We love the arts, jazz music, world music, the blues, soul music, Hip Hop, funk and electronic sounds. Many of our presenters and producers are working musicians, DJs, and artists at the forefront of Sydney’s creative music scene.
The Weintraub Syncopators were the hottest jazz band in Weimar Germany. But after the Nazi party passed the first anti-Jewish laws, the Syncopators decided to embark on what was perhaps the longest world tour by any band in history. It ended in an internment camp in rural Australia. This episode traces an epic journey of […]
In this Podcast Bondi Nights´Earl speaks with the Ladies that hosted the Hot Jazz Picnic. It was live in the episode of Bondi Nights on February 7, 2024. Lana and Madison revealed how they prepared for the event and spill the tea about how well they know Jazz music. […]
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Ralph is back touring Australia. The “Streets of London” singer/songwriter sits down with David Barr to talk about his music and perform some songs. Ralph will be playing at The Concourse Chatswood on Friday 9 February as part of his Streets of Oz Tour 2024. […]
Interview by Joshua Duffy Scott Saunders is the founder of Sydney’s explosive 90s Groove outfit dig (Directions In Groove), a prolific film television and theatre composer, and a music teacher with a master in philosophy (music) publishing a study titled “An Aesthetics of Groove.” Scott has returned to the scene with a new Soul Jazz […]
Read More… from A Vinyl Direction in Groove w/ Scott Saunders
Our special guest is historian and activist Gary Foley. A Gumbayngirr man, Gary Foley has been at the forefront of Indigenous activism for over fifty years and was a key figure in the Bicentennial protests. […]
1988 in Australia. On the musical front, it was seriously divided between the mainstream music industry and the alternative/underground scene, yet both sides had their eyes on the international stage. But there was a bigger issue; 1988 marked the Bicentennial of the British invasion of Aboriginal lands. Indigenous activists were waiting to protest any celebrations. […]
Shellie Morris, the powerhouse Indigenous singer-songwriter, effortlessly blends tradition with innovation, creating a sonic journey through her ancestral roots. Hailing from the Yanyuwa, Garrwa, and Gurdanji communities, Morris’ soulful melodies carry the weight of Indigenous stories, bridging the past and present. In the run up to, and immediately after Australia Day, Shellie and Elliott discussed […]
Our special guest is journalist and broadcaster John Highfield. Best known for his 35 years on ABC Radio, it is not so well known that John was a teenage employee of the Lee Gordon organisation in the early 1960s. His recollections are fascinating. Playlist Chubby Checker: The Fly […]
Australia may have “turned to America” during WWII, but culturally, it was still doggedly British. This changed in the 1950s. We look at one arbiter of the change – Lee Gordon – an American with a shady backstory who arrived in Sydney in 1953 and within a year had created the Australian concert circuit! And […]
Our special guest to discuss the themes of the White Australia Blues episode is historian Deirdre O’Connell. She has written at length on the Sonny Clay tour and its background. Her extraordinary 2021 book, ‘Harlem Nights – the Secret History of Australia’s Jazz Age’ was hugely influential in the making of this episode. This interview […]
Read More… from Ep 1, Part 2: Deirdre O’Connell on White Australia Blues
The Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 heralded the White Australia Policy. This culture of whiteness would inevitably affect music in Australia. In this episode we look at the 1928 tour by Sonny Clay’s Colored Idea, the first African-American jazz band to tour Australia. We also look at ways the White Australia Policy continued to affect […]
Since 1974 the Open Academy at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music has opened the doors of the Conservatorium to the community through a wide range of programs, courses and workshops for school students, musicians, music teachers and to all those who are interested in learning more about music. Join Dan and Matt from Eastside’s ‘Blow’ […]
Read More… from In Conversation with the Conservatorium Open Academy