Yearly Archives: 2016

Australia is home to the world’s oldest living culture. Indigenous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures are complex and diverse, dating back at least 50,000 years. As distinctive as these groups are from each other and from other indigenous populations around the world, they share a number of issues related to maintaining cultural traditions in a modern, changing world. […]

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(Double click to start Tullamore Blues by Irish Mythen) It’s a small world, right? We were at the Byron Bay Bluesfest (Back to the Roots) recently. On the Saturday, we walked into the Delta tent to hear the delightful celtic accent and the cheeky, cackling laughter of Irish Mythen, a singer-songwriter born and raised in […]

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Tennessee is in the middle of “The South”; Middle Tennessee is – as you’d expect – in the middle of the state; and the area south of Nashville is – more or less – “the middle” of the middle. Middle Tennessee is known for its farms, beautiful horses, rolling green landscape, and bluegrass-country music. Although it is defined by the serpentine curves of the Tennessee River, it […]

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<<Knock, knock, knock!>> “The cooking class is starting upstairs,” said one of the boat’s crew through a closed cabin door downstairs. “I guess the optional cooking class is not so ‘optional’!” I whispered to my husband, laughing. We were already standing in the dining room of our purpose-built traditional Chinese junk, waiting. I was keen to watch […]

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This year marked the 27th annual Byron Bay Bluesfest – that celebration of Blues and Roots music held every Easter in the sub-tropical Autumn on Australia’s East Coast. I love it! Now, I know I’ve said that before (Back to the Roots), but what else can you say about a collection of top-notch artists that ranges from acoustic solo performers and one-man […]

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