African music

I’ve had an  obsession with African music since the early 1980s, after buying Hugh Masekela’s Introducing Hedzoleh Soundz LP (Blue Note 1973). I DJ’d an African music  program on radio 5MMM Adelaide, Back to Black, in 1986-7. I’ve many 1000s of African LPs, CDs & MP3s particularly from the  golden age of early 1980s Congolese music. A large (~950) selection of favourite African tracks is on my Spotify page. All the tracks I played on Simon Marnie’s ABC Sydney Sonic Journey in May 2019 is here.

My review of the 2020 documentary on Congolese rumba The Rumba Kings

My Spotify playlists

Link here to my Spotify page. Playlists below are frequently updated

African, Australian 50s-70s, UK/Ireland 50s-70s, US 1950s-60s, Australian & NZ 80s+ ,  100 best Australian tracks ever, 1970s, 1980s+, Rock  + Americana/country, Blues, House/Electronica/Trance, Folk, Latin ,Jazz , Reggae/Soca/Carribean, Surf  Soul/R&B ,  World , Wedding night specials, Classical, 100 original and cover classics, Weepingly beautiful

Favourite tracks: Bob Dylan, John Hiatt , Jayhawks, Mental as Anything/Dog Trumpet, Brendan Gallagher/Karma County, Rolling Stones, Beatles,

Annual 50 best discovered/rediscovered tracks: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

50 best discovered/rediscovered in 2025

My Youtube playlists

African.  Full concerts.  Favourite single tracks

My bands: the Original Faux Pas, the Bleeding Hearts, the Stan Moore Six

The Original Faux Pas (2006-13): L-R Julie Leask (vocals), Dave Petroni (bass), Rob Heard (keys), Strat Mairs (drums), Trish Kirby (vocals), Simon Chapman (vocals), Mitchell Ward (guitar), Bob Cumming (guitar) Also at other times: Geoff McLellan (sax), Paul Grogan (guitar), Les McLaren (bass, keys), Cathy Sutcliffe (vocals), Bob Jones (guitar)

The Bleeding Hearts (2013-18): L-R Trish Kirby (keys), Simon Chapman (vocals), Suzanne Plater (vocals), Bob Jones (guitar), Rob Brennan (drums), Paul Grogan (guitar, drums), Dave Petroni (bass) Also at other times: Michael Surina (drums), Angelo Vardenega (bass), Adrian King (guitar), Mark Tanner (harmonica)

The Stan Moore Six (formed to play the Stanmore Music Festival 2022)

L-R Strat Mairs (drums), Jim Parker (guitar), Dave Petroni (bass), Trish Kirby (keys), Simon Chapman (vocals) Tony Egan (guitar)

Here’s a selection of our YouTube vids plus a band history listing all gigs and list of every song we played in the Faux Pas & Bleeding Hearts. Edited full gig (12m) at Harold Park Hotel, Glebe. Fundraiser for a South Sudan orphanage — $5000 raised

Here’s a list of all bands and performers I can remember seeing

Every movie I’ve seen, rated 0.5 (walked out/turned off) to 5 (flawless, wonderful, magnificent) with links to trailers. My 100 favourite films (top 20 in order, the rest just random in the top 100)