Dumbo Feather

Male songbirds sing to guard territory and allure females for breeding. Springtime is the liveliest, the mating season for many. But some believe birds perform more than what’s necessary for procreation – like humans, they appreciate music and beauty

Dear friend, One of my favourite stories in our family is of my grandmother, who, having been a cook and homemaker to her farmer husband and four farmer sons for the first 20 years of married life, decided to take off the apron for a couple of hours

I was raised in a devout Catholic Maltese family, which meant church every Sunday morning was a non-negotiable. There were a few things that got me excited about this weekly event: 1. Dressing up. 2. Dressing up while my big sisters were also dressin

The oud is the signature sound of the Middle East – a joyful instrument that also invokes a lot of nostalgia, often making people cry. The oud is beauty, emotion and memory all at the same time. The string instrument can be traced back 5000 years in

The first instrument I learned to play was the piano. I was four. All of the kids in my family began our musical training with the piano. Mum was committed to us having a well-rounded education, and music was a big part of that. This particular piano

Boom bop ba bing boom bop ca da! I was born in Iran to Persian and Mauritian parents, and when I was young we fled the Iranian Revolution. Fortunately, it meant that I grew up in Australia, gifting me the freedom to be a performer and use music for c

Three years ago, I had a strong impulse to learn the piano accordion. It was an instrument I heard occasionally growing up – at my grandparent’s house when they’d entertain guests, or at the local Italian festivals. It was the sound of celebration an

I remember as a child playing a game with the songs I heard. If it was a new song, I would try to guess the following note. If it was a familiar song, I would envision the colours and shapes of it. Singing changed my mood, and songs became my medicin

SUBJECT Bernard Fanning OCCUPATION Musician INTERVIEWER Berry Liberman PHOTOGRAPHER Paul Bamford LOCATION Byron Bay, Australia DATE May, 2021 It’s always nourishing to ask artists what they see in the culture. Artists work from the inside out, proce

SUBJECT Monique diMattina OCCUPATION Pianist, singer, composer INTERVIEWER Nathan Scolaro PHOTOGRAPHER Gregory Lorenzutti LOCATION Melbourne, Australia DATE June, 2021 In my first few weeks of working at Dumbo Feather, seven years ago now, I was flu

SUBJECT Andrew Swain OCCUPATION Choirmaster INTERVIEWER Myke Bartlett PHOTOGRAPHER Anna Kučera LOCATION Brunswick Heads, Australia DATE May, 2021 On the face of it, Dustyesky is the definition of inauthentic. A fake Russian choir made of 28 non-sing

SUBJECT Natalia Mann OCCUPATION Harpist INTERVIEWER Nathan Scolaro PHOTOGRAPHER Colyn Huber LOCATION Cairns, Australia DATE April, 2021 What I love about Natalia Mann’s story, in addition to her being a harpist (how glorious), and playing the resona

SUBJECT Shellie Morris OCCUPATION Singer-songwriter INTERVIEWER Danielle Caruana PHOTOGRAPHER Natalie McComas LOCATION Darwin, Australia DATE May, 2021 Dr. Shellie Morris is a Yanyuwa and Wardaman woman who knows that songs are a map, and that music

For most of 2020, musicians couldn’t make live music with or for other people. Here in Australia, a country privileged to avoid much of the tragedy of the pandemic, populations bunkered down, public gatherings were banned, venues shut, festivals ca