MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
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ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
COSMOPOLITAN to her very musical core, pianist Makiko Hirabayashi was born in Tokyo in 1966. Her mother was a pianist and English teacher and her father worked in the motor industry.
They moved to Hong Kong, where Hirabayashi spent her teenage years imbibing electropop, new wave, punk, reggae, rock and the classics before gaining a scholarship to Berklee jazz conservatoire, where she became fascinated by Boston’s live music scene and was inspired by pianists Keith Jarrett, McCoy Tyner and Joe Zawinul.
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