Tag Archives: environmental portrait It is addictive: five days of quality blues-and-roots (and beyond) musicians from around the world, all in one family-friendly location. There were so many international performers to choose from at this year’s Easter long-weekend Byron Bay Bluesfest that I’ve broken my posts into sections (see: Spotlight on International Performers; Old Rockers, Punk and Protest) – and, there […]  ‘Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.’ This sense of dislocation – in a positive way – often arises when travelling off the beaten track. In Southern Ethiopia, I was so far off the popular routes that most of the ‘highways’ I was on weren’t paved! Around the city of Arba Minch – […]  The earthquake in Nepal in April 2015 killed more than 8,800 people in that country, injured nearly three times that many, and left nearly 3.5 million homeless. As a further blow to the national psyche, numerous precious historical religious buildings were damaged or destroyed. Many of these were contributors to the 1979 UNESCO World-Heritage listing […]  I love Bluesfest! Byron Bay Bluesfest, the annual five-day Easter long-weekend festival of blues and roots music from around the world, always includes a line-up of interesting international visitors. Some are big names that take me back to my youth (see, for example: Bring on the Big Names; The Soundtrack of my Youth; Musical Name-Dropping; The […]  There are places where you can truly “get away from it all” – away from the trappings of modern life: phone and internet coverage, electricity and running water, roads and basic infrastructure … Of course, you have to get there; and then, unless you are hardy enough to stay in the wilds forever, you have […] |
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