live music
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Piano lid up fully for the first time! Bachianinha No. 1, by Paulinho Nogueira
The grand piano has been in my home for 35 days but I hadn’t put up the lid fully until a few days ago, and I wanted to record playing it! This is a beautiful piece for classical guitar called Bachianinha No.1 written by Brazilian composer Paulinho Nogueira. This piano version came about when a… Continue reading
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Bojan drums J.S. Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
Bojan Sambolec is a drummer I met at a heavy metal festival in 2019. He’s part of the Schema Collective community. Now we’re both in Brisbane/Gold Coast reggae band Roaring Lion, a Bob Marley tribute band. Bojan’s wanted to play reggae forever, and I just feel like I’m in the best dream. Like how did… Continue reading
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Chopin’s Nocturne in E Flat, for Bojan — YouTube
Recently, Roaring Lion’s new drummer Bojan said he loves Chopin nocturnes. So I’m in the school music studio, and I’ve got a gap. Here you go Bojan, Nocturne in E flat. Continue reading
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Rehearsing with Bob Marley tribute band ROARING LION
This is a new journey for me… I can’t believe I’m getting to do this. It’s so cool. I went to rehearse with Gold Coast reggae band Roaring Lion. Well, I guess it was an audition really. Band leader Glen sent me a song list and I’ve been listening and playing and scribbling frantic notes… Continue reading
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‘Origins’ by EASTMODE
‘Origins’ is the first music video from EASTMODE, a collective of Brisbane-based Asian Australian rappers. I love that they’re writing, defining, collaborating, making an artistic statement. They care. They’re beautiful. They brought me into The Fam, and I’m humbled by it. Videographer and rapper David Deggs Fischer even included me in the video. When I… Continue reading
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Piano Man. Taking the panel off my Beale — video
I removed the front panel of my Beale piano! I thought it would be fun to see all those moving hammers. Some of my students don’t know what’s inside an old-fashioned piano, so I played a short version of Billy Joel’s ‘Piano Man’, the quintessential pub piano bar song, for my kids. Here are a… Continue reading
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Eastmode video shoot – BTS
EASTMODE is a collective of four Brisbane-based hip hop artists, and they are launching their EP ‘Origins’ with a music video. Art evolves over time and these seasoned rappers have come together to make music to please themselves rather than chase a trend. The Eastmode musicians all have Asian roots, from the Solomon Islands, Vietnam,… Continue reading
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Chong Ali at the Flamin’ Galah
Photography 📷 @le_akira Last year I reviewed Chong Ali at The Flamin’ Galah for Scenestr, but I never put it on my blog. In these Covid lock-down times I thought it would be good to relive some of that. I’ve reshaped it and have included more photos. Akira Le took all the photos, and it… Continue reading
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Andre Bonetti
Above: Andre Bonetti in Greshka at SCHEMA Festival 2019. Photo by SCHEMA Collective I write about Andre Bonetti every year. I’m mad about his 17-piece metal jazz big band Valtozash Bigband, and have likened him to enfant terrible Django Bates who unleashed a deliciously cacophonous British jazz orchestra called Loose Tubes upon an unsuspecting world… Continue reading
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The SCHEMA Collective
SCHEMA Festival 2019 was in November and I went there to write a review for Scenestr. Some of the SCHEMA Collective took time out to chat, so here’s more about them. Rashid Alkamraikhi is a co-founder of the Collective, and bass player in bands Massic and Doctor Parallax. His amazing name is Welsh translated into… Continue reading
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‘Going Home’, Haystack Mountain Hermits CD review
Country music is new to me, but the Haystack Mountain Hermits put me right in the picture: tell me a story, let your instruments sing out, and fill my space with your glorious harmonies. This is Australian country music at its finest. If you, or someone you know, loves country, this is a perfect present.… Continue reading
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Got my Arts Ablaze media pass 👍
Just picked up my media pass for Arts Ablaze, which runs from October 1 – 6 at the Ramada Resort Kooralbyn Valley. Hope to listen to great music and write a nice piece for Scenestr. Check out the Arts Ablaze website to find out what’s on. There are a lot of big tents and artistic… Continue reading
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Chong Ali and Akira Le: growing the fam
Photo of Chong Ali by Akira Le. A lovely thing has happened to me. I am meeting creative Asians in Queensland. You know, the ones who didn’t pursue STEM careers. There are a lot of them! I started meeting some on film sets. Then I joined the Asian Creative Network on Facebook, and was invited… Continue reading
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Review: Laughing Buddha by Chong Ali
Laughing Buddha is a new single by Vietnamese Australian emcee Chong Ali, who hails from Brisbane. It premiered on Australian music portal Tone Deaf on July 23 2019. I love this. Chong Ali is a poet. With a big heart and a fighting spirit, he is an inspirational voice for his community. More about him… Continue reading
About Joanna
Joanna is British Australian. Her early career was in financial news in London. That ended in 2008. Joanna moved to Sabah, her parents’ birthplace, where she wrote a blog about musicians, which became a book. Joanna came to Australia in 2012 and started this blog — her second. These days, she writes mostly about music, her garden, and trips to Sabah. Oh, and Wookie the Havanese.
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