STEVE ANDREW enjoys an account of the many communities that flourished independently of and in resistance to the empires of old
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Stirring songs of love, madness and obsession Mon Dec 18
TOM STONE urges you to catch the last dates of a New York singer/songwriter, never afraid to challenge her audiences musically or politically
JAN WOOLF examines work that aims to give viewers a material experience of the environments in the polar north and Britain equally affected by the climate crisis
The bard recalls advice received 50 years ago from his TRB muse, and sorts out appropriate legislation for football club ownership
MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE review Facing War, Kontinental ’25, Bugonia, and Relay
MAYER WAKEFIELD is frustrated by a production of Ibsen’s classic study of an anti-heroine that fails to elucidate her motivations
PETER MASON tunes his ear into the domestic affairs of a Carribbean couple with a troublesome son
Naomi Bedford and Paul Simmonds
Songs My Ruiner Gave To Me
(Dusty Willow)
NAOMI BEDFORD wrote and sang Orbital’s hit Funny Break while Paul Simmonds is one of The Men They Couldn’t Hang, both bands highly politicised and highly successful.
Now, as in private life, they’ve teamed up and what a combination they prove to be. They give the modern ballad an enviable depth in musical texture, as well as thoughtful lyrics with a distinct literary quality.
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GEORGE FOGARTY is mesmerised by the messages made when jazz is played by people who grew up steeped in jungle and hip-hop
LEIGH CARRIAGE remembers Roberta Flack, a spellbinding virtuoso of musical interpretation
New releases from The Jim Mullen Quartet, Caroline Kraabel/John Edwards, and Matthew Muneses/Riza Printup
