Ellie Parnell

Lajamanu is one of the most remote places in Central Australia, and it’s where we meet Wanta Jampijinpa Pawu-Kurlpurlurnu, his father Jerry Jangala Patrick OAM, and the music producer Marc ‘Monkey’ Peckham. Crown & Country is a new album and film that’s come out of more than a decade of friendship and collaboration between Wanta, Jerry and Monkey. Blending Warlpiri Jukurrpa (Dreaming) songs, cultural stories, soundscapes from the desert, and electronic beats, it’s a compelling and immersive way of sharing Warlpiri culture with new audiences. Gordon Kerry is one of Australia's most frequently commissioned composers with works in every musical genre. From his home on a hill in north-east Victoria, he has recently completed a new work for clarinet, cello and piano and a Requiem for a cappella choir. He discusses both these pieces and the traditions to which they belong on today's show.

Midge Ure is a musical chameleon, his career having taken him from boy band, Slik (stable mates of the Bay City Rollers), to punk band, Rich Kids (with ex-Sex Pistol, Glen Matlock), to singer, guitarist and keyboard player with Ultravox, penning one of the great New Romantic anthems, “Vienna”. For the past thirty years he’s been a solo artist with an ever-evolving songbook and later this year he’s bringing it to Australia. He talks to Andy about his varied career and why Ultravox was never really synth pop – not when their biggest hit contained a viola solo. Nina Korbe is Koa, Kuku Yalanji, and Wakka Wakka singer and broadcaster. She joins Andy to talk about her operatic and music theatre career on the rise, and her advocacy work introducing kids from her family's traditional lands to orchestral performance.

The bouzouki has been a feature of Irish folk music since the mid-1960s, and one of the instrument’s finest modern exponents is Daoirí Farrell. He’s also a singer and a song collector, and he's brought his instrument into our studio to demonstrate how the three things fit together.  Daoirí Farrell is currently on his fourth tour of Australia, playing the National Folk Festival this weekend, and then dates in Sydney, Avoca, St Kilda, Bendigo, Upwey, Adelaide and Perth.  Irish post-punk band Fontaines D.C. have had a huge year: they’re currently in the midst of a world tour, with their album Romance topping 2024 best of lists all over the place. Carlos O’Connell talks to Andy about the ten years since they formed in the city of Dublin (the D.C. in their name), and the way that the band’s collaborative approach helps them keep pushing the boundaries of their sound.

Saxophonist, composer, improviser and master looper, Adam Page, has brought a bunch of looping pedals and instruments into our Adelaide studio to show us how he builds layers of music on the fly. Adam's just finished a run performing a live improvised score for Australian Dance Theatre’s A Quiet Language, which sampled percussive sounds captured by the dancers' bodies in rehearsal. He’s also working on a PhD exploring new techniques for improvisational looping, and occasionally undertakes ‘durational performances’, like the 24-hour non-stop solo improvisation he did in front of a live audience a few years back. Adam Page performs a 12-hour show on 16 August at The Lab in Adelaide. Sign up for details here. Solomon Islands singer, songwriter, and panpipe player Chris Kamu’ana Rohoimae is the latest winner of the ABC’s Pacific Break competition. Ce Benedict sat down with him after his WOMADelaide set to talk about how he is honouring his late father, a pipe master himself, through his music. Chri

For a band that weren't around very long and only really put out one studio album, the cultural and musical impact of the Sex Pistols is staggering. Guitarist Steve Jones opens up to Andrew Ford about starting the group when he was just a kid, how it feels to be considered a guitar hero now, and why he thinks we're still talking about the band fifty years on. Sex Pistols tour Australia next month (with singer Frank Carter replacing Johnny Rotten). When a gunshot rang out in St Paul’s Cathedral back in 1951, it wasn’t the start of a classic British criminal mystery, but rather a scientific experiment. The understanding of acoustics -- from a scientific, architectural, and musicological perspective -- accelerated throughout the 1900s, as Dr Fiona Smyth describes in her book Pistols in St. Paul’s: Science, music, and architecture in the 20th Century. She joins Andy to tell tales of the science’s development and the ‘consulting detectives’ of acoustics who drove it. And we remember the Soviet

Alice Keath presents The Music Show for International Women’s Day, with some of the great international and local women on the WOMADelaide line-up. Latin American pop and classical sensibilities meet in the music of Cuban cellist and singer Ana Carla Maza. She joins Alice to explain why producing her own record was an act of power in the male-dominated Latin music industry. Mudburra and Garrawa woman Eleanor Jawurlngali is based in Marlinja, in the remote Northern Territory. Her debut, self-titled album has an incredible, totally unexpected sound that comes out of a new collaboration with Mick Turner from Dirty Three and award-winning cellist Stephanie Arnold. Duo Ruut are two distinct voices, and four hands on one instrument. They are Ann-Lisett Rebane and Katariina Kivi, two Estonian women who play one kannel (Estonian zither) together. Plus music from Inuk singer Elisapie and the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir.

Aspirations of modernity, progress and innovation drove music through the 20th century. For French composer Maurice Ravel, inspiration from (and imitation of) his peers, of the voices and styles around him, made him a true original. He pulled from Spanish music, 18th century music, Viennese waltz and jazz, and yet within seconds it’s always possible to hear Ravel’s own, distinct, voice. To mark the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birth, director-composer-lyricist-translator and friend of The Music Show Jeremy Sams is Andy’s guest, to explore not only where Ravel’s music came from, but where it led. 

Metal, marimbas, vampires and EDM: ABBA’s Lay All Your Love On Me as you’ve never heard it before, with producer Paul Mac and composer Alice Chance. This is the first episode of Cover Story, a new series from The Music Show in which Andy and his guests take songs of the popular music canon and examine their cover versions, for better, worse, and weirder.  Music details: Lay All Your Love On Me Composed by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus Originally recorded by ABBA for the album Super Trouper (1980) on Atlantic Records Covers by: Erasure Brian David Gilbert Bentley Robles Amberian Dawn Pale Honey Siv Jakobsen Caroline Shaw & So Percussion Paul Mac’s Tekno Train: The Album is out now.  German vocal ensemble Sjaella perform works by Alice Chance in July: Hobart Festival of Voices 1/7/25, 2/7/25 Ballina 6/7/25 Brisbane - QPAC 10/7/25 Sydney - Utzon Room 13/7/25 Adelaide - Ukaria 19/7/25, 20/7/25 Canberra 23/7/25 Melbourne Recital Centre 25/7/25 The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra

Harnessing looping pedals, percussion and vocal manipulation, Tune-Yards make a very big sound for a core membership of two people. It's been ten years since the experimental pop project released their third album Nikki Nack and creepy hit Water Fountain. Songwriter and singer Merrill Garbus is on The Music Show to talk about the duo's complex rhythms, vocal athleticism, and how to play with words. Omar Musa is an author, artist, poet, and woodcutter making music and art from Borneo to Brooklyn. His third album. The Fullness, touches on the environment, culture, religious identity, and mortality. He creates poetry from a spoken-word background, melding hip-hop, jazz, and electronic sounds with earnest lyricism. 

At 13 years old Janis Ian wrote one of the most iconic American songs of 1960s, Society's Child. Ten years later At Seventeen spoke to millions of women and girls around the world and made her even more of a household name. Janis' extraordinary life is told in a new documentary by filmmaker Varda Bar-Kar, who follows the highs (GRAMMY awards, multi-platinum albums) as well as the lows (homophobia, misogyny and heartbreak) that follow Janis throughout her career. The director is on to celebrate this living songwriting legend. And we hear Janis Ian from The Music Show archives: in 1994 following the release of her album 'Breaking Silence', and in 2005 in front of an adoring crowd at Port Fairy Folk Festival.  Janis Ian: Breaking Silence is screening as part of the Jewish International Film Festival which is currently on in Perth, WA.

JADE Ensemble are four Brisbane-based musicians who compose and improvise across musical styles: Wakka Wakka man and didgeridoo player David Williams, Japanese koto master Takako Haggarty, Nepalese tabla virtuoso Dheeraj Shrestha and guitarist/composer Anthony Garcia. Anthony and Takako join Andrew ahead of a performance at Brisbane Powerhouse next week to share how each member contributes equally to the group’s unique sound world while retaining their strong cultural identities. Dharug composer Christopher Sainsbury has been writing guitar music that’s been played by guitarist Ken Murray for the best part of twenty years. Both are on The Music Show to talk about the endless possibilities of the instrument, how place can seep through in music, and the joys of bringing in other collaborators like soprano Merinda Dias-Jayasinha. 

Bill Bailey is best known for his stand-up comedy, but one of his first public performances was a Mozart piano concerto, with his own cadenza, in his hometown of Bath. He joins Andy to explain what Mozart has in common with dancing on television, how timing is crucial to both comedy and music, and making sure there’s enough affection in his musical parodies. Modern troubadour Darren Hanlon has performed in hundreds of halls and pubs around Australia, and is on a mission to visit at least one new town per tour. His observational songwriting, sharp wit and catchy melodies earn him fans everywhere he goes.  Darren is on The Music Show to reflect on a life on the road and talk about making his latest album Life Tax in an old church hall (he was able to record when the hall wasn’t being used for swing dance or yoga classes).

How The Saints and Radio Birdman paved the way for punk and independent music in Australia.

Australian music icon and proud Torres Strait Islander Christine Anu has just released her first album of new music in 20 years. Waku-Minaral A Minalay was recorded across the Pacific in places like New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Torres Strait Islands and the Solomon Islands - utilising traditional percussion instruments like the Warup (drums), the Urub (shakers) and the Kulap (seed pot rattles). It’s a deeply personal bilingual album which includes songs written by Christine Anu, her grandfather and her daughter.  British countertenor Iestyn Davies is about to make his Australian debut singing music by JS Bach and Arvo Pärt alongside the Australian Chamber Orchestra and dancers from Sydney Dance Company. He speaks to Andrew Ford about what links these two composers (born nearly three centuries apart) and the changing attitudes, and repertoire, for high male voices. Christine Anu performs at the Mt Isa Rodeo on 8 August, at Cairns Festival on 23 August and at North Australian Festival of Arts on

In 1961, the first elected leader of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was assassinated just months after the country’s newfound independence. Unbeknownst to themselves, US jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, Dizzie Gillespie, Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln played an unlikely role in his death. Belgian director Johan Grimonprez joins us on The Music Show to explain the bizarre link between jazz and the CIA involvement in this Congolese coup, detailed in his new documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, playing as part of Melbourne International Film Festival.  Sinking Cities is a new work from jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger Rafael Karlen. It laments the 2019 flooding of 12,000-year old Türkish city Hasankeyf (one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world) to make way for a controversial dam. Karlen, who has never been to Türkiye, explains to Andrew Ford why this issue inspired him to write a large-scale piece of music for string orchestra, choir and saxophone.

Andrew Gurruwiwi leads the Andrew Gurruwiwi Band in what they call 'Yolŋu funk', a mix between reggae, heavy metal, and funk in language from across the region. Andrew tells us about his music-making, his career as a radio presenter, and explains the stories behind some of the tracks on the band's dynamic debut album, Sing Your Own Song. "He basically invents the rules of jazz. He shows you 'this is how to play a solo, this is how to sing, this is how to phrase, this is how to tell a story, this is how to swing. Ok, this is jazz. And now I'm going to break all those rules.'" - Ricky Riccardi on Louis Armstrong Towards the end of the 1960s Louis Armstrong's performances were hit-and-miss. Plagued by health issues and pushing 70, the veteran entertainer was determined to keep playing, singing and touring, despite calls from his doctors to slow down. But in 1968, with a burst of vitality, he performed for BBC TV with hits spanning his remarkable five decades in music. This included What A Wonderful World, a

First Nations listeners are advised that this program contains the names and voices of people who have died. At the start of NAIDOC Week, The Music Show explores the legacy of the late Ruby Hunter – short in stature, a giant in music, and a mentor and parental figure to so many First Nations musicians in subsequent generations. We’ll hear Ruby from the archives, and catch up with Emily Wurramara and Dan Sultan, both of whom have sung a tribute to Ruby Hunter alongside their fantastic new albums. Dan Sultan reunites with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra  to perform 12 & 13 July, before playing Yabaardu in Ceduna SA on 19 July. Emily Wurramara is performing at Live in the Gardens on 13 November. Music in this program Title: Kurongk Boy, Kurongk Girl Artist: Ruby Hunter Album: Thoughts Within Label: Mushroom – MUSH32309.2 Title: Proud, Proud Women Artist: Ruby Hunter Album: Thoughts Within Label: Mushroom – MUSH32309.2 Title: Midnight Blues Artist: Emily Wurramara Composer: Bed Edgar,

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners are advised that this program contains the names and voices of people who have died. Neal Peres Da Costa’s most recent recordings include a Mozart piano concerto and a Robert Schumann song cycle, each using a model of piano its composer would have recognised. But as he explains on today’s show, there’s much more to this music than getting the instrument right – there’s also the matter of historical style. Mozart would have expected his soloists to…

Olivia Newton-John is one of the best selling artists of all time. Across a six-decade career that spanned music, stage, screen and health advocacy, she firmly embedded herself in our hearts. Before the huge success of Grease she’d already made her name as a recording artist, earning Grammys, Country Music Awards and a swathe of hit singles. The story of Olivia Newton-John is full of interesting bumps and swerves. She came first in a TV talent contest as a teenager that won her a trip to England where her career first took off. She went from starring in a 1970s sci-fi film that flopped to being cast as a lead in Grease after a chance meeting at a dinner party at Helen Reddy's house. And she nearly didn't release her hit song Physical because she felt it was too risqué! For the final episode of Aus Music Month get to know this legendary singer, performer and advocate who died last year at the age of 73. 

A father and son find solace in music in a time of exile, and a Cameroonian singer songwriter's anti-colonial dance show.