday Sessions, hosted by award winning country artist Kathryn Jones and guests is back on at Ocean Shores Country Club this Sunday 13 October.
This Sunday, the crew welcome Dan Hannaford. Opening Australian tour shows for the likes of Grammy award-winning bluesmen Charlie Musselwhite, Tex Perkins, Ash Grunwald and The Black Sorrows. Well-loved local Dan is busy gracing hundreds of stages around Australia, including Byron Bay Bluesfest, Falls Festival, the National Folk Festival, Gympie Muster and Summertime Blues in Austria. Currently working on his follow-up record in Los Angeles, the record is trimmed with a who’s who of seasoned session players, some of whom have played and recorded with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Keith Richards, Steve Earle and Willie Nelson.
Drawing inspiration from artists such as Margaret Glaspy, Kasey Chambers and Julia Jacklin, Kathryn Jones’ other guest, Sam Hosie, weaves her powerful voice around intimate folk music and adds a soulful flare to old-time blues favourites. Kathryn herself is accompanied by multi award-winner Steve Passfield, and all-rounder bassist Alan Brooker.
Sunday Session at Ocean Shores Country Club at 1pm. Free entry.
Louise Johnson: The Harp’s Journey
St Mary’s Anglican Church Ballina | Sunday 20 October | 3pm | $40/$35 Members, Concession/$20 Students
Louise Johnson is a star harpist. She has shared the stage with Cher and the Bee Gees, not to mention every major symphony, opera and ballet orchestra in the country. On Sunday, 20 October she presents a light-hearted program of The Harp’s Journey featuring her own green Irish harp, blue electric harp, and local musician Margaret Curtis’ superb concert harp. Louise has recently retired from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra after a stellar career as Principal Harp. Louise gave her first performance with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the age of 14, later joining the orchestra as a permanent member, and was appointed Principal Harp in 1985. She regularly appeared as a soloist with the orchestra: performing Debussy’s Danses sacres et profane with conductor Mark Elder in 1998; Mozart’s Flute and Harp Concerto with James Galway (1990), Janet Webb (2005) and Emma Sholl (2011); and Spohr’s Concertante for violin and harp with former SSO concertmaster Michael Dauth (2006); Hindemith’s Concerto for winds and harp (2013); the premiere of Lee Bracegirdle’s Legends of the Old Castle (2014); and Tan Dun’s Nu Shu – The Secret Songs of Women (2017).
Don’t miss this one-off show The Harp’s Journey, exclusive to Byron Music Society.
Sunday 20 October 3pm at St Mary’s Anglican Church, Ballina (cnr Norton & Burnet Sts)
Island Vibe
North Stradbroke Island | 24–27 October
Island Vibe is just a few weeks away and this funky four-dayer continues the commitment of previous years to deliver a program that reflects the diversity and richness of the musical community from around the globe; spanning the best in reggae, soul, dub, world, jungle, folk, hip hop and bass music.
The all-star line-up of performers, artists and producers, including US producer and MUTI Music label boss DOV1, the lords of live Jungle and D&B The Bird, far north Queensland rainforest-reggae stars Zennith, Brazilian percussion experience Batukanum, the Afro beatnik sounds of Kooii, Operatives label kingpin JPS, the sultry gypsy jazz of Amy Jane & her Vipers, Melbourne chanteuse Phoebe Jacobs and multi world-record extreme circus performer The Space Cowboy, just to name a few! They will be joining a massive international line-up including; The Mad Professor, Havana Meets Kingston SoundSystem, Gardna, Monkey Marc ft Rider Shafique and Fyah Roiall, Opiuo, JStar, Alysha Brilla and Soom T.
Canadian/Indian Alysha Brilla (featuring an all femme band) will be bringing her sassy folk-reggae to mainstage, she will be joined by one of Bass music’s pioneers of Glitch, Opiou. The lyrical genius of UK’s dancehall and jungle-ist maestro Gardna will be backed by: Hip Hop/Jungle producer Chris Munky, dancehall superstar Soom T (Scotland), Berlin’s legendary producer JStar, the world’s foremost legend of Dub – The Mad Professor (UK), First Nations’ soulstress Emily Wurramara and the timeless West African jive of Malian lead-guitarist legend Moussa Diakite.
Island Vibe runs for four days 24–27 October on the beautiful North Stradbroke Island. Go to islandvibe.com.au for program and tickets.
Mullum Music Festival
14–17 November
This year Mullum Music Festival features one of Ethiopia’s most respected singers: Dereb the Ambassador. Dereb grew up in a family of musicians, immersed in his home country’s diverse musical rhythms and styles. His extraordinary vocal talent was recognised at just four years old. By the time he reached his teens, he was drawing crowds in the bars of Addis Ababa and all around Ethiopia. Derek uses pre 1970s recording equipment to get the warm, funky sounds of great Ethiopian artists from the 60s and 70s, pioneering his own blend of Ethio-Soul.
Kaumaakonga (KMK),from the Solomon Islands come together to revive traditional chants. With the influence of the groups’ Polynesian and Melanesian cultures, KMK breathe new life into their ancient chants while combining traditional rhythms and percussion with panpipes, guitar and unique vocal harmonies. KMK’s music is the combination of individual member’s efforts to take the listener on a sonic journey from the past and propel them to the future of modern and traditional Polynesian/Melanesian musical fusions.
Charismatic guitar savant from South Africa, Sibusile Xaba reframes maskandi and the avant garde into his own humanist manifesto. With a vocal style that is part dream-scaping and part ancestral invocation, Xaba ‘divines’ as opposed to simply singing. Combined with a guitar style that is rooted in expressive picking, Xaba’s music shatters the confines of genre, taking only the fundamentals from mentors such as Madala Kunene and Dr Philip Tabane, and imbuing these with a mythology and improvisational intensity all his own.
From Israel come Alwan; a middle-eastern ensemble who deliver interplay and improvisation. Born in Mississauga Ontario, 2018 Juno Award-nominated Alysha Brilla is a music producer and songwriter whose music, blogs and spirituality are inspired by growing up with parents from two different cultural and religious backgrounds: an Indo-Tanzanian father, who emigrated to Canada, and a Canadian mother of European settler heritage. The spiritual traditions and energies passed down through Brilla’s paternal Dadima (grandmother, in Gujarati) have swirled their way around Indian and African rhythms into soulful acoustic echoes of intimate song-and-story-telling, culminating in a full band festival stage-show.
Mullum Music Festival – bringing the world’s music to our local stages! 14–17 November in Mullum – tix and program info at mullummusicfestival.com
NORPA and Australian Chamber Orchestra Present ACO Collective, Serenade for Strings
Lismore City Hall | Friday 25 October | 7.30pm | $25-$59
The ACO is renowned for embracing celebrated classics alongside new commissions and Serenades for Strings is no exception. A romantic program of the finest classical music from Beethoven to Mendelssohn mixed with an exciting new Australian work; composer Paul Stanhope’s Dancing on Clouds from the Hush 18 Collective Wisdom album. Helena Rathbone, Principal Violin and founding Director of ACO Collective, celebrates her 25th year with the ACO and leads a magical night that will take you from Edward Elgar’s tranquil Serenade for Strings to Beethoven’s delightful and optimistic Romance for violin and orchestra.
The ACO Collective Present Serenades for Strings at Lismore City Hall, Friday 25 October 7.30pm. Tix from norpa.org.au
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