The Intersection - Eastside FM

And that's a wrap for Season 1 of The Intersection. Thanks for all your support and engagement. Send any feedback, gripes or suggestions for future topics to theintersection@eastidefm.org. We'll be back here in this feed with updates along the way.

For Part 2 of Episode 6, we hand over to musician and broadcaster, Preston Peachey. Preston is a Wiradjuri and Malyangapa man who grew up in Sydney. Having played drums in local bands since the age of 14, he went on to study community development while looking at Aboriginal music through that lens. He now works in community engagement on Gadigal Country. His approach for this segment was to show the diversity of style and culture that is paired with everything from songs of political action, to ceremony, to personal reflections and healing. We loved having Preston on the show. Playlist  Emma Donovan and the Putbacks: Mob March  Rona: Closure  Nai Palm & Jason Guwanbool Gurruwiwi: Wititji (Lightning Strike)  Barkaa: For My Tittas  Alice Skye: Friends With Feelings  Drmngnow ft. Emily Wurramara: Get Back To the Land  Electric Fields: Pukulpa  Dan Sultan: It Belongs To Us (piano version)

It became known as “the Great Australian Silence”. The way in which white Australia failed to recognize its Indigenous history. In this episode of The Intersection we look at a few ways in which, from a personal perspective, music tried to counter that silence. Playlist: Eleanor Dixon: My Spirit Is Free No Fixed Address: Vision (Version) Tactics: Buried Country Tactics: A Long Story Tactics: Standing By The Window Tactics: Gold Watch  Tactics: The Usual Galarway Yunupingu: Gurindji Blues (Poor Bugger Me) Black Allan Barker: Run Dingo Run Mac Silva: Malabar Mansion Vic Simms: The Loner Vic Simms: Stranger In My Country Vic Simms: Poor Folk's Happiness Dougie Young: Cuttin' The Rug Dougie Young: Land Where The Crow Flies Backwards Dougie Young: They Say It's A Crime Frank Yamma: She Cried Ruby Hunter: Ngarrindji Woman Kankawa Nagarra :: Krien Por Country 

For each episode we follow up the main segment with an interview to further explore the themes of the show. Our special guest for this episode is musician and activist Keyna Wilkins. In recent years she has been involved in some extraordinary collaborations with refugees trapped in Australia’s indefinite detention regime. In one case at least, the publicity from the collaboration led to the release of an artist detained for the previous nine years. Playlist: Mohammad Maleki &  Keyna Wilkins: Silence Lands

In Episode 5 of The Intersection, we make it into the 21st Century. Millennium Blues looks at that fraught period in Australia - Howard, Hanson, Tampa, 9/11, War on Terror, a rise in xenophobia and a backlash against First Nations' people's claims to justice. In particular we look at a 2003 song from Sydney hiphop band The Herd which addressed these issues in the most emphatic of ways. Playlist The Herd: 77%  Unkle Ho: Spaghetti Eastern   Pasobionic: Empty Beat  Pasobionic: Echoes of Blue  Combat Wombat: Asylum  Naretha Willaims: Chaos Country   The Herd: I Was Only 19   Jane Tyrrell: Echoes In The Aviery   Sampa The Great: Final Form  AB Original: January 26  Ziggy Ramo: April 25  Barkaa: Our Lives Matter  Jalal Mahamede and Keyna Wilkins: Set Me Free

We follow up each episode of The Intersection with an interview with an expert on the topic. Our special guest for Episode 4 is historian and musicologist Kay Dreyfus. Her 2013 book,,’Silence and Secrets – the Weintraub Syncopators in Australia’, introduced many people to this extraordinary story.

The Weintraub Syncopators were the hottest jazz band in Weimar Germany. But after the Nazi party passed the first anti-Jewish laws, the Syncopators decided to embark on what was perhaps the longest world tour by any band in history. It ended in an internment camp in rural Australia. This episode traces an epic journey of music, intrigue, war, xenophobia and survival. Playlist Weintraub Syncopators – Heut spelt mein Sebastian Marlene Dietrich – Jonny Marlene Dietrich  - Ich hab' noch einen Koffer in Berlin Marlene Dietrich  - Lili Marleen (German version) Marlene Dietrich  - Lili Marleen (English version) Marlene Dietrich – Falling In Love Again Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra - Chinatown My Chinatown Marlene Dietrich with Friedrich Hollaender & Weintraub Syncopators – Blonde Women Friedrich Hollaender & Weintraub Syncopators – Up and At ‘Em Die Weintraubs – Mein Schatz vom Tegernsee Weintraub Syncopators – Isle of Capri Weintraub Syncopators – Jo-Jo Friedrich Hollaender & Weintraub Syncopators – Jackass Blues Weintraub Syncopators – Nur in Sebastopol Weintraub Syncopators – Honolulu Baby Weintraub Syncopators with Rudolf Nelson – Wenn Du Meine Tante Siehst Franz Waxman - Dance and Angela (piano version) Friedrich Hollaender & Weintraub Syncopators – Marion Weintraub Syncopators – Auf Dein Wohl Brad Annis (Double Bass - Israel Philharmonic Orchestra) – Solo from Mahler Symphony No. 1 (Original recording) Weintraub Syncopators – Das Geheimnis des Dr Lari Fari

Our special guest is historian and activist Gary Foley. A Gumbayngirr man, Gary Foley has been at the forefront of Indigenous activism for over fifty years and was a key figure in the Bicentennial protests.

1988 in Australia. On the musical front, it was seriously divided between the mainstream music industry and the alternative/underground scene, yet both sides had their eyes on the international stage. But there was a bigger issue; 1988 marked the Bicentennial of the British invasion of Aboriginal lands. Indigenous activists were waiting to protest any celebrations. It was this that the international media focused on. Playlist Minced Meat: The World's Got Everything In It NO: 200 Years Kev Carmody: Black Deaths In Custody James Freud: One Fine Day Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: City Of Refuge The Triffids: Jerdacuttup Man King Snake Roost: Gutterbreath Distant Locusts: Father's Suit Matrimony: Whirlpool Head Box The Jesuit: Three Cheers For The Pancreas Slub: Rootman Beasts of Bourbon: Door To Your Soul Umkulu: Boomerang Gondwana: Swamp No Fixed Address: Pigs The Gravy: Spirit Of The Land SPK: Kambuja Kev Carmody: Thou Shalt Not Steal

Our special guest is journalist and broadcaster John Highfield. Best known for his 35 years on ABC Radio, it is not so well known that John was a teenage employee of the Lee Gordon organisation in the early 1960s. His recollections are fascinating. Playlist  Chubby Checker: The Fly

Australia may have "turned to America" during WWII, but culturally, it was still doggedly British. This changed in the 1950s. We look at one arbiter of the change -  Lee Gordon -  an American with a shady backstory who arrived in Sydney in 1953 and within a year had created the Australian concert circuit! And how! But it's a very strange story too, and poses a lot of questions....   Hear choice samples from some of the acts Gordon brought to Australia; Little Richard, Eddie Cochran, LaVern Baker and more. Playlist Lee Gordon: Get The Message Elmer Bernstein: The Street Eddie Cochran: Scratchin' Gene Vincent: Catman Frank Sinatra: I Got The World On A String Ella Fitzgerald: Ella Hums The Blues Johnnie Ray: Lotus Blossom LaVern Baker: Tiny Tim Elvis Presley: Reconsider Baby Alis Lesley: Handsome Man Johnny O'Keefe: Don't You Know Chuck Berry: Downbound Train Little Richard: Directly From My Heart The Leemen: Make Love To Me Lee Gordon: She's The Ginchiest

Our special guest to discuss the themes of the White Australia Blues episode is historian Deirdre O’Connell. She has written at length on the Sonny Clay tour and its background. Her extraordinary 2021 book, ‘Harlem Nights – the Secret History of Australia’s Jazz Age’ was hugely influential in the making of this episode. This interview explores elements of the story that we heard in Part 1. Playlist Mitchell's Jazz Kings: Montemarte Rag

The Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 heralded the White Australia Policy. This culture of whiteness would inevitably affect music in Australia. In this episode we look at the 1928 tour by Sonny Clay’s Colored Idea, the first African-American jazz band to tour Australia. We also look at ways the White Australia Policy continued to affect music even after the policy was dismantled. Playlist Louis Armstrong: Basin Street Blues Sonny Clay's Plantation Orchestra: Jambled Blues Sonny Clay's Plantation Orchestra: Plantation Blues Sonny Clay's Plantation Orchestra: Devil's Serenade Leon Rene's Orchestra: I'm An African Sonny Clay's Plantation Orchestra: Gang O'Blues The Caretaker: Weeping Ballroom Sonny Clay's Plantation Orchestra: Front Room Blues Louis Jordan: Caledonia Roy Brown: Good Rockin' Tonight Georgia Lee: Yarra River Blues Ella Fitzgerald: Come To My House Dizzy Gillespie: I Know That You Know Chuck Berry: Back In The USA Miles Davis: Right Off Last Poets: On The Subway Talking Heads: Listening Wind The Herd: 77%

A series focussing on the intersection between music and history, The Intersection traces the evolution of ideas, social norms and cultural forms in Australia – and the characters and events behind them. Sometimes shocking, with dramatic twists along the way, be prepared for an immersive journey into the surprising moments that shaped our lives and tastes today, and the role that music, musicians, promoters, the media and audiences played within it. An audio documentary, produced by Two Star Studios, sits at the heart of each weekly episode, followed by interviews with academics in the field. As you listen, you’ll be captivated by music from different eras and genres – from 100 years ago until today – and will hear it in ways you’ve never quite heard it before.