Australian Music 101

A rainy night in Merewether turned into my first lesson on Australian music culture last night...My host-mom, dad, and I sat around, drinking wine, making pizza, and listening to all of their old CDs. They wanted to expose me to what Australia had to offer in terms of musicians and bands... and it is truly amazing how universal music tends to be. Sure, there are unique individuals with musical talent that is unlike anyone else - but my host-parents' taste in music reminded me of my own parents'; the music had a very Bob Dylan, Neil Young, U2 feel to all of it. Long-lasting rhythms with great acoustics and everything.

I particularly enjoyed a band called Powderfinger; they reminded me a lot of KGB :)

A few other bands I was introduced to and really enjoyed were: Midnight Oil, Crowded House, and Paul Kelly

Australia has its variety of popular rock and pop music, and just like the U.S. there is a large trendy movement of Indie Rock. I learned a lot about Australia's Indigenous music, which refers to the music of the Aborigines and I was blown away by this particular artist, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu. He is a blind singer and is considered to be Australia's most gifted indigenous musician. And I also heard variations of Australian Country music, which tells stories about the bush lands and different folklore. So all in all it was a really enjoyable evening and it was fun to sit back and listen to all different sorts of music.

And to all my Missy Higgins fans out there - did you know she is an Australian musician?! Because I had no idea!

But, of course, the night wouldn't have been complete without a little Men at Work - a classic. Spent a few nights out at the pub rocking out to this song with the ladies ;)

Enjoy!

Love,

Abby

A first time for everything.

This blog is a long time coming. I wanted to start one awhile ago, before I even began my journey to Australia and even though my time here is more than halfway over, I thought starting one now is better than not starting one at all :)

As most of you can tell by my pictures posted on Facebook - my time here has been nothing short of incredible. I've lived my weeks to the fullest and have challenged myself in more ways than I could have ever imagined.

I have fallen in love with this country in so many ways. It is one of those places that captures your heart and resonates some place deep in your bones. There is beauty everywhere you look.

As my weeks come to an end here, these blog posts will fall into somewhat of a reflective category as I process my thoughts and feelings about my entire experience here. But I do have a lot of really great things planned for the upcoming weeks and I am excited to share my journey with everyone as I continue with the blog.

I thank you in advance for reading and I hope to keep things as entertaining as possible :) If not entertaining at least there will be nice pictures to look at - once I figure all of that out ;)

Until then,

Cheers!

-Abby