Audiences of a certain age still gush about Countdown, the ABC’s music show that ran between 1974 and 1987. The ritual of sitting down to watch the ABC at 6pm on a Sunday (and maybe again for the Saturday…
Music fans gather for the Rolling Stones’ ‘Gimme Shelter’ concert at California’s Altamont Speedway in 1969.
AP Photo
Musicians were able to connect with confused, scared and angry Americans – including those who supported the war – in a way actors, broadcasters and writers could not.
Swedish organist Anna von Hausswolff.
Anders Nydam
Spotify, Apple Music and the like aren’t working for indy artists.
Gord Downie, the poetic lead singer of the Tragically Hip whose determined fight with brain cancer inspired a nation, has died. He was 53.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young)
Good songs are like good poetry. Literature professor Robert Morrison reflects on The Tragically Hip’s best song, “Ahead by a Century,” and explains the politics of hope within the tune.
Debussy’s Clair de Lune, meaning ‘moonlight’, is one of the most easily recognised pieces of music, but its origins are complex. The piece was influenced by poetry, Baroque music and the Impressionist movement.
Is birdsong simply a hard-wired, functional, primitive sound – or could we call it ‘music’? Australia’s pied butcherbirds show there are surprising overlaps between birds’ and humans’ musical abilities.
Composer John Burge speaks of his drive to create a musical piece to mark Canada’s 150th year of confederation and to capture our collective experiences.
South African jazz legend Ray Phiri passed away after a long battle with lung cancer.
Thuli Dlamini/The Times
Two of South Africa’s finest musicians, Johnny Mekoa and Ray Phiri, died recently. The permeable terrain between genres their careers negotiated, is being replaced by rigid marketing categories.
Musicians who learned how to play through a state-funded program called El Sistema are taking their instruments to the streets to protest the government.
Some musicians believe certain instruments, such as the trumpet, are more ‘masculine’.
Alenavlad/shutrerstock
Women are disturbingly under-represented in Australian jazz, with relatively few female composers and instrumentalists. What’s holding them back? And what can be done about it?
Because of the way our brains work, we can remember songs and rhymes much more easily than just words or letters. The ABC song teaches kids the basics of the English language.