Annettework » Radio

Vale John Blades

Annette Shun Wah — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:23:09 +0000

John Blades was a performance artist, broadcaster, structural engineer and dear friend. He passed away on 25 Nov 2011. Despite suffering a debilitating case of MS, that left him with no movement below the neck, John refused to be defined by his illness. With a fierce determination he lived life to the full, performing and recording with his experimental group, The Loop Orchestra, pursuing his eclectic and rather eccentric interests in true crime, experimental sound, Outsider Art and what he termed “extreme human expression”, and making his fortnightly radio show Background Noise for 2MBS FM. Back in 1990 I interviewed John and colleague Peter Doyle about The Loop Orchestra. In 2010, John received one of his highest accolades, winning the Walkley Award for Social Equity Journalism for the radio documentary The too hard basket, a candid and insightful exploration of sex and disability. The documentary also won the The Human Rights Award and Best Documentary from the Asian Broadcasting Union. One of his interviewees was sex worker Rachel Wotton the subject of a video documentary Scarlet Road: A Sex Worker’s Journey. John features briefly in the program. He died two weeks shy of his 52nd birthday, with so much more to do.

John Blades in 1990

Fatoumata Diawara

Annette Shun Wah — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 02:37:31 +0000

First there was Oumou Sangare. Then came Rokia Traore. Now the latest female singing sensation from the Wassoulou region of Mali in West Africa is Fatoumata Diawara. She toured in January and gave a stunning performance in the Spiegeltent at Sydney Festival. And she’s on my Global Beat radio program on Qantas inflight. If you’re flying internationally from December 2011 to February 2012, tune in for a listen. Check out this clip from YouTube for Kanou from her album Fatou.

Fatoumata Diawara - Fatou

The Noise

Annette Shun Wah — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 06:50:16 +0000

By now you may be wondering “what was that music show she used to host?” It was The Noise, 1986-1992. I produced and fronted the show, bringing over the same sensibilities I’d developed working on air at Triple J. And in those days, SBS TV was pretty free and easy, so you could make some daring TV. I interviewed hundreds of musos from Nick Cave to Public Enemy, and filmed some pretty special performances. They were good times! This brilliant image was designed by artist Reg Mombassa of Mental as Anything and Dog Trumpet fame.