GRATITUDE AND GRIEF (Kin/Universal) 8/10 The dichotomy could not be wider, and yet it is exactly this that makes the album work so well. Firstly Michael Leunig reads one of his picture-of-innocence, charm-laden, spell-casting poems in his uniquely lugubrious way, and then that same poem is set to music and…
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State Theatre, November 1 5.5/10 Nelson Mandela’s is one of the great triumph-over-adversity stories. Jailed for 27 years by a regime bereft of morality, he maintained his courage, stoicism and honour, and eventually led his people out of the hell of apartheid. That story deserved better than this hot-and-cold musical.…
Talk about being ahead of the game. In 2013 jazz singer Charenee Wade recorded Offering, an album reimagining the politically-charged r&b of the late Gil Scott-Heron, whose defiant 1970s-80s anthems (such as The Revolution Will Not Be Televised) are among hip hop’s precursors. Offering came three years before Trump was…