Latest news with #ZeroEmcee
Perth Now
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
New jazz festival set to transform inner city suburb
The Perth International Jazz Festival is set to close its 2025 program with a brand-new event that will bring jazz to the streets on Northbridge. The PIJF Block Party will take over the Urban Orchard on Saturday, November 1, transforming the Northbridge precinct into a high-energy music hub blending jazz with funk, soul, hip-hop and pop. Festival director Mace Francis said the new flagship event was an exciting evolution for the long-running jazz festival. 'This festival-style bill, with multiple headline acts and a mix of supporting artists in a public open space, is a fresh new concept for PIJF,' he said. 'It reflects our mission to evolve how people experience jazz — by embracing the diversity of styles it influences, from funk and soul to pop and hip-hop.' Lettuce are an American funk powerhouse band. Credit: Instagram Leading the jampacked line-up is American funk powerhouse LETTUCE, who are widely regarded as one of the best live funk bands in the world, alongside ARIA Award-winning singer Budjerah, whose soulful, modern pop sound has earned him international recognition. 'Lettuce is the best live funk band in the world — period,' Dr Francis said. ARIA-winning pop sensation Budjerah is coming to Northbridge. Credit: Georgia Wallace 'Budjerah is one of the most exciting voices in Australian pop right now. His sound is fresh, soulful and impossible not to move to.' The line-up also includes Bumpy, a Melbourne-based artist celebrating her debut album Kanana, Zero Emcee, a rising hip-hop artist recently returned from a European tour, Pareidolia, a boundary-pushing jazz/hip-hop collective based in WA, and DJ Maestro, an Amsterdam-based producer and DJ known for blending jazz classics with modern dancefloor grooves. 'Each act was hand-picked to show how jazz can evolve and influence other styles,' Dr Francis said. 'Whether it's the soul of Bumpy, the lyricism of Zero Emcee, or the cross-genre innovation of Pareidolia and DJ Maestro, they all reflect the freedom, fun and diversity at the heart of jazz.' In additional to the music, the Urban Orchard will become a pop-up festival precinct with cocktail bars, spritz stations and curated food stalls highlighting WA produce. 'This is not just a concert — it's an experience,' Dr Francis said. 'The PIJF Block Party is about connection, movement and discovering the joy of jazz in all its forms in a community, festive environment.' Tickets go on sale July 31. For event details, visit
West Australian
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Narrogin Senior High School students start unique Five Steps Forward music program with Zero Emcee and WAYJO
One of a kind Five Steps Forward music program will give Narrogin Senior High School students the opportunity to create and perform their own songs with professional musicians. On May 8, national music artist Zero Emcee and WA Youth Jazz Orchestra's artistic director Gemma Farrell travelled to the high school to meet about 20 students for the first of seven incursions taking place from May to September. Inspired by the school's song writing workshop and performance with Zero and WAYJO in August last year that included eight students, Arts Narrogin, Holyoake, Moorditj Youth Foundation Aboriginal Corporation and NSHS have collaborated once again to offer more young people the chance. The students self-named the program Five Steps Forward after the song composed in the workshop. During the session, the group chose the subject sport and wrote one of four songs, each one will be based off a different topic, after brainstorming key words and partaking in a rapping crash course led by Zero. The students will perform their original songs in a two-nights-only November concert alongside Zero and the orchestra. 'Since I was young I've been making music and my family's really into music and our school doesn't do much stuff with music, in my year they don't even have a music class,' NSHS student and 2024 workshop participant Riley Coxon said. 'So this is really, really exciting for me, especially because I can show off my abilities in music. 'And I'm up on stage doing what I really want to do, so it's inspiring me to keep going. 'There's not many careers I really want to go into and there's never been an opportunity for music in Narrogin, but now there's this big opportunity so I'm definitely taking that.' Zero said seeing the growth in the students during last year's workshop was the main driver to return. The Noonjar and Jingili rapper said watching the students write a song in one incursion was 'amazing' and showed 'teamwork and leadership' among them. 'I'm hoping the workshop will teach them leadership, respect, teamwork, because as you see here it takes a whole team for this to happen,' Zero said. 'And confidence, I got the mic out and said 'you can have a go if you want' and some didn't want to and the other boys said 'yeah, do it, go on' and that encouragement is priceless.'
