NO one should be surprised that the Home Affairs department, with its ambitious minister Peter Dutton and his activist secretary, Mike Pezzullo, is feeling its oats. When Malcolm Turnbull granted Dutton his wish for a mega department, it was obvious how things would go. 

Michelle Grattan

The issue immediately at hand is whether Home Affairs can drag the Australian Signals Directorate – a defence-aligned organisation which spies electronically on foreign targets – into the fight against a broad range of crime in Australia.

As the head of ASD, Mike Burgess, succinctly put it in a draft note for Defence Minister Marise Payne, Home Affairs wants legislative change “to enable ASD to better support a range of Home Affairs priorities”.

The latest move, as documented in bureaucratic correspondence leaked last weekend – everyone assumes in order to blow up the proposal – came from Pezzullo. But Pezzullo was formalising a plan foreshadowed by Dutton as soon as he was sworn into the Home Affairs portfolio.

In December Fairfax reported Dutton saying that ASD would be used more in Australian investigations into terrorism, drug-smuggling, child exploitation and other cross-border crimes.

Put in the simplest terms, under the plan the Australian Federal Police, ASIO and similar agencies would collect the data, as they do now, while an empowered ASD could supply the technical capability to disrupt or prevent the crime online.

After publication of the leaked correspondence in the Sunday Telegraph, headlined “Secret plan to spy on Aussies”, Pezzullo, Defence Department secretary Greg Moriarty, and Burgess issued an opaque statement that, when you cut through the bureaucratise, indicated the option for a wider use of ASD was on the table.

Meanwhile Bishop told reporters “there is no plan for the government to extend the powers of the Australian Signals Directorate so that it could collect intelligence against Australians or covertly access private data”.

That would appear to be true, but it is also true Dutton had already flagged publicly a proposal to expand ASD’s remit, and the Burgess draft note clearly stated that the Home Affairs department had advised it was briefing its minister to write to the Defence Minister.

The fine distinction between expanding ASD powers but it not collecting intelligence on Australians is where the confusion lies, and that will need to be carefully laid out.

Bishop and Dutton have a record as sparring partners. The two ministers contrast in style but both are tough operators who don’t take a backward step. This is the second matter on which they’ve recently clashed – the other was Dutton’s desire to bring in white South African farmers on the basis they were subject to “persecution”.

Dutton, announcing this week AFP deputy commissioner Karl Kent as the first Transnational Serious and Organised Crime Coordinator within Home Affairs, told a news conference that the capacities of various agencies had to be looked at “including obviously … the capacity of ASD”.

Dutton stressed any change would have safeguards. “As for some claim that there’s going to be some spying taking place on Australian citizens, it’s complete nonsense,” he said.

“If there was to be any look at ways in which we could try and address the cyber threat more effectively, it would be accompanied by the usual protections, including warrant powers”, ticked off by the attorney-general or the justice system.

Defending his position on Thursday, Dutton talked about child exploitation, a guaranteed hot button, pointing out that people were conveying “images of sexual acts against children in live-streaming on the internet.

“We’ve got to deal with that threat. We have the ability, potentially, to disrupt some of those servers. At the moment the ASD … could disrupt that server if it was in operation offshore, but not if it was operating out of Sydney or Melbourne,” he said.

It is believed that Defence is unimpressed with the move on ASD, from July 1 a statutory agency but traditionally in its bailiwick. But it is Bishop who is most obviously taking the issue on, even though her portfolio is not directly involved.

For Bishop, the exercise has flouted the manner in which such a major bid for change should be handled, leaving most ministers blindsided.

Home Affairs’ case receives some support from a recent submission to the parliamentary joint committee on law enforcement by David Irvine, former head of ASIO and now chairman of the Cyber Security Research Centre, a body set up to promote industry investment in cyber security research.

Irvine writes: “Both national security threats and criminal activity exploit the internet in similar ways. Both need to be countered or managed using similar investigative tools and techniques.”

“Australia’s national capacity to counter threats and criminal activity using cyber investigative tools is relatively under-developed, uncoordinated and fragmented”, making it “difficult for agencies to cope with the pace of technical change,” he says.

Irvine argues for a new body to provide “expert technical cyber investigative services in support of law enforcement and national security investigations”, done by Commonwealth and state agencies.

He says such a body might fall within Home Affairs “but it would depend extensively upon the offensive and defensive cyber operational skills of the Australian Signals Directorate, and its offshoot the Australian Cyber Security Centre”.

The tug of war over ASD may have some way to run but with cyber risks becoming an increasing preoccupation, at this stage Dutton and Pezzullo appear to have a head start. It is now a question of where Malcolm Turnbull will come down. It is hard to see him saying no to Dutton.

But the implications of any extension of ASD’s remit should be fully debated sooner rather than later. As the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Margaret Stone wroteearlier this year, a change to ASD’s “focus for its covert or intrusive intelligence related activities to people and organisations inside Australia would be a profound one”.

The pros and cons of the Dutton bid need a lot of public airing before the government reaches a conclusion, rather than that conclusion being presented as a fait accompli.

Michelle Grattan is a professorial fellow at the University of Canberra. This article was originally published on The Conversation. 

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SINCE Iranian-born filmmaker Majid Majidi directed his first film in 1992, his narrative and documentary films have been nominated for numerous awards including Best Foreign Language film at the 1998 Oscars.

He may not be well-known in Australia but if “Beyond the Clouds” is a reliable benchmark, we might hope to see more of his work.

“Beyond the Clouds” is a gutsy drama set in Mumbai’s social underbelly. Amir (Ishaan Khattar) is a young, tearaway front-man for drug merchant Rahul. When one deal goes bad, he hides from pursuing cops in the apartment where his estranged sister Tara (Malavika Mohanan) lives.

In the dhobi-wallah quarter, Akshi (Goutam Ghose) lusts after Tara. She’s not having any. In the yard among the washed bed-sheets hung to dry, she defends herself against attempted rape by whacking him over the head with a rock. If Akshi dies, Tara will spend the rest of her life in jail. Amir feels compelled to have her set free.

Meanwhile, Akshi’s wife and her two young daughters are living on the street. In something of an epiphany, Amir brings them into his apartment to escape the rain. Poverty and concern for Tara’s welfare have driven him close to the point of no redemption. His dilemma will get worse before it gets better. And Rahul has sent two bully-boys to steal the older daughter for sale into the skin trade.

A purist might quibble at moments when a fiendishly detailed plot sends characters into situations that don’t add up, where in the hurly-burly of Indian street-life mothers send children outside while they receive customers, where petty theft is a norm, where the demarcation between law enforcement and the public finds no compassion or forgiveness.

Not a “nice” movie in the conventional sense, “Beyond the Clouds” tells a story of bottom-feeding Indian life with energy and acceptable credibility. It’s India without Bollywood production numbers, which has to be in its favour!

It has come to town with no warning. I don’t know how long it will run. I feel a certain admiration for the one cinema chain that has chosen to screen it.

At Capitol 6

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Simon Baker as Sando with, from left, Ben Spence (Loony) and Samson Coulter (Pikelet) in “Breath”.

I LIKE to imagine the conceiving of “Breath”, the movie adaptation of “Breath” the novel that won the 2009 Miles Franklin Literary Award, as surely a felicitous moment for producer/director/writer/actor Simon Baker and novelist Tim Winton.

It’s a risk-taking Australian film that I hope will travel far and wide, to delight viewers around the planet with its simplicity, its visual beauty, its awareness of those hazardous years during which boys cross the invisible lines separating the years they already know from the years that await them with unknown challenges.

Set in Australia’s south-west corner during the 1970s, “Breath” introduces Loony, son of a publican, and Pikelet, from a comfortable but unexciting middle-class home. Both will be 14 at their next birthdays. Much of their friendship involves riding their bikes through the bush. They decide to venture into the surf on homemade boards. When an older man Sando gives them a lift home, the boys have no notion where his friendship will guide them.

While “Breath” isn’t a surfie movie, the spectacle and courage of Rick Rifici’s water cinematography both above and below the surface are breathtaking. Ashore, Marden Dean has filmed the forests and shores of the area with great beauty.

Playing what develops into the principal character, new-comer Samson Coulter is a real find as Pikelet, essentially a gentle, impressionable boy for whom taking risks in the water does not come as a matter of course. Ben Spence, also a newcomer, plays Loonie, whose family problems do him no favours. Simon Baker’s delivery of Sando is what we may expect from this established actor turned cinema polymath.

As Sando’s American girlfriend Eva recovering from a skiing injury, Elizabeth Debicki confronts a clutch of professional obstacles. Why, while Sando and Looney are away, does she give herself to Pikelet’s undeniably beautiful body? And the sound crew has done her no favours when recording her voice (not her fault). Megan Smart has a minor role as the classmate willing to go all the way with Pikelet after the school social and doesn’t understand why he opts out. Rachel Blake and Richard Roxburgh play Pikelet’s parents.

I came away from “Breath” feeling a warm sense of pride in this Australian cinema achievement. I know no reason for you not to do the same.

At Dendy, Palace Electric and Capitol 6

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A MAN was assaulted and robbed by a group of four men in Glebe Park, Civic, on Saturday, April 28. 

The man was assaulted at about 2pm by the group, who are described as being about 18-20 years of age.

Police are also urging the two women who approached a police officer about 2:.5pm in the Canberra Centre, near the Bunda Street entrance, and pointed out a suspicious man, to get in contact with them.

Police are also urging anyone who may have any information or dash-cam footage that could assist police to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333000, or via the Crime Stoppers ACT website using reference number 6260411.

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Costa Georgiadis and local children declare the Conservation and Research Garden at the Australian National Botanic Gardens officially open

ABC TV gardening guru Costa Georgiadis joined  the curator of living collections, David Taylor, and the president of the Botanic Gardens Australia NZ Paul Tracey, to open the new garden.

Taylor said visitors would be able to see first-hand the conservation work botanic gardens are involved in, saying: “The new garden contributes to the conservation of many threatened plants and by having these species here growing and thriving, acts as an insurance policy for the remaining plants surviving in the wild.”

Georgiadis said Botanic Gardens Day would be the perfect time to visit one of the 70 gardens across Australia and NZ participating on Sunday, May 27.

“The beauty of Botanic Gardens Day is it’s a great time to get outdoors and join in one of the special tours, events and exhibitions being held across the country. There’s fun activities for visitors of all ages and whether you’re a regular or haven’t visited before, come and say hi and discover all the great things on offer at your local botanic garden,”    he said.

Tracey said botanic gardens had operated in Australia and NZ since the 1800s and while their role had evolved over time, the fundamental purpose of such  gardens had remained— conservation, research and education.

As part of Botanic Gardens Day 2018, the Australian National Botanic Gardens will host a series of workshops where participants can make their own beeswax wraps, an eco-friendly alternative to plastic food wrap, as well as a “printing with plants” workshop with local artists from Wellspring Environmental Arts & Design. Details at anbg.gov.au

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AFTER an investigation by student newspaper Woroni, which uncovered serious and long-term wage theft by the franchisee of Sumo Salad, UnionsACT is calling on ANU administration to audit and report businesses located on their campus who steal wages from workers. 

UnionsACT secretary Alex White.

“It is unacceptable that adult employers take advantage of young workers and international students,” he says. 

“It is even more unacceptable that the ANU administration turns a willful blind eye to the illegality and theft taking place on its property.

“Woroni should be congratulated for exposing serious and long-term wage-theft.

“Any student who believes they have been the victim of wage theft should contact UnionsACT immediately.”

According to the Fair Work Ombudsman 40 per cent of businesses in Canberra break one or more of the Fair Work Act laws on wages, superannuation, pay slips and workers’ rights. 

Research from Industry Super Australia shows that each year 45,000 Canberrans have an average of $3400 of their superannuation stolen by employers through underpayments and non-payment.

And, UnionsACT research has shown that almost eight in 10 young workers aged under 25 had experienced wage-theft in the past 12 months.

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Part of the NFSA entry

Now in its fifth and final year, “Museum Dance Off” is an international competition featuring museums, galleries, libraries and archives around the world showcasing their facilities and work, as well as their best dance moves.

NFSA staff getting ready for the dance-off

NFSA CEO Jan Müller says: “We’ve had a very positive response to our ‘Museum Dance Off’ video.”

“We chose Kylie Minogue’s ‘Step Back in Time’ because its theme relates to the mission of the NFSA to collect, preserve and share Australia’s audiovisual heritage… while we do step back in time, we are also about stepping forward as we digitise and grow our collection every day,” she says.

Readers can view the NFSA entry at youtube.com/watch?v=nDaCFN-f9T8

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Actors Yarno Rohling & Aram Geleris auctioning off the $550 poster. Photo by Greg Gould.

From a starting bid of $20, a bidding war escalated quickly with the poster ultimately won by Nigel McCrae, the owner of Smith’s Alternative.

A charity auction at interval is a tradition at Budding Theatre shows, overseen by local artist and producer, Kirsty Budding, with thousands raised over the last four years but she says the $550 bid broke the record for a single auction item.

She says: “The mission of the Starlight Children’s Foundation – to brighten the lives of seriously ill children, often through performances in hospitals – resonated with the young performers in the cast.”

And, she says, today, May 4, is Starlight Day.

Another Paper Cuts Youth show will be held at Smith’s tomorrow, Saturday, May 5, at which another poster will be auctioned — alas. It’s already sold out.

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A CYCLIST has injured one person after aggressively riding into a group of people on a public shared path in Mawson on April 13. 

The first crash happened at about 9.30am when a large group of students were taking part in a school cross-country event on a public shared path, near the ACT Healthy Waterways construction area on Athllon Drive.

The cyclist, a man, was swearing and yelling at the students before allegedly swerving close to several of them. He then knocked one student to the ground, causing minor injuries, but also coming off the bike in the process.

After re-mounting, he proceeded to knock down a further three students, riding over the foot of one of them, causing him injuries too.

He’s described as of Caucasian appearance, about 25-30 years old, of thin build with a light/grey beard and a deep voice. At the time the cyclist was wearing shorts, a grey singlet, a grey cap, with his clothing described as tattered or torn. He was riding a maroon-coloured mountain bike.

Police ask that anyone who witnessed this incident, or who has video footage, or who may be able to identify the cyclist, to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800333 000 or via the Crime Stoppers ACT website. Please quote reference 6256737. Information can be provided anonymously.

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Sarah Contos, nostalgic 1980s and 1920s imagery

The NGA has partnered with the Balnaves Foundation to commission an annual series of “intervention” art, this time  through large-scale disruptive artworks by Sarah Contos along with virtual reality by Jess Johnson and Simon Ward.

Jaklyn Babington, senior curator of Contemporary Art at the gallery, says: “By installing work in unexpected spaces as Contos does, or reconceiving of space itself as malleable and full of ‘portals’ as Johnson and Ward have, these artists are creating works that will alter the atmosphere of the NGA.”

Sarah Contos work ‘intervenes.’

Contos recent told “CityNews” that she has wanted to achieve “a kind of DIY sensibility”, with objects in her giant mobile that were mostly handmade, or sources from the “cinematic tripe” that she loves, with a special focus on Gloria’s Swanson role as Norma Desmond in 1950 film “Sunset Boulevard”.

While most people take  Swanson and screen “vamp” Theda Bara to be the stuff of legend, both were human beings who  just wanted to live. Contos said she hoped her installation would convey something  of this while also ‘”catching people completely unawares”.

In Babington’s view, “Sarah has ‘nailed’ the use of this huge space”.

Johnson and Ward have created the first virtual reality interactive world for the national collection, described by Johnson as “the most ambitious work we’ve ever undertaken”.

Naturally Hamish Balnaves, general manager of the Balnaves Foundation, has warmly applauded the new works.

Contos’ work will hang in the NGA Foyer until September 24, while Johnson and Ward’s work may be seen in the Contemporary Galleries until August 26. Both free to view.

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Anne Carroll and Australian National Museum of Education founder Malcolm Beazley

EDUCATION was vitally important to war correspondent and historian Charles Bean, so it was a special moment for his granddaughter, Anne Carroll, when she visited the Australian National Museum of Education to view some of his items. 

Travelling down from Killara on Sydney’s north shore, Anne, came to the museum, which is based in the University of Canberra today, Friday, May 4.

“To come to a place of education and a museum of education is a special fit,” she says.

“It’s been particularly special to see the original pamphlet that he was asked to write, which was then read to schools and places of education.”

The document, which Charles wrote as a request from the Australian Commonwealth Peace Celebrations Committee in 1919, begins with three words: “It is over”.

“These words would have been quite emotional following the Great War,” Anne says.

Next to the document, the museum displays the “Peace Souvenir Medallions” given to school children nationally at the time.

Anne says the document was a way of Charles to ask: “what did it all mean?”

“It all means it’s up to us to take over and make this country the best it can be,” she says.

“After WWI he wrote a book called ‘In your hands, Australians’, where he emphasises the need for education.

“And he repeated that message in his writings towards the end of WWII. It was education, education, education.”

Anne, who was born when Charles was in his mid-60s describes him as a quiet but gentle, tall, slim man, who always looked you straight in the eye and stood straight.

“At family gatherings my grandmother, who was the extrovert, would be the centre of attention,” she says.

“And he would be in the background and would be rather amused by her ability to get the family together.

“I remember my grandparents gave my brother and I each a fountain pen, which was quite the occasion.

“Looking back now, I realise it was a practical present but also highly symbolic of him.”

Another gift Anne remembers was a book called “The Singing Tree”, which was about a family in Hungary and was written from their perspective.

“We’re all humans and the effects we were suffering, our foes were suffering too,” she says.

Charles and his wife adopted Anne’s mother, who went on to have Anne and her brother Edward.

The family now own the copyright of Charles’ work, so feel a big responsibility with that.

When they found out that a new federal electoral division for ACT was named after Charles, Anne says it was an appropriate choice.

“It’s an apt choice because it takes in Tuggeranong where Charles Bean and his writing team sought peace and quiet after the war,” she says.

Charles chose to reside and work on the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918 at the Tuggeranong Homestead.

Australian National Museum of Education, Faculty of Education, University of Canberra. Visit anme.org.au

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The Q and A session at the Grammar School.

MC Julian Day called it a “technological journey” that would explore music and technology, but the subsequent lectures and demonstrations focused far more on the analogue world that on the contemporary technical many young people had come to see.

In a Q&A session that follow, the kids had long-gone, and among the detailed questions about pitch and mode that were thrown at the speakers, only one seriously addressed the question of how modern technology could benefit up and coming musicians.

To be sure, the riveting extracts from “Beowulf” performed by Benjamin Bagby to the Anglo-Saxon harp held the gallery spellbound and Bagby took the occasion to lament the decline of the oral tradition in music that could be laid at the door of the centralist Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne. But even this seasoned performer was talking well over the heads of the students when he traced the gradual introduction of notation.

The affable Italian musician Simone Vallerotonda and his antique music ensemble I Bassifondi (roughly meaning “the wrong side of the track”) looked at part books and alphabet notation, also playing music created in the era of the printing press. Vallerotonda and his colleagues demonstrated the time-honoured convention of ‘false’ or ‘blue’ notes in guitar notation using a standard in the Baroque age, “Melody of a nun,” to illustrate the and finished up with a lively galliard, but by this time the gallery was decidedly restless.

When the concertina maker and vocalist Adrian Brown stood to speak of the ribald popular music traditions of the 17th century and to sing, with recorder player Susanna Borsch, a frolicsome song about a licentious barber, the connection with technology seemed to have vanished. It was there all right, but it wasn’t the kind of technology the students had in mind.

Time intervened and just as Utrecht-based composer Ned McGowan rose to demonstrate modern notation and recording technology, the gallery departed for regular classes, meaning that his intriguing show of music created with apps and amplified through a “geo-synthesiser” entirely missed the target audience.

In the concluding Q&A, the festival’s composer-in-residence, Mary Finsterer, joined the panel and she did indeed address questions of technology in composition, but by then it was only the learned and sophisticated older music lovers who got to hear her.

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IN a concert showcasing Stravinsky’s iconic “L’histoire du soldat” (The Soldier’s Tale), Canberra Wind Symphony led with a series of contemporary works on military trauma.

Interleaved between movements and works were poems written by serving members of the Australian Defence Forces, created as part of ADF ARRTS (Australian Defence Force Arts for Recovery, Resilience, Teamwork and Skills Program).

Canberra Wind Symphony must be commended for supporting new music with their brave choice of repertoire. To see five contemporary works, including a world premiere, on a single program is impressive – almost unheard of. Geoff Grey directed all of these contemporary works with extraordinary musicality and understanding of the genre.

Peter Meecham, youngest composer of the concert, kicked off the night with his “Letters for Home” (2014). Stately and programmatic, this work featured singing and stomping by the musicians.

The three movements were marked by poems read by Paul English. Bec Lally’s poignant verse on the myth of heroism in war was followed by a suite of haiku by Phil Courtney – “commemoration turning / the world red / with falling poppies”. Elissa Croker’s powerful examination of emotions heralded the final movement, beginning with “Fear is not wanting to fall asleep when the nightmares visit.”

Jodie Blackshaw’s “The Bitter and the Sweet”, a world premiere, opened to bare chords opening on shifting cadential fields. Also programmatic, this work evoked the sounds of aeroplanes and gunfire. Blackshaw’s command of orchestration was evident in her artful use of extended techniques – never ostentatious and always effective. Her work was prefaced by Heath Schofield’s harrowing description of the battlefield, “Not my choice”.

David R Holsinger’s hellish “In the Spring at the time when Kings go off to War” (1988) exploded with the colours of late modernism – cascades of clusters, additive rhythms and evolving pitch fields reminiscent of Penderecki or Ligeti. Holsinger’s evolving meters paid homage to Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”, a deliberate reference given the title of the work. Brad MacKay’s prose recalled his experience of searching for bombers in Kabul’s crowded streets. “Observe the normal,” he remarks, “and the abnormal will reveal itself”.

Samuel R Hazo’s serene “Chorus Angelorum” (2009) recalled the golden age of American film music. With late Romantic orchestral devices, Hazo conjured an air of peace and redemption. His work was prefaced by Scott Grainger’s beautiful tribute to the husbands and wives of soldiers, “Declaration”.

The final contemporary work, “Lonely Beach” (1992) by James Barnes, conjured the beaches of Gallipoli with musicians blowing into the mouthpieces of their instruments. This programmatic approach unfolded into sounds of battle – gunfire and screams, distant Turkish melodies.

Heath Schofield’s poetry returned with a meditation on loneliness, “Edge of the World”. It takes real courage to reveal one’s inner world through poetry. It is not the same kind of bravery a soldier carries into battle, but anyone who has ever wrestled demons will recognise its cadences. It was a privilege to be allowed briefly into the world of these brave men and women through their writing.

The feature work of the night, Stravinsky’s Faustian “The Soldier’s Tale” (1918), is a theatrical septet with narrator.

Actor Paul English, as soldier, devil, princess, and an array of secondary characters, was always funny, never without gravitas. The septet, comprising Tim Fain (violin), Jacqueline Dossor (double bass), Magdalenna Krstevska (clarinet), Ben Hoadley (bassoon), Fletcher Cox (trumpet), Nigel Crocker (trombone) and Claire Edwards (percussion), functioned as a second actor – a joyful companion, always just out of reach.

Fain navigated the difficult violin part, with its double stops and extended performance techniques, with ease. In the soldier’s battered violin music, or the Paganini-hellfire of the devil, Fain’s intonation was always perfect.

Special mention should be made of double bassist Dossor, who underscored the septet’s rhythmic precision across difficult metric modulations and additive rhythms.

Stravinsky’s signature reeds were expertly rendered by Hoadley and Krstevska, while Cox and Crocker brought us distant wars in subtle timbres – senza vibrato or mutes, the shrill screams of the fallen.

Edwards appeared as field drummer, somewhere far behind the lines, or a sudden interjection of snares or bells. The performance was breathtaking. Nobody hears “The Soldier’s Tale” without questioning their choices in life – but the overarching message is one of humanity. You will fall and get up again. Because a human being is not a thing to be perfected, but a process unfolding – a canvas of moments, of recapitulations and variations. And throughout it all, music walks beside us, a familiar friend, just a little out of reach.

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“Escalate 111”. Photo by Lorna Sim

THIS is the third season of performances of works resulting from Ausdance ACT’s mentoring program for young dance makers, “Escalate”, curated by the current “CityNews” Artist of the Year, Liz Lea.

Again the eight dance works and two films that formed the program displayed an admirable variety in approach by the choreographers and resulted in an interesting, well-danced program, supported with efficient stage management and evocative lighting design.

Ena Haskic’s work, “The Moment”, proved an effective opening for the program. Danced by Haskic and Sophie Forde, costumed identically including their hairstyles, who mirrored each other’s movements to evoke a sense of the past and present.

Exquisitely costumed, Maheyrin Chowdhury choreographed and performed a solo in traditional Bharatanatyam Indian classical style, entitled “Woman of Beauteous Spring”, which displayed her finely honed technique to riveting effect.

Clare Healey incorporated interesting film, well-planned lighting design and the music of the Fall Creek Boys Choir to create an impressive solo, which she danced herself, entitled “Finding Hope”. Identically costumed in long black dresses with bright red underskirts, Tara Coughlan and Sinead Shorka performed a lovely duo entitled, “Gemini”, inspired by the Gemini constellations and the myth of twin spirit, which they choreographed together with Liz Lea and will perform for the World Dance Alliance in Adelaide in July.

Choreographed by Hikma Aroub and Leena Wall and danced by Aroub, Kat Brown and Holly Waldron, “Moments in Time” was a well-constructed trio, danced against a filmed background, gently exploring the fragility of friendship. Ashlen Claire Harkness also utilised film of Nisha Joseph narrating her anxieties as a striking background for her improvisational work, “Core”, performed by Arabella Frahn-Starke, Isabelle Beauverd and Oonagh Slater.

Clever lighting represented barriers for Evan Liversidge, Chris Wade and Harry Wade in Claire Liversidge’s work, “Contained” which also incorporated interesting shapes and effective unison work effectively performed by the dancers. An energetic biographical hip hop solo “Pass the Boundaries” created and performed by Carol Blazeski was the final work in a program which provided a fascinating insight into the diversity and quality of dance making in Canberra.

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I Bassifondi playing at the Fitters Workshop. Photo by PETER HISLOP

FREELY translated as “the wrong side of the tracks”, the three-member Italian group, I Bassifondi, played a number of works by mostly 17th century Italian composers.

The leader, Simone Vallerotonda, played the theorbo, the baroque guitar and the chitara battente; Federico Toffano played the colascione and the chitarra battente with Gabriele Miracle on various forms of percussion.  

It was a great opportunity to hear works played on the unusual string instruments by these highly accomplished players.

Commencing with a work composed by Giovanni Paolo Foscarini in Rome in 1640, the music had an earthy, almost harsh quality at first that was unfamiliar but fascinating. The melody from the guitar added sweetness to the sound that was very engaging overall.

Simone Vallerotonda explained that, in addition to the treatise of 1606 by Girolamo Montesardo which proposed using the alphabet for chord notation on the guitar, the term “alfabeto falso” (or false alphabet) included the same chords but “dirtied” with extraneous and crushed notes as harmonic colour. Italian guitarists of the early 17th century made this their own speciality.

The group played several works of the period that were varied – some with percussion quite dominant and others where individual instruments carried some quite exquisite melodies.

In the work by Hieronymus Kapsberger, the combination of theorbo and percussion was quite startling, producing a sound that could almost be mistaken as contemporary even though it was composed in 1640.

The nicely melodic 1655 work by Angelo Michele Bartolotti and the colourful 18th century Mexican piece by Santiago de Murcia were other highlights of the concert.

With the morning sun streaming in through the large side windows of the Fitters Workshop, the perfect atmosphere was created for this outstanding concert.

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VIENNA became Beethoven’s home in 1792, when he was 22. He was to die there 34 years later, in 1827.

Vienna was Schubert’s birthplace and home for his entire, if short, life of 31 years. He died in 1828.

So, the two periods almost coincided. Beethoven studied with Haydn and Salieri, among others, and Schubert studied mainly with Salieri. Both Beethoven and Schubert are regarded as the main protagonists in the transition from the classical to the romantic periods of music.

It is possible that, to some extent at least, music influences likely were a two-way street between Schubert and Beethoven. Certainly the style of the time was reflected in both composers’ works, and, certainly each experienced performances of the other’s music.

Both were prolific composers – although Schubert’s output, including more than 600 songs, was about twice that of Beethoven – and there was a certain amount of mutual admiration, with each quoting the other’s writing from time to time.

Thus, a concert of music by Schubert and Beethoven seems inevitable, and so it was at this one.

The beautiful autumn afternoon seemed perfect for some delightful playing, delicate as a flower.

For Schubert’s D-major sonata for violin and piano, D384, written in 1816, Keiko Shichijo played the fortepiano, with Cecilia Bernardini playing her classical violin. It’s a simple, light, and airy work and was a perfect start to the delicacy of the playing to be heard in the rest of the program.

The forte piano keys don’t travel as far as those of a modern piano, and it’s not capable of the dynamics of a modern piano. But Shichijo’s feather-light touch drew wonderful expression and complemented perfectly Bernardini’s equally elegant bowing.

Next was Beethoven’s E-flat trio, op. 70 no. 2. Cellist, Daniel Yeadon, joined Bernardini and Shichijo for this work, written in 1808.

Much of the opening in this work seems without form, as if the music wants to escape into a resolution. Still, its four movements and seriousness put it quite a cut above the Schubert sonata, nonetheless requiring a delicate balance between the three instruments. The three musicians did that superbly, building the work to a thrilling climax.

Then it was back to Schubert and his famous quintet in A-major, D667 – “The Trout” – composed in 1819. For this piece our three musicians were joined by violist, James Wannan, and double bassist, Jacqueline Dossor. Of the five movements, the last three are the best known, with the fourth giving the work its nickname, it being a set of variations on Schubert’s song, “The Trout”, from 1817.

Like the other works on the program, “The Trout” is light and bright. Once again, these superb musicians achieved wonderful, delicate textures, sharing around the melodies (and the variations in the fourth movement), with the remainder of the ensemble providing polished balance. Tempi were just right, giving the piece motion, and the beautiful expression gave it colour and life.

Some might say this was a pleasant Saturday afternoon concert, but that cruelly understates the superb musicianship of these young players, who gave us a performance of supreme beauty and musical satisfaction.

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Benjamin Bagby performing ‘Beowulf,’ photo Peter Hislop

Those who progressed to English literature or similar studies at university would have gained a more detailed understanding of the tale, but  few would have had the pleasure of experiencing the saga as presented so robustly by Benjamin Bagby for the Canberra International Music Festival on Saturday night.

It is an Anglo-Saxon tale of  good and evil, strength and weakness, violence and courage in which the hero, Beowulf, contends to the death with the monstrous cannibal, Grendel.

Against all predictions, Beowulf triumphs and, in doing so, restores the King and his kingdom to peace and prosperity.

It is not surprising, given the scholarly expertise of JRR Tolkien, professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford  and CS Lewis,  professor of Mediaeval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge, to find connections  between the  Beowulf saga and  Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” or the “Narnia” stories or  even, perhaps, “Star Wars” and “Games of Thrones.”

Straightforward storytelling, as distinct from stand-up comedy,  has few exponents in contemporary theatre. To be successful, it requires the performer to engage directly with the audience as narrator as well as bringing to life the wide range of characters in the tale.

To do this in a language (Old or Anglo Saxon English) unfamiliar to most of the audience is no mean feat; but Mr Bagby’s 90-minute performance, his wide range  of facial and vocal expression, with excellent surtitles and punctuated and embellished by his deft playing of the simple harp, shows how compelling and entertaining this particular art and craft can be.

Bagby is the quintessential storyteller, and his performance went a long way to transporting the audience from the cavernous Fitters Workshop to the equally vast space of the mythical mead-hall from which the saga of Beowulf originated.

In this performance he presents a selection of about one-quarter of the original saga, but it is enough to leave us wishing we could have more.

As the last notes arose from the small harp to the high roof and the lights on the troubadour faded, a profound silence descended on that Hall of the Fitters until it could no longer be contained, followed by  a thunder of clapping of hands and shouting of cheers and the stamping of feet until Bagby showed himself again to receive their acclamation.

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WITH four deaths already on ACT roads this year, police are focusing on what they call the “Fatal Five” during May after several motorists were booked for speeding in roadworks zones.

Speeding is one of the “Fatal Five” – the five highest contributing factors to fatal vehicle collisions on ACT roads.

In a recent roadwork zone traffic targeting operation in the Flemington Road light rail construction area, where a 40km/h speed limit is in effect, six drivers were issued with infringement notices in a little over half an hour after being detected doing speeds between 61km/h and 87km/h.

Officer in Charge Traffic Operations, Sgt Marcus Boorman said “Speed limits are in place for good reasons and while some motorists may not appreciate temporary speed limits in roadworks zones, they are in place to provide safety for drivers, construction and maintenance workers.

The “Fatal Five” are:

• alcohol or drug impaired driving;
• not wearing a seatbelt;
• speeding;
• intersections, and
• driver distraction.

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