July 2015

Jesse Younan Tribute

some years ago, when i was regularly performing around the Sydney acoustic scene, i would often find myself on the same bill as a local singer/songwriter/guitarist named Jesse Younan. Jesse had an amazing stage presence more than matched by his skills as a singer/songwriter/guitarist. In 2008 sadlly Jesse passed away from Leukemia aged 35 and as seems to be the way of the world without a lot of recognition

Last year I met Jesse's brother Emad for the first time at a Nick Drake tribute at the Camelot Lounge that we were both performing at. Emad, who is also a gifted singer/songwriter/guitarist, invited me to perform at a tribute night for Jesse. So on Friday 10th July 2015 I will be performing a Tribute in Jesse Younan's honour at the Camelot Lounge in Marrickville. Click here for details 

April 2015

festivals

i will be performing at two festivals in April

The first will be over the Easter long weekend at the National Folk Festival held in Exhibition Park Canberra ACT. I have the great fortune of having Rita Woolhouse accompanying me on Cello. Rita is an amazing musician and I am very honoured to have her share the stage with me

the second festival will be the St Albans Folk Festival held 24th to 26th April at the beautiful little town of St Albans NSW. I played at last year's festival and am more than pleased to return to this beautiful event. see the gig page of this site for more details

hope to see you at one or both of them

 

September 2014

an intimate night of performance and song

i will be doing a very special performance at the Uniting Church 142 Katoomba St Katoomba on saturday 13th september. The evening will feature just myself and local performer the wonderful Anna Feord. This promises to be a great night.

for further details visit the gigs page of this site or my facebook page

November 2013

new facebook page & new youtube clips

through necessity rather than want i've created a new facebook page which you can access by clicking here. i've also put up 2 new youtube clips from a performance at dream brother: a tribute to tim & jeff buckley which was held at the vanguard in newtown a couple of years ago. You can view them on my youtube channel by clicking here or through my videos page on this site by clicking here

October 2013

update

for those of you who've been wondering where i've been, i haven't been gigging much around town of late because i'm determined to finish my album 'here beneath the sun' and have been trying to avoid any distractions from that goal

that said i do have another couple of gigs up in November namely, The Shack at Narrabeen on the 2nd and a tribute to Jeff & Tim Buckley at the Brass Monkey in Cronulla on the 20th

May 2013

update

just a quick update to let you know of a couple of gigs coming up

saturday 11th may i'll be performing 3 neil young songs as part of a neil young tribute being held at the forest lodge hotel at 117 arundel st glebe

saturday 18th may @ 6pm on the berry stage @the northern beaches music festival in narrabeen

these gigs are little closer to home for a change

December 2012

update

well 2012 sure went by in a flash. This is just a brief update to see the year out

as mentioned earlier i had a chance to whip out my electric and played lead guitar on a homage to the late Mike Bloomfield. The song 'the sound of mike bloomfield's guitar' written and performed by Paul Buckberry of Buck & Deanne and The Amazing 3 fame. you can check out the official youtube clip here. The album from which the song came from "The Busker & The Choir Girl" which was released at The Factory Theatre in Marrickville, Australia in October, and what a great night it was! and one last thing whilst on the subject of all things Buck & Deanne - it appears i wrongly stated that i'd played session guitar on The Amazing 3's album when in fact i should have said Buck & Deanne...apologies to anyone i may have offended

I'll be starting off the new year with some shows at the Illawarra Folk Festival in Bulli NSW Australia. This is set to be an amazing festival with some great acts like Chris Gillespie & the Wandering Hands and The Amazing 3 as well as Jeff Lang and many many more

so from me have a happy festive season and a woderful 2013!!!

August 2012

update

just a quick heads up on what is and is to be happening in my world. Of course I'm still working on the long long overdue album 'Here Beneath the Sun'....soon soon!!

Earlier on in the year I played some session lead guitar for Sydney based trio The Amazing 3. It was great to get a chance to get the electric out again. They will be launching their new album at the Factory Theatre in October and I am honoured to be joining them for a song or two on the night

I will be performing on September 1 at The Shack in Narrabeen and also from the 14th -16th at The Turning Wave Festival in Yass. I have updated the gigs page where you'll be able to find out more info by clicking on the links

march 2012

new review of The Curious Tide

I have just posted a new review of my latest album, The Curious Tide, from a webzine called Heathen Harvest. The review all the way from Portland Oregon in the US was contributed by Henry Lauer of Ironwood, an amazing musician himself, who also kindly reviewed both The Forest Dark and my Self-Titled album. Check out the Press page of this site to read

Click here to visit the Heathen Harvest website

february 2012

update

I will have the good fortune of playing at the Northern Beaches Music Festival which runs from 17th to 19th of Feb at Narrabeen NSW...should be fun

also

On the festival front I will be playing at the wonderful St Albans Folk Festival from 20th to 22nd of April and will be heading down to the National Folk Festival over Easter to do some blackboards and whatever else comes up

december 2011

If you have not noticed me in the gig guides lately it's because i've been busy trying to complete, the now too overdue too mention album, Here Beneath the Sun. One of the advantages of self-producing is that you can take a project in whatever way you want and continually fine-tune....the problem with that is that it leads to a lot of reworking and reworking :-)

In my defence though I did actually totally remaster The Curious Tide after its initial release and have just uploaded 3 of the tracks on my myspace profile

As yet my only confirmed show will be at the Northern Beaches Music Festival in February 2012. You can check out the details here

Anyway, a very merry festive season to you all and big things for 2012 xo

If you have not noticed me in the gig guides lately it's because i've been busy trying to complete, the now too overdue too mention album, Here Beneath the Sun. One of the advantages of self-producing is that you can take a project in whatever way you want and continually fine-tune....the problem with that is that it leads to a lot of reworking and reworking :-) 

In my defence though I did actually totally remaster The Curious Tide after its initial release and have just uploaded 3 of the tracks on my myspace profile

As yet my only confirmed show will be at the Northern Beaches Music Festival in February 2012. You can check out the details here

Anyway, a very merry festive season to you all and big things for 2012 xo

september 2011

new addition to my instrument family

The wonderful Bruce White has crafted a brand new addition to my musical instrument family. This instrument was made from a biscuit tin along the same lines as a biscuit tin guitar (google biscuit tin guitar if you're not familiar with them) but has a similar string configuration to an Appalachian Dulcimer (reversed) and a sound resembling a sitar. Hence I have named it a Dulcitar. Can't wait to record with it

Check out Bruce's Palm Frond instrument website here 

april 2011

Over the Easter weekend i had the good fortune to play some shows at the 45th National Folk Festival in Canberra. Alongside my solo performances i played a guitar forum alongside Andrew Vievers, Pete Fidler, Michael Fix and Fiona Boyes and conducted a workshop on Alternate Tunings for acoustic guitar. Always a fun and rewarding experience

If you want to check out the National Folk Festival's website for yourself click here

new album

I have just released a new album titled 'The Curious Tide'. This is the third of a series of folk based albums which i've totally self-produced. As with 'michael-john azzopardi (self-titled)' and 'The Forest Dark', 'The Curious Tide' features new original material alongside reworked traditional songs and instrumentals

To listen to samples of the album click here

To read the lyrics click here

To read song notes for each track click here

And to purchase the album click here

update Dec 2010

Have been in musical hibernation working on the album and trying to get my head around a swag of new Audio editing/production software, so not much to report besides....

festivals and other shows

November saw me getting out of the studio and back on stage with first-time performances at both the Kangaroo Valley Folk Festival and Folk  In Broke. Great little festivals in beautiful locations with much fun had by performer and punter alike. Also played tribute to the wonderful late Tim and Jeff Buckley at the Vanguard

new addition

I am now the proud owner of an Octave Mandolin who I've named Ondine. She's beautiful and should be making appearances on my recordings very soon

Paypal now accepted

  Acceptance Mark

Anyone with a Paypal account or major credit card can now purchase my albums directly from this website. Just go to the store page of this site and click on the relative 'Buy Now' button

update

Well, well it's been a while since I've updated this page, in case you haven't noticed. So I thought I'd best let you know what's been happening  musically for me

frond cello

In recent months I've become the proud owner of a beautiful new Cello handcrafted from Palm fronds and wood etc. by the amazingly talented Bruce White. Now my Frondolica (see below) won't feel so alone and I can't wait to be able to get some serious recording done with these instruments

You can check out some of Bruce's other instruments on his website which you can get to by clicking here

new album update

Yes, I haven't given up on thinking I can finish this way overdue project. In fact I'm getting onto the home stretch

Just to refresh your memory the new album 'Here beneath the Sun' will be an acoustic-based album in a more contemporary/rock/whatever style. Everything on this album will have been recorded and performed by me with the exception of some wonderful percussion on three of the tracks by the extremely talented multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter/performer/dancer Manthy Loucataris aka Mahri Autumn who self -recorded her percussion performances for my album

Fingers crossed, the album should be out in some form this year

Gigs

Not much to report because I've not been doing much on this front in recent times. Partly because I'm trying to finish an album and partly because the D.I.Y process is time consuming, I have not found a way of making more hours in the day and because life, in general, has a habit of getting in the way of things

You can visit the gigs page, which I've just updated, to find out where I'm playing next or join my mailing list which you can do by simply going to the contact page of this site

new review

I have just posted a new review of my latest album, The Forest Dark, from a webzine called Heathen Harvest. The review was contributed by Henry Lauer of Ironwood, an amazing musician himself, who also kindly reviewed my Self-Titled album. Check out the Press page of this site to read

Click here to visit the Heathen Harvest website

Frondolica Azzopardi

I am stoked to be the proud new owner of a wonderful new musical instrument, whatsmore, a unique instrument designed and made exclusively for me!!. You all know I play guitar and if you have any of my albums you'll also know I make noise out of a whole stack of other instruments. I love the soundscapes that other instruments can evoke and for a long long time now, I've dreamt of having a room full of them that I could easily get lost in

So if you're wondering about the heading of this news item. It's the name christened by its maker, Bruce White. Bruce makes musical instruments out of Palm tree Fronds. Each instrument is as unique as the Fronds used to make them. Bruce lovingly fashions these instruments, each one different to the next, from double bass to balalaika to guitar to you-name-it

My Frondolica is a six stringed instrument of four notes (ie: two single strings and two coupled strings) which can be plucked or played with a bow (also made from Palm by Bruce). The sound is exquisite, part Cello part Mandola (or Irish Bouzouki) but that description doesn't do it justice. I guess you'll just have to wait until it pops up in one of my recordings

Whilst Bruce named it the Frondolica Azzopardi I've shortened that to simply Frondolica. I can't wait to be able to record with it

You can check out some of Bruce's other instruments on his website which you can get to by clicking here

gig update

I have a couple of local shows to announce, besides M.A.S.S. that is. Namely Thursday 2nd of July I'll be performing at Absolute Soirees held in Absolute photography Studios 66 Bondi Rd Bondi. This is run by some very talented musicians in their own right and should be a pretty special evening. Click here to visit my Gig page for more details

The other show be a Sydney Launch fundraiser for the Turning Wave Festival that I will be performing at in September. This gig is on Saturday 15th August at the Gaelic Club Surry Hills. Details are still to come Click here to visit my Gig page for further details closer to the date

I have not played at either of these venues before so it should be great

festival update

I am pleased to announce that I have been accepted to perform, once again, at the Turning Wave Festival 2009 to be held in September this year in the beautiful historic town of Gundagai. I played this festival last year for the first time and really enjoyed it so needless to say I'm looking forward to returning there. Exact details are still to come. Check back on the gigs page of this site later on or click here visit the festival's  website

new album

I have just released a brand new album titled 'The Forest Dark'. This is another folk based album recorded primarily for the folk circuit and is the second fully self produced album. It contains originals alongside traditional songs and a few instrumentals

To listen to samples of the album click here

To read the lyrics click here

To read song notes for each track click here

And to purchase the album click here

more festivals

April (2009) been a busy month festival-wise, with performances and guitar workshops at the National Folk Festival in Canberra over the Easter weekend and at St Albans folk festival over the Anzac day weekend. Much fun was had and I received much praise from the very kind patrons of both events Judging by the attendance and feedback, my workshops seemed to have been a big hit, which is wonderful and very heartening

new review

I have just posted a new review of my Self-Titled album from a webzine called Heathen Harvest. The review was contributed by Henry Lauer of Ironwood, an amazing musician himself. Check out the Press page of this site to read

Click here to visit the Heathen Harvest website

festivals

I have had the good fortune to have performed at two festival in the last month, Peats Ridge Sustainable Arts Festival and the 24th Illawarra Folk festival. Both successful ventures I might add

I'm finding festivals and other venues outside of Sydney most fulfilling. The Audiences are appreciative and I get a chance to meet and network with fellow performers

session playing

I have had the good fortune of becoming acquainted with Mahri Autum, an extremely talented singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist and have had the honour of playing some session guitar on a few of her songs 

Check out Mahri's music here and here

 website update

You may have noticed this site has been revamped. Unfortunately some porno cyber scum decided to infest the entire website with links for Viagra and wipe about ninety percent of the data from the site just for good measure. You may have even noticed the same your self

You will note some changes to content of the site, such as the removal of the Gallery page. The site will be under construction for a little longer whilst I consider alternatives. Stay tuned for updates

album update

My long overdue new album “Here Beneath the Sun” unfortunately is still unfinished due to unforeseen circumstances and an inability to find time. That said, the album is in the  final edit stage, so hopefully not too much longer

gigs

On the live front, most of my performances of late have been at festivals and folk clubs etc and not much in the way of local pub-type gigs. I do however have a couple of more local shows coming up, click here to visit the gigs page for more details

2008

album progress

a long time coming is michael's new album ' here beneath the sun'. with the final selection of songs laid down, final edits are now underway. the album will be totally self produced by

michael from performance to recording

TradandNow

copies of 'room' and michael's 'self titled' album will now be available for purchase through TradandNow an international music magazine and store. TradandNow features news, reviews and information on traditional and contemporary music, dance and storytelling and reports on live performances in australia and beyond

Wildwood instruments

michael uses a mandolin and dulcimer handcrafted by Wildwood Instruments. Wildwood will be opening there new store in brunswick, victoria in april. a supply of michael's self titled album on which michael uses his Wildwood mandolin will be available for sale in the new store

music update

michael has just returned from the national folk festival in canberra where he performed on various stages and blackboard events and got a chance to see some amazing local and overseas artists

upcoming shows

michael will be performing at kelly's on king irish pub at newtown on april 7 and the folkus room in canberra on april 11 and at st alban's folk festival on april 25 - 27

July 2007

solid air a tribute to nick drake

Tuesday 31st July  there'll be a nick drake tribute night at the Basement in sydney. The night will be called solid air and will also be a launch for "jeremy flies'" a double CD combining both australian releases namely  jeremy flies I and jeremy flies II. The new CD is to be released in the UK. Other performers on the night will include Dave Calandra, Chris Gillespie, Andy Gordon and Leroy Lee among others

May 2007

Two new songs posted on myspace

Michael has posted two new songs, waking up and here beneath the sun, on MySpace. Both songs are working versions and will be included on his forthcoming album

April 2007

national folk festival

Michael has just returned from a string of successful performances at the National Folk Festival in Canberra over the Easter weekend

Overall a great festival with fine performances from local, interstate and overseas folk royalty such Alistair Hulett and Dave Swarbrick, Chris Smither and Kristina Olsen

letterbox music showcase

Saturday 21st April Michael will be in the line up of a showcase for Letterbox Music. It takes place at Eastside Music cafe, 395 Oxford St Paddington. Also on the bill will be Peter Miller-Robinson, Zahir (Brian Campeau and Ben Kidson) and Vic Farrell

March 2007

upcoming shows

From time to time Michael performs the odd tribute show for artists who have inspired him. Saturday 31st March, Michael will be performing at a Bob Dylan Tribute at the Sandringham Hotel in Newtown. Then the following week will be performing at the National Folk Festival in Canberra. The National takes place over the Easter week end annually and showcases local, interstate and overseas acts. For further details visit their website www.folkfestival.asn.au

the new website

Welcome to Michael's new official website michaelazzopardi.com. This site is still very much under construction so keep checking

back regularly for updates or subscribe to Michael's mailing list to keep informed of site news and upcoming events. This site aims to be much improved on the old www.mjazz.music.net.au site which is no longer accessible

music update

"Here Beneath the Sun" will be Michael's next album due to be released some time this year. Working copies of a couple of the songs that will appear on the album can be heard at Michael's MySpace site and at Michael's tripleJ Unearthed profile - where you can also download the songs for free 

May/June 2006

new website

Welcome to the new website michaelazzopardi.com. the old website mjazz.music.net.au has been a bit too unreliable. being it was free site the server kept going off line and whilst, at the time of writing it's online, i cannot update it. hopefully this site should be an improvement on the last

myspace profile

There is now a myspace profile up in my name. there you can preview new songs which will be included on the new album when released later this year (fingers crossed). You can also write a comment and write a blog entry if you wish. the web address is....www.myspace.com/michaeljohnazzopardi

March/April 2006

new side project album

In march i commenced recording material for a folk-based album specifically to take with me to the national folk festival in canberra over easter. the album includes new versions of beast and bells of st andrew's plus a few traditional english/irish songs. it also includes 2 instrumentals and recordings of peter and meet me. the album will be more in line with the way i perform the material now and will initially be available at the festival and then by mail order or at gigs. there will soon be a page dedicated to the album linked to the music page of this site

February 2006

Chris Whitley tribute

Like i said before i've not been gigging much whilst the album's coming together. i have however agreed to play a couple of songs at a Chris Whitley tribute, details on the gig page. if you haven't heard of Chris Whitley you should. i saw him at the Basement many years ago and was blown away. sadly when i was offered this gig i found out he died of cancer last November. enough said, it's on at the vanguard in newtown and includes the likes of jeff lang and louis tillet and many many more

January 2006

website back from cyber-oblivion

In case you've not noticed the website has changed from mjazz.live.com.au to mjazz.music.net.au. until now i've been unable to update the site due to transfer of host. the site has now been updated and should remain up to date from now on...fingers crossed.

whilst the website was away.....

I've been steering away from gigging and concentrating on the new album which is well on its way and well overdue. i'll be playing a Bob Dylan tribute @ the sandringham hotel, newtown saturday 14 jan. i'll post  details on the gig page shortly. just before the site became inaccessible for updating i was considering including a page on my site dedicated to my general opinion on the state of things as they came to heart and mind (for what it's worth)...will let you know when that's happened. oh yeah...Happy New Year!

October 2005

tribute shows and still laying tracks

All's a little quiet on the gig scene at present....been lying low on that front mainly so i can concentrate on getting my album finished. that said, last friday, oct 7th, i played a jeff buckley tribute @ the northern star in newcastle, i'll be playing at another buckley tribute night, on the 24th november keep checking the gig page for details. And one last gig to mention I'll be playing the local showcase @ the @newtown on thursday 27th october @ 8pm. bye for now

September 2005

 

some more radio play

I've just discovered my take of an irish traditional song "the little drummer" has got some airplay on radio station 2MCE-FM on a program "Come All Ye Folk" which airs from 12 to 2pm every sunday 2MCE-FM is broadcast "across the central west of NSW, Australia, in the cities of Bathurst (92.3 Mhz) and Orange (94.7 Mhz). Bruce Cameron has hosted the program since 1976 which makes it the longest running folk/acoustic/roots program on australian radio still with its original presenter." so if you are in the broadcasting range tune in. it's always great to get airplay and i'm especially honoured to have my recordings on the regional airwaves where they have perhaps not been before

http://www.brucecameron.id.au/radio/

the 6th national folk alliance showcase

I've just returned from the FAA convention in canberra. saw some great acts and got to strut my stuff in front of some music industry types, even sold a CD or two. had a chance to catch up with some good friends who were also at the convention performing or working. also did some networking and attended some workshops....all very useful. all round a great event and i'm glad to have been a part of it

August 2005

I've been busy working on that long overdue album and submitting preparing applications and promo material for festivals and the convention in september...so i haven't been gigging that much this month

July 2005

the 6th national folk alliance showcase

I have just been given a great opportunity to perform at the 6th national folk alliance showcase to be held in canberra on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of september. the showcase provides an avenue to perform in front of key music industry personnel in both the folk and the general music scenes. industry personnel such as major festival organisers, radio, record labels, music journalists etc etc will be there and the convention will provide a platform for performers to network and self promote. very exciting indeed!...and scary i might add

hawkesbury radio appearance

i will be visiting 89.9fm hawkesbury radio for a chat and live to air performance on tuesday 12th july tune in if you can from 8pm

jeremy flies 2 a tribute to nick drake album launch

it's official the nick drake tribute album jeremy flies 2 is going to be officially launched 27th august @ the sandringham hotel newtown....i'll let you know more when i know more

ABC Radio National airplay

last wednesday the 29th june jeremy flies 2 a tribute to nick drake was the featured album on lucky ocean's nightly planet radio show on ABC radio national and i was chuffed to find out he aired my cover of hazey jane 1.jeremy flies 2 is still yet to be released (according to lucky oceans it'll be in july some time @ the basement...who knows) but i'll let you know when i know for sure. in the meantime if you want to have a listen to my cover along with covers from the same album by melanie horsnell and tania bowra click on this link http://www.abc.net.au/rn/music/planet/index/default.htm where you'll find audio of the program at least until wednesday july 6

other news

things are a little quiet on the gig front at the moment...i am trying to concentrate on getting an album together and out. will keep you informed of any developments

June 2005

website updates

i have now included sample mp3s for all the songs from Room. each sample is in mono, mainly because it just sounded better mono rather than stereo, and at a sample rate of 32kbps each sample should download in less than a minute and that's based on a 56k modem net access. just go to the music page and click where it says to click here for album info. that should open a new page titled Room, then go to the track listing and click on the "listen" hyperlinks beside each track. or you can click here to take you directly to the Room page

also...

i have included the lyrics for all the songs. simply click on the the track titles on the Room page or click here to go directly to the lyrics page

also...

a big thank you!!

a big thank you to all of you who have visited this website and particularly all you who have emailed your comments to me and/or signed my guestbook. i can't begin to tell you how much i appreciate that

also...

selling songs from Room

i have been toying with the idea of getting my music hosted for download on sites like mp3.com etc or even making the songs available through this website. the idea would be that you could pay per song and once payment was received i would send a better quality mp3 file to you or burn a CD-R of the tracks you purchased and post it to you. more

on that when i've nutted out the details

May 2005

Guitarist Australia Fret Buzz article

Guitarist Australia magazine issue #3 has hit the newsagents and has a Fret Buzz article about me on

page 26. extracts from the article have been posted on the press page

Tribute Album Launches

as mentioned previously the Jeff Buckley tribute album Stars In My Belly has been released and was launched with a sell out show at the Basement in Sydney on the 18th of may. the Nick Drake tribute album has not yet been officially released and whilst there was a show at the Sandringham Hotel Newtown it apparently was not a launch. Will keep you posted on that front

to April 2005

 lots and lots in the pipeline for 2005

recording

a new album, possibly two, is/are planned for the coming months. initial tracks have been recorded and i'm currently in the process of laying down additional tracks, editing and sorting etc. this/these album(s), like "Room" will be acoustic based recorded live in the studio however this time have been self-recorded and will be, perhaps, a little more stripped-back to better reflect the live performances of the material

also...

film clip

initial footage for a film clip for bells of st andrew's (from Room) has been taken and fingers crossed will be out in the coming months

also...

magazine article

i will have the honour of being featured in a "Fret Buzz" article in Guitarist Australia magazine which should appear in the next couple of months

also...

last year i had the pleasure of contributing my takes on two songs for two tribute albums due for release soon.the songs are Hazey Jane I by Nick Drake for release on "Jeremy Flies II" Umandah Records

and secondly Eternal Life by Jeff Buckley for release on "Stars In My Belly" also through Umandah Records i'm told both of these will be released through labels in the UK and the US