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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
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
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