John Shand Posts

March 12, 2013 / Features - Archive

A party in the Balkans is unimaginable without two things: brass instruments and alcohol. Goran Bregovic may appear to have much the same needs. Despite the astonishing breadth of music that he composes (for performance and film) a brass band is never far away, and nor, if his unforgettable 2008…

February 2, 2013 / Features - Archive

When music is banned in the north of your country, and those who persist in making it are threatened with having their fingers amputated, the stakes of being a musician have just been raised. But, as Rokia Traore knows, the stakes were always high in Mali, the epicentre of African…

January 31, 2013 / Concert Reviews - Archive

City Recital Hall, January 15, 2013  This was as close as Sydney will come to hearing Robert Wyatt in person. His disembodied voice was in the room, as were his songs. France’s young Orchestre National de Jazz performed material from its Around Robert Wyatt album, containing reinventions of the intrepid…