If you asked a panel of suitably qualified referees to nominate the Australian musician who punches highest above his weight, age and chosen instrument, one…
Joseph Tawadros is in a New York state of mind
Author: Tony Hillier
Tony Hillier is an Australia-based freelance music writer, broadcaster, musician, MC and band leader. He writes album and concert reviews and feature articles for The Australian (the country’s only bona fide national newspaper) and Rhythms (Australia’s only dedicated national roots music magazine) and prepares/presents weekly programs for the national broadcaster (ABC) and community radio. He is also a member of the Transglobal World Music Chart (TWMC) panel.
The Alaev Family Way
Allo Alaev’s life changed for the better back in 1991 when escalating belligerence in his native Tajikistan, following the break-up of the Soviet Union, prompted…
Rasa Duende’s cross-cultural soul
Bobby Singh’s last cross-cultural trio collaboration, with kora maestro Mamadou Diabaté and slide guitar master Jeff Lang in the ARIA award-winning Djan Djan, examined the…
Bombino gets the key to the highway
Collaborations between American rock stars and musicians from Third World African nations can result in cultural imbalance. The liaison between the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach…
Scaling Dizzy Heights
As a teenaged trumpeter in Cuba back in the mid ‘60s Arturo Sandoval dreamed of one day meeting his idol, American jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie.…
Jake’s uke still gently weeps
The late George Harrison would be dead chuffed to know that one of his finest songs shot a young ukulele star into the stratosphere. The…
Under Mouse Arrest
He probably wouldn’t admit as much but Ian Brennan, Californian producer/promoter/philosopher extraordinaire, seems to be on a mission on behalf of some of the most…
Beoga’s Out Of The Box
They deliver their fair share of jigs and reels, to be sure, but Beoga is markedly different from other top-flight Irish folk bands of the…
Uketopia in the Aussie Tropics
For one weekend next month, the far north Queensland tropics in Australia will supersede the Hawaiian islands as the center of the ukulele universe. From…
The Flying Finns
Nordic summers are tantalizingly short and the winters interminably long and icy, so the climate is generally conducive to indoor pursuits such as music study.…