SPAIN’S SHAMEFUL SECRET REVEALED

MICHAEL WALSH MUSIC CORRESPONDENT: As the molten evening sun settles over Seville’s Plaza de Espana the melancholic melody of a guitar completes the rapture. Your head swims with delight to Sueno en la Floresta (Dreams in the Magic Garden). As T.S Elliot observed: ‘Music heard so deeply / […]

Why Australians voted against Aboriginal Voting Rights

Australians have voted against constitutional amendments that would have allowed Indigenous people to create an advisory body that could discuss issues of concern to them with government and Parliament, Australia’s National Tally Room reports. WE WELCOME READERS’ COMMENTS ON OUR STORIES Is apartheid (separation of the race) good […]

The Saint who saved Mariners

MICHAEL WALSH – EX-MARINER Samuel Plimsoll (1824 – 1898) was an English politician and social reformer. He is best remembered for having devised the Plimsoll line. This is a painted watermark on a ship’s hull indicating the ship’s maximum safe draught. If the weight of a loaded cargo pressed the vessel’s […]

A Suspended Coffee, Please

A poorly dressed man asked for a ‘Suspended’ coffee in a cafe. I was very surprised when I learned what this meant! A few years ago, I sat with a friend in a small cozy cafe near the famous city of Venice. While we were enjoying incredibly delicious […]

WHEN THE STAR IS THE GUITAR

MICHAEL WALSH MUSIC CORRESPONDENT: Musically nothing evokes the Spanish experience as does Richard Harvey’s melody Concerto Antico; especially when it is played by John Williams, the internationally acclaimed guitarist. The sincerest form of flattery being imitation, this guitar concerto is adorned in a rich filigree of Spanish lace. […]