409 – Snake Whisky And Symphony Herald Adelaide’s Chinese New Year

Carolyn Lam on the Year Of The Snake episode of The Adelaide Show Podcast

As Adelaide welcomes the Year of the Snake, Amicus Strings co-founder Carolyn Lam reveals how classical music bridges East and West, while a rare Year of the Snake Whisky from 23rd Street Distillery and Jayne-Anne Power’s analog soul set the perfect tone for cultural celebration.

In a special episode themed around Chinese New Year, we explore how Adelaide embraces cultural connections through three distinct lenses. The centerpiece is our conversation with Carolyn Lam, whose journey from Hong Kong to Adelaide has helped weave classical music into our city’s cultural fabric through Amicus Strings’ 100+ annual performances.

The celebration begins with 23rd Street Distillery’s extraordinary Year of the Snake Whisky, one of only 3,600 bottles produced, showcasing Kangaroo Island barley aged in 15-year-old Galway Pipe casks. The resulting spirit proves as transformative as the year it honours.

Our musical pilgrimage breaks new ground as we debut vinyl playback in the studio with Jayne-Anne Power’s “What’s Your Rush” from The Analogue Sessions, bringing soul-drenched wisdom to match the Year of the Snake’s themes of transformation and growth.

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Running Sheet: Snake Whisky And Symphony Herald Adelaide’s Chinese New Year

00:00:00 Intro

Introduction

00:03:43 SA Drink Of The Week

The South Australian Drinks Of The Week this week is the  23rd Street Distillery Year Of The Snake Whisky.

The 23rd Street Distillery Year of the Snake Whisky arrives in packaging that would make any emperor proud – deep burgundy and gold boxes revealing a snake-adorned bottle that’s as much art piece as vessel. Our resident palate, John Gledhill, discovers layers of butterscotch and warming spices dancing with sun-dried raisins and vanilla, while the 15-year-old Galway Pipe cask influence emerges like a wise elder offering quiet counsel.

Thank you, John Gledhill from Gledhill Vignerons for bringing your expert palate to The Adelaide Show once again.

Steve Davis and John Gledhill taste the 23rd Street Distillery Year Of The Snake Whisky

00:16:00 Carolyn Lam, Co-founder, Amicus Strings

From playing in total darkness at Mawson Lakes Planetarium to accompanying Elaine Paige, OBE, Carolyn Lam’s musical journey embodies the cultural bridges being built in Adelaide.

She shares insights on everything from making classical music accessible through popular music arrangements to the surprising connection between Philip Glass and organised personalities.

Her reflections on Hong Kong’s vibrant classical music scene and the differences between Eastern and Western musical approaches offer fascinating glimpses into how music transcends cultural boundaries.

Amicus Strings booking information

Hong Kong String Orchestra performance details for January 31st at Her Majesty’s Theatre

00:50:55 Musical Pilgrimage

In the Musical Pilgrimage, we feature What’s Your Rush by Jayne-Anne Power.

In a first for the podcast’s 11-year history, we spin vinyl right in the studio with Jayne-Anne Power’s “What’s Your Rush” from The Analogue Sessions EP.

The funked-up soul and gritty grooves perfectly complement our Chinese New Year theme of transformation and wisdom, with Shane Ellery’s keys and the powerful vocal harmonies creating a soundscape that rewards patient listening – truly embodying the “what’s your rush?” philosophy.

Thanks to John Murch from the radionotes podcast for introducing us to this “powerful” music.

Here’s this week’s preview video

This is a video of the whisky tasting.

SFX: Throughout the podcast we use free SFX from freesfx.co.uk for the harp, the visa stamp, the silent movie music, the stylus, the radio signal SFX, the wine pouring and cork pulling SFX, and the swooshes around Siri.

An AI generated transcript – there will be errors. Check quotes against the actual audio (if you would like to volunteer as an editor, let Steve know)

409 TAS audio for transcript

[00:00:00] Steve Davis: May you slither through life, rising higher with each step. Hello, Steve Davis here. Welcome to episode 409 of the Adelaide Show podcast. This is a special one, uh, themed for the Chinese Year of the Snake. And so we’re going to tip our hat to that, or slither down a hole to, uh, To be grounded in our appreciation of the new, uh, year that’s ahead for, particularly for people of Chinese background.

[00:00:29] Uh, we’re doing it in three different ways. Uh, firstly, we’re going to taste a magnificent and rare whiskey that’s been specially produced by 23rd Street Distillery. It’s the Year of the Snake Whiskey. Only 3, 600 bottles produced, of course. 3, 599 are now available. Uh, also, in the middle of the show, the main interview we have is with Carolyn Lamb.

[00:00:54] Now, Carolyn is a co founder of Amicus Strings, a wonderful band here in Adelaide. Her parents are from Hong Kong. She has played and studied and enjoyed concerts of music, classical music in Hong Kong as well as here in Adelaide. Amicus Strings does a hundred plus shows every year from pure classical music to the classical treatment of popular music.

[00:01:24] And she has some thoughts to share with us on how to get in to that classical type of music and enjoy it. Differences between East and West when it comes to, uh, music, especially of a classical kind. And different flavors, different trends when it comes to Chinese influenced music versus the Western music that we’re so familiar with.

[00:01:47] And then we’re finishing. This is actually. I’m really looking forward to this. For the first time in 11 years of podcasting, when we finish with an original song this episode, we’re playing it straight from vinyl. Yes, I’ve worked out how to rig my record player into our beautiful podcast studio here, and so we’re going to finish off with a superb track from the Analog Sessions by Jane Ann Power.

[00:02:14] And it’s going to set you off perfectly to get out there and enjoy the Year of the Snake. And may the wisdom of the snake guide you to success in all your endeavours.

[00:03:43] For the South Australian Drink of the Week this week, we have something very special. John Gladhill, welcome back, our official palette of the Adelaide show. Thank you very much. John, of course, the The brains, the fists, the, um, all other parts of the body when it comes to Gledhill Vignerons. Yes. Um, so we’ll put a link to your winery in the show notes too.

[00:04:02] Thank you. But we like borrowing his palette because he’s got a nice way of analysing everything. And might I just say, behind the camera tonight, we’re very lucky, Anthony Sebastiani from Adelaide Pool Heating, who is a whisky phobe. No, the opposite. Whiskey Affectionado, uh, is here because he said, Hey, I’m happy to finish the bits of the glass that you don’t drink tonight.

[00:04:24] So isn’t that lovely, John? That’s fantastic. It’s a whiskey file, Steve. A whiskey file. That was the word I was looking for. So what we have for this very special episode, it’s the, the next Chinese year is the year of the snake. So, the new year is upon us, um, there’s a very special, uh, performance of the Hong Kong String Symphony, which is coming to Adelaide January 31st, to celebrate this, but our great friends at the 23rd Street Distillery have put together something very special.

[00:04:55] It is their Year of the Snake, Whiskey. A couple of bits of, uh, info to set the scene before we unbox this. The barley they’ve used for this has come from Kangaroo Island. Okay. They have done their magic in the old copper stills up there in the Riverland. They’re a hundred plus years old and they let it mature in, are you ready for it?

[00:05:19] 15 year old Galway pipe cast. What do you

[00:05:24] John Gledhill: expect this is going to lend to this? It’ll probably give some, uh, aged characters, some butterscotch, some, you know, uh, caramel type notes, perhaps. Um, maybe a little bit of smokiness from the barrel, depending on, um, If they’ve done any work to the barrel after the port was in it and before the whisky went in.

[00:05:43] Yep.

[00:05:44] Steve Davis: Now, we’ve got, for those who are just listening and not watching the video, I’ve got a bottle of Galway Pipe in my hand. If we smelled this, is that going to give us a heads up as to what’s coming, or not really? Potentially, but maybe a little bit of a note. Oh yeah. I mean, we got that first act, that wafting of The portness, um, which is that condensed grape.

[00:06:06] Condensed Sultana.

[00:06:08] John Gledhill: Yeah, it’s got a bit of sulcana, a bit of, um,

[00:06:10] Steve Davis: caramel. All right, so looking forward to that. Um, I want to unbox this because the, I’ve not seen a whisky boxed. like this before. This is top shelf. It is. And it’s full of red, lots of red, lots of deep burgundy, lots of gold, traditionally great colours for the Chinese market.

[00:06:29] Um, how many bottles of this do you think they actually made? A couple hundred maybe? No, normally, like we’re talking tens of thousands of bottles of something, 3, 600. That’s it. No more. Um, available at Sipify and other, some select bottle shops around the place, but, um, we’re going to open one now. Uh, this, I can’t wait.

[00:06:51] Let’s do it. Let’s do it. All right. So, how, I’m going to try and do it with my face to the camera. So, I’m just opening both sides. It feels like, A very fancy Thunderbirds, like Thunderbirds where the swimming pool moves back and then up comes the, the joy. I can’t even see it, let me have a look. Look at that!

[00:07:12] Oh wow, that looks fantastic. That is superb. It’s got a nice little greeting card and an envelope. There, look at the bottle. This presentation is top shelf. I know that in the Chinese market, presentation is everything. So you’ve got a little bit information card there, information bit about the ear of the snake.

[00:07:29] We’ve got that light, pale gold, um, cloth that it’s sitting in. It’s got a snake emblem, uh, inside the cast as well. So the artist is Chris Yee. He’s managed to take this and create this concept. Look at that. Now if you’re watching the video, that’s pretty special. We’ve got the squat bottle of whiskey, solid.

[00:07:59] Feel the weight on that. That is heavy. And you’ve got this very colorful snake folding its way around the bottle. I can’t wait to get into this. I just want, I just want to try some of this.

[00:08:12] John Gledhill: Is there anything else you want to comment on before we try? No, I think it’s got beautiful colour, the whisky itself is very nicely coloured, um, and uh, incredible presentation obviously, but uh, yeah, looking forward to trying it.

[00:08:24] Well let’s

[00:08:24] Steve Davis: just note that Anthony has chipped in, the red envelope in Chinese culture represents good fortune, good health, good luck, so they’ve paid attention to all those details. Um, the lid itself has that nice embossing around it. A nice metallic band as well. Let’s unplug it. Are you ready? Guests first.

[00:08:48] Thank you. And I’ll pour some over here as well. Oops, a little bit more went in my glass. Sorry about that, John. It’s all right. Look at the yellow. This is a It’s vibrant. It’s a vibrant, but it is actually in the, I would call this a deep yellow. Deep yellow to gold. Hmm? It’s really quite metallic, gold and sheen.

[00:09:09] I guess that’s what it is, isn’t it? It is, I haven’t seen a whiskey exactly this colour ever before. They tend to be very brown, aren’t they? Mmm. I just had a band of angels spread their wings in my head. It just went straight to my head when I inhaled that aroma. What are you getting on your nose? Not angels.

[00:09:28] Not angels?

[00:09:30] John Gledhill: There’s a little bit of nuttiness, a little bit of wood, um, maybe some of that caramel and toffee character. You might be getting some vanilla, you know, some sweetness. There’s certainly a sweetness there on the, on the nose. Um, really quite appealing. It, it doesn’t smell hot. A lot of, a lot of whiskeys or, you know, spiritus drinks without any dilution smell hot and they feel hot.

[00:09:54] This one doesn’t. Are you ready for a

[00:09:56] Steve Davis: little drop of water

[00:09:56] John Gledhill: so

[00:09:56] Steve Davis: we can start tasting? Yes. So, you go first. No, you go. No, you let me. Thank

[00:10:02] John Gledhill: you. I was

[00:10:03] Steve Davis: taught by a Scot just to put a little kiss of water. in the whiskey. All right, let the volatile, this changes, changes the aroma. Oh, it broadens it out. In fact, and it brought in some candy apple.

[00:10:18] I got candy apple out of nowhere. Oh, and there’s something else. There’s an elusive flavor. Oh, what is that? Hang on. Yes, yes. Out of nowhere. And yet there’s still something else lurking there, hoping it will come to me. It is a bit like those snake. Those dragons that you have in the street festivals that are all wavy, up and down.

[00:10:40] This is what’s happening on the palate, or on the nose, so far. Are you ready? I think it’s time to have a sip. Before we do, we must cross culture here and toast our late patron, Queen Adelaide. To the Queen. To the Queen. All right, here we go. Hard to put into words, it has You know if you get into a very expensive car and you lay the seats right back, That’s what it felt like.

[00:11:04] It reclined itself into my

[00:11:07] John Gledhill: palate. Is that what you got? I got quite an intense burst of freshness on the front of the palate and then yeah, sort of quite creamy and silky as it passes down along the palate.

[00:11:18] Steve Davis: And then, 10 seconds later, 15 seconds later, I’m now getting a little foundation, a sponge if you like, a little trampoline of Sultana.

[00:11:29] Just sitting, um, Dried sultanas? Dried sultanas. Um, just sitting on the palate. This is not a whisky for guzzling. This is a whisky for really enjoying slowly, I think. Definitely no cocaine in this. No, no. See, the second sip was different again. It Your mouth has acclimatised. Oh, I guess that’s it. It’s stuck more to the centre of the road.

[00:11:55] Or Chinatown. It’s, it’s, it’s kept itself to the centre pathway

[00:12:00] John Gledhill: and the people are lining the streets either side. I find when you, when you taste it, the initial taste moves all the way along the palate but then after you’ve, um, you know, swallowed the mouthful then the, there’s a big difference. ball of, um, aroma and mouthfeel right at the front.

[00:12:18] It sort of comes back to the front of the palate again. Sort of, you know, there’s a slight heat there from the alcohol, obviously. And it’s got, you know, quite a nice lift. Um, but there’s nothing, there’s nothing that overly dominates the palate, which I think is, is quite interesting. A lot of, a lot of whiskies you’ll find that they’re either Petey, or they’re citrusy, or they’re, you know, oaky, or something like that.

[00:12:43] This one, there’s no one character that dominates. I’ve just had a look at the notes, because I haven’t looked at the

[00:12:48] Steve Davis: actual tasting notes until I had to try it first. And here are some things it’s mentioned. I think it’s just named what I was looking for. So it said, the nose opens with toffee and sun dried raisins, backed by vanilla, before the palate reveals layers of butterscotch.

[00:13:02] Butterscotch. That’s what I was getting that I couldn’t name. Butterscotch and warming spices. The Galway pipe cask influence shows through within the finish. Smooth oak caramel notes that then linger like a good conversation. You know, sometimes those notes back lyrical, but that’s pretty close to what we’ve just experienced.

[00:13:21] I think so. Oh,

[00:13:23] John Gledhill: let me have one more. Butterscotch, honeycomb, similar, similar kind of notes. So we were, I guess, close to the mark.

[00:13:29] Steve Davis: Now, there’s only 3, 000, well 3, 599 of these bottles available and I believe they sit around the 260 mark and it’s a very special limited edition. If you can get one, I think savouring it throughout the The Year of the Snake, just slither your way down the bottle, like snakes and ladders, uh, in your whiskey cupboard.

[00:13:54] Enjoy its freshness. It would be good. Do you know what this, what’s happened, and to me, I’ll just finish closely on this. When, say three or four years ago, when Australian whiskey was really hitting the straps, I still was cynical. It’s whiskeys like this and not even this that even down a tear within the 23rd is making me go You know, I can drink this.

[00:14:17] This is beautiful. This is it’s it’s developing its sophistication

[00:14:22] John Gledhill: and this is up there I think people who’ve been doing this for a while have have been putting whiskeys away and maturing them, you know, the way they should be. And when, when Australian whiskeys first hit the market, I think there was a lot of producers wanted to be the first one out there to, to release their, their whiskey.

[00:14:40] And so a lot of them were underdone. They were in suboptimal cask maturation conditions. They extracted a lot of oak because, you know, the, you put, Uh, a whiskey or a spirit into an ex wine barrel and it’s going to extract a huge amount of tannin and colour very quickly. Um, you know, a fortified barrel, even though it’s had fortified in it for 15 years, that barrel is probably still 30 or 40 years old.

[00:15:06] In this case, you’re not going to be extracting a lot of those really hard, bitter tannins out of the oak. You’re not going to be extracting, you know, dark brown colours, which I think you see in this. It’s beautifully golden and vibrant in colour. And the oak complements it rather than those early ones that came out, the oak was one of the dominant features and I think this is where time, there’s no substitute for time like time and I think this is something that shows through pretty well.

[00:15:36] Steve Davis: All that’s left for me to say is the 23rd Street Distillery Year of the Snake Whiskey is the South Australian drink of the week and the year of the snake.

[00:16:13] From playing in total darkness at the Mawson Lakes Planetarium to accompanying Elaine Page, OBE, our guest today has helped weave classical music into Adelaide’s cultural fabric for nearly three decades. As co founder of Amicus Strings, she’s about to give us some insights into appreciating orchestral music, just as the Hong Kong String Orchestra prepares to herald in the Year of the Snake A year that Chinese astrology tells us is all about transformation and wisdom.

[00:16:45] Uh, rather fitting, I think, qualities for a conversation about musical evolution, I dare say. So, just back from visiting family in Hong Kong, Karen Lam, welcome to the Adelaide Show.

[00:16:58] Carolyn Lam: Thank you, Steve. Thank you for having me.

[00:17:00] Steve Davis: Now, I do understand that Amicus once performed Incomplete Darkness at the Planetarium.

[00:17:07] So, What does playing by memory in that environment teach us about, you know, listening to orchestral music? What was going through your mind to doing it? Because you’d have to be very centered, I imagine.

[00:17:22] Carolyn Lam: Well, there’s a couple of difficulties. First, you have to memorise the music. And secondly, you can’t see your instrument.

[00:17:27] So, in preparation for that, I practised in total darkness in my lounge room. You can’t see the instrument, so you, I mean, you often feel, you know, what string you’re playing on, etc. But, yes, to start pieces or whatever, you actually don’t have any visual cue on your instrument at all.

[00:17:48] Steve Davis: Yeah, because when you think about it, even though at your level you’re not going to be staring at your instrument, I’m sure you’ve got your peripheral vision and you’ve got that ability to, to know where the fingers are going.

[00:18:01] None of that.

[00:18:02] Carolyn Lam: No, none of that. It’s complete darkness.

[00:18:04] Steve Davis: Did it change anything about how you played even after that? Did it, did it do something to your method at all? Or was it just a one off?

[00:18:14] Carolyn Lam: Well, I was lucky enough to be invited several times up there, so the first time, obviously, was quite interesting, but then thereafter, you know what to expect.

[00:18:23] But, yeah, you’re more, well, I guess You have to use your ears a lot more, um, to, you know, look we use our ears anyway as musicians, but, um, because you don’t have that visual element either, it, it, the senses completely change.

[00:18:42] Steve Davis: What sort of, uh, feedback did you get from the audience? Because when I listen to people, Good classical music.

[00:18:48] I’ll often close my eyes. So for them, I mean I suppose they were having them open because they were watching the beautiful planets and stars and everything. What, what sort of feedback did you get?

[00:18:59] Carolyn Lam: Um, well how relaxing it was for them to be, for them to be lying back in their chairs looking at the stars, listening to some, Classical music.

[00:19:09] Wow. Was that actually a fantastic experience for us as well, as for

[00:19:12] Steve Davis: them? Now something that’s sort of, I wouldn’t say it’s a trend with a capital T, because it’s been going for a while, and that is for orchestras to put on events, shows, where they do a lot of popular music. And, you know, it could be rock music, it could be pop music, it could be a blend of everything.

[00:19:32] What is your thinking about that? What do you think of that as an idea? Because I imagine it brings people to a gathering of classical instruments who wouldn’t normally be there.

[00:19:46] Carolyn Lam: That’s exactly right, Steve. I’ve performed many, many shows in the past that have been whatever title it’s called and with the word orchestrated at the end.

[00:19:57] So, it might be orchestrated, it could be ABBA orchestrated, it could be Queen orchestrated. And it just gives the added element of pop and rock music being played orchestrally either with or without a singer.

[00:20:14] So,

[00:20:15] Carolyn Lam: I’ve done both where they have had an artist or numerous artists at the front and backed by a big orchestra.

[00:20:23] Or we have done orchestral covers, I suppose, of tunes that people will recognise. And, um, it works brilliantly if the charts are well written. Well, it’s

[00:20:38] Steve Davis: interesting because growing up listening to a lot of pop music and rock, I would always hate the instrumental bits because it was the lyrics I wanted to listen to, and I’ve changed.

[00:20:50] I still love lyrics, but it just occurred to me that if you’ve got a lovely classical ensemble producing this music, a violin or some instrument would take the role of the vocal, I imagine, so you still get that same texture.

[00:21:06] Carolyn Lam: Oh, very much so. And it’s the job of the arranger to cleverly write the music.

[00:21:12] Um, so the vocal line doesn’t always have to be in the violin. Sometimes it can be the flute, oboe, and can travel around the orchestra. You know, one minute the brass has got the phrase and then it transfers to a cello, to the oboe, and it’s really the creativity of the arranger that will write the music.

[00:21:31] the music for the orchestra to play.

[00:21:34] Steve Davis: My instinct is that Queen would translate very well because they had classical training themselves.

[00:21:42] Carolyn Lam: Very much so. My string quartet, Amicus, does a Queen show for Fever Candlelight and without drums and without vocals that you hear the music that Freddie and his mates wrote and it is very traditionally classically based.

[00:21:59] Steve Davis: Some would not transpose as well, I would have thought. It’d be more limited. Would you think, would there, is there some sort of rock or pop that just, I mean, I’m thinking of Devo in the 80s had Whip It, Whip It Good. I can’t imagine doing much with that with an orchestra, can you? Or is everything up for grabs?

[00:22:18] Well, to a certain

[00:22:19] Carolyn Lam: extent. I mean, arrangers are very clever and they’re artistically creative and it’s up for grabs. to them to create something out of what they’ve got, but yes, to more or lesser degree, other things lend itself better orchestrally than others.

[00:22:34] Steve Davis: So that would give, those sorts of concerts give people their first taste of what it’s like to immerse yourself in that rich, that warmth of orchestral instruments together.

[00:22:47] If you really wanted to bait the hook. And bring someone into the world, and even, I don’t want to sound snobbish about it, but wean them off the Queen done orchestrated to some Bach or some Beethoven. What are the gateway drug, you know, tracks, what sort of show would you put together that you’d think, we’re going to win their soul tonight.

[00:23:13] We’re going to win them for classical music.

[00:23:16] Carolyn Lam: That’s a very tough question, Steve. Um, at the moment, you know, we’re heavily involved in these Fever Candlelight concerts and we have people who have You know, never heard Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in its entirety, for example, which is a show we’ve done for Fever now probably over 60 times.

[00:23:39] But they might come to one of our Ed Sheeran or Coldplay concerts or we’ve done Radiohead, you know, for example. And so they see us for the first time performing that genre of music. as a string quartet and they’re keen to hear more and then they see our Vivaldi’s Four Seasons show and think well okay well I’ll come and hear that as a classical music, pure classical music concert not classical covers and it sort of then opens the door to think well I’ve heard this sort of music once and I actually quite like it and I might explore more so I guess that’s how we’ve done it the last.

[00:24:21] Four years, which is through this organization, and we have opened ourselves to audiences who have never seen a string quartet before. And I open every concert having to explain what a viola is, because a lot of general public wouldn’t even know what a viola is. So I love the educational part.

[00:24:44] of also performing and being able to emcee the concert and talk to them in that manner.

[00:24:50] Steve Davis: How would you describe a viola in a sentence or two? Because I’ll expose my ignorance. Um, isn’t it more or less like a slightly larger violin?

[00:25:00] Carolyn Lam: Yes. Well, I often say to the audiences that it is a violin on steroids. It is played the same way, makes a deeper sound, and we often hold the violin and viola together so that the audience can actually see the size difference.

[00:25:14] And I use the analogy of a string quartet being like a sandwich. You know, the first violin and cello are the two outer pieces of bread, the second violin and the viola are your filling. And the viola’s like the avocado you can’t live without. It makes the sandwich taste so much nicer. And all of a sudden the audience gets it.

[00:25:32] Yes. Do you have any knives? So, that’s how I often do it.

[00:25:35] Steve Davis: Well, that is my, that’s why I wanted to have this chat, because sometimes people have not had experiences, because they haven’t been enticed, they haven’t had a different way of thinking about it to make them curious to see what it would sound like.

[00:25:51] Um, because the way you describe it there You just want to have it. And Vivaldi, of course, magnificent, and it’s been used in lots of different ways, so we’re familiar. Mozart is known as really, I guess, the father of the best sort of melodies. Something I say, I’m going to expose myself again to you here. I saw, um, Britten’s version of Romeo and Juliet, uh, the big opera, uh, by, uh, Britten.

[00:26:20] I think he was the composer, and it was I wanted to just gouge my ears out of my head because everything felt uphill all the time and the phrase that came out of my head was, we were not given any melodic reward. Everything was hard work for us to listen to, whereas to me a great composer can push the limit.

[00:26:47] But give us, just, you know, in that sandwich, give us that bit of avocado, give us that little treat. Am I just exposing myself as a philistine? How do you react to this confession made public?

[00:27:03] Carolyn Lam: I guess from a performing musician’s point of view, we love melody because it gives us something to play, uh, something to, you know, not, not sing.

[00:27:15] As in your traditional singer, but make the instrument sing. Personally, I love playing a beautiful lyrical melody. It sort of has some sort of direction and phrasing to it. , you know? Then again, there are genres of music that rely very much on the percussive or a rhythmic nature rather than a melodic nature.

[00:27:38] So we’ve gotta have both, I guess , you can’t sing everything,

[00:27:42] Steve Davis: and some are like composers, music they, they’re so, they’re so rare. I mean, Philip Glass for crying out loud, there’s not a lot of melodic reward there. That is for your hardcore purists . Would that be fair to say?

[00:27:55] Carolyn Lam: Yes, but Philip Glass is also very clever in his.

[00:28:00] Writing and the melody comes very hidden very slowly because he, he writes in patterns and repeated patterns and so sometimes the melody will come through a much longer segment because he, He builds on blocks. Mm-hmm . I, I personally love Philip Glass.

[00:28:19] Steve Davis: Yeah. Well, I actually softened to him when there was a tour of him doing, putting Leonard Cohen’s poetry to music.

[00:28:28] And so it’s not his songs, but his poetry. And because I’m a Leonard Cohen fan and we had the words, I could sustain that payoff. And so maybe I just haven’t, hadn’t, you know, maybe part of this dilemma is. What’s in it for me? Have I sensed that there’s a prize waiting at the end, or am I wanting to give up because I just want the lollies now?

[00:28:53] Carolyn Lam: Well, I must admit Philip Glass is far more interesting to play than it is to listen to. Because it is a challenge to play. But listening to it, look I’ve learnt to also love listening to his music only because I’ve played so much of it.

[00:29:10] Steve Davis: Well, actually, here’s a question that I had, um, As I was driving over here, who is your favourite composer to listen to and your favourite one to play, and are they the same?

[00:29:23] Carolyn Lam: Um, well, the ABC Classic 100 a couple of years ago, you had to vote for your favourite composer. And there was one clear winner for me, which is You know, J. S. Bach. It is, I have many composers I love playing, but if I really, really had to pick one, it would be, it would be Bach.

[00:29:41] Steve Davis: To play or to listen to?

[00:29:42] Carolyn Lam: Probably both, actually. Why? Uh, it is, his music is so clever. Uh, there’s so many contrapuntal melodies you have to think through. He’s very structured, he’s very organized. Pretty much like me really.

[00:29:58] Steve Davis: I was just forming that thought because I know you off air and you are the super organiser. That is great.

[00:30:07] Oh

[00:30:08] Carolyn Lam: anyway, no, and I think his music is very difficult to play

[00:30:14] Steve Davis: as well

[00:30:14] Carolyn Lam: so I love that challenge.

[00:30:16] Steve Davis: So when I say Mozart sits at the top. You don’t 100 percent agree with that?

[00:30:21] Carolyn Lam: Oh no, absolutely. Um, you know, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky would have to all be right up there. But if I absolutely had to pick one, it would be Bach.

[00:30:33] Steve Davis: Alright, well look, just tinging of course, we’re heading towards the Year of the Snake, and you’ve just come back from Hong Kong. Now, I’ve never been to Hong Kong, um, What’s Hong Kong like in relation to its exposure to appreciation of classical music, or music generally? What do you remember? I know you don’t hold up a flag saying I’m the world’s expert on this.

[00:30:58] This is just you, Carolyn, as a human. How would you describe the musical scene in Hong Kong?

[00:31:09] Carolyn Lam: Well, I’ve been very fortunate to have been to Hong Kong almost every year of my life since I was born, because my parents are born in Hong Kong, and I have still many surviving relatives over there. And I remember growing up, uh, being amazed at the beauty of Hong Kong.

[00:31:31] The advertisements for classical music concerts in Hong Kong, they’re on, you know, the billboards on the bus stops, on the underground, the MTR as it’s called, or you know, the tube underground system, and they have billboards everywhere for advertisement, and there will always be advertisements for different, um, Worldwide artists who perform in Hong Kong.

[00:31:53] The, um, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, all the different classical music programs are very well advertised. As a child growing up, I went to many concerts in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and also the Hong Kong, um, um, Recital Hall. And the, um, um, International artists that go through there are amazing.

[00:32:19] It is a very, very culturally enriched city. Not only just with Western music, but Chinese music too. I mean, there’s a lot of Chinese traditional music, Beijing opera, and so the mix of, um, of what you get in Hong Kong is phenomenal.

[00:32:39] Steve Davis: I suppose I was sort of poking my tongue out at Philip Glass earlier because it was so hard to penetrate as just a layperson, but I would imagine Chinese melody is very different to the Western ear, isn’t it?

[00:32:53] Carolyn Lam: Oh, absolutely. I mean, it’s based on the pentatonic scale. That’s how you get the Chinese sounds of it. And there’s beautiful tunes that are using Western instruments, if I can put it that way. So just take a violin and piano, for example, that you, that we all know. Yes. And many, many composers have written beautiful Chinese melodies.

[00:33:18] Um, played on the violin with the piano accompaniment.

[00:33:21] Steve Davis: And when you say pentatonic, does that mean there’s five notes before they recur? Yes,

[00:33:28] Carolyn Lam: yes. So there’s two notes in your traditional scale that are missing. Uh, and it’s those that give you that Chinese or Asian feel.

[00:33:36] Steve Davis: I hope it’s B and F because they’re really hard to play on the guitar.

[00:33:42] What? Are they named in the same way? What sort of

[00:33:46] Carolyn Lam: Well, it’s the 4th and the 7th of the scale, so if you’re talking C major, then yes, it is the F and the B that’s missing.

[00:33:53] Steve Davis: Oh mate, oh, I have to I think I’ve found my spiritual home.

[00:34:01] Alright, from now on I’m going to get all my music on guitar transposed into the pentatonic scale. Um, so, have you noted if there’s any shift? You know, when England, of course, moved away, and China came in more strongly within Hong Kong, um, Is it more, is it still continuing the same? Has there been a greater influence of Chinese culture, uh, that’s more dominant, or is it still that melting pot of everything?

[00:34:31] Carolyn Lam: No, it’s still, it’s still pretty much the same. I mean, it’s always had, um, the mix of Chinese and English in there as a, as a day to day living environment. There’s not been much change at all.

[00:34:47] Steve Davis: Okay. Now, there is one myth that I dangerously need to raise with you so you can shoot it down in flames. Please don’t hate me, alright?

[00:34:57] If you could see the look on Carolyn’s face right now, it’s priceless. Um, I’ve heard a myth that musicians of a Chinese origin approach music in a very technical, correct way. Whereas Europeans tend to allow a bit more heart and soul and a bit more fudging it with the emotions. Is that just pure myth, is one question, or is there a little bit of a, a spectrum there?

[00:35:27] And secondly, would the audience actually be able to tell?

[00:35:31] Carolyn Lam: I’m going to disappoint you, Steve, and say I actually don’t know. Oh, okay. I mean, I, I, trained in here in Adelaide, but I have had masterclasses in Hong Kong and, um,

[00:35:47] Steve Davis: knowing

[00:35:47] Carolyn Lam: the mainland Chinese, they are technically very correct, uh, and do focus more on You know, being technically proficient at something.

[00:36:03] I mean, you, you look at their gymnasts and they look at the way they approach their sport and their military, for example. Um, you know, the, the military parades that come out of Beijing are absolutely perfect. Um, I, I, I can’t say, sorry to disappoint. I mean, I had my, all of my teachers were trained in, in Europe.

[00:36:26] And, um, I had the blend of the emotion, but also a solid technical foundation as well. So, um, I can’t, I can’t really, can’t really answer that, not having, you know, studied or being exposed to a lot of people who have trained in mainland China.

[00:36:46] Steve Davis: Just the other part of it, my intuition is That a well versed music lover aficionado might be able to distinguish the difference between someone playing technically perfectly and someone playing with more elasticity in their, the way they’re putting emphasis on things.

[00:37:04] But my but my feeling is I would appreciate either musician’s music. I don’t know that I would tell much difference.

[00:37:13] Carolyn Lam: Well, I think it’s a personal preference. Do people like something that’s technically perfect, but a little more, um, you know, straight up, straight up and down? Or do people forgive little bits here and there for an emotional rendition?

[00:37:31] Steve Davis: Yeah. Okay. Well, at the risk of asking something else that you might not be exposed to, have you ever seen this TV show called Mozart in the Jungle? Or is that new to you?

[00:37:41] Carolyn Lam: Uh, I don’t watch TV, Steve. Of

[00:37:43] Steve Davis: course you don’t, because you’re so efficient. I’m so busy. Ah, well, look, it’s one I might recommend, because some listeners will definitely have watched it.

[00:37:55] I think it’s on Amazon. It’s a, the New York Symphonic? Uh, they have a new conductor, and he is a person from Latin America, South, South America, who’s very passionate, and colors outside the lines all the time, and ruffles feathers, and I think if ever you did, Allow yourself to indulge, but you’d be watching it I don’t know what your emotions would be.

[00:38:26] That itself would be wonderful to watch you watching this show.

[00:38:30] Carolyn Lam: Well now that you’ve told me about it, I might have to find time to watch it.

[00:38:33] Steve Davis: I think if you watched one episode, you’d know whether it was for you or not. Because, um, just the discussions and the debate and the tension they have between these different styles is Fascinating.

[00:38:46] Carolyn Lam: I’ll let you know after I do watch the episode, Steve.

[00:38:48] Steve Davis: Please do. Um, now the other thing that relates to you, before we move on, is what planted the seed for you to become so immersed in this world of music? Was, was it, was it something that just sort of sprung within you? Were there familial expectations that would you pursue this way?

[00:39:09] What, What’s the mix? Was it the exposure to all those billboards and ads in Hong Kong?

[00:39:15] Carolyn Lam: Um, my parents, um, played piano. I mean, um, mum learned piano very, you know, elementary, but my dad also enjoyed playing. And so I suppose as a child growing up, I was exposed to classical music at home. Uh, not necessarily because they played, but, um, Because, um, you know, they had classical music in the home, you know, either on, on a, um, back then, you know, tape players.

[00:39:51] Ah, yes, yes. I remember them, yes. And, um,

[00:39:57] Steve Davis: All life.

[00:39:59] Carolyn Lam: Yes, I, ah, my earliest memory really was, um, Um, apparently climbing up on the piano that we just had at home and Tinkering on the piano as all little kids do, because there was an instrument there. So my parents decided to take me to some lessons in case that was something that I was interested in doing.

[00:40:20] And I suppose from there that’s when it started. I started the piano first. And then I went to a friend’s house in primary school and she played piano and violin. So I came home one day and I said, Oh, my friend’s playing violin too. Can I play the violin? And so that’s what started the violin lessons. And, um, even to this day now I’m performing on both instruments.

[00:40:43] Steve Davis: Wow. And a favourite?

[00:40:46] Carolyn Lam: Oh, they’re very different. I can’t, I can’t pick a favourite. It’s like picking a favourite child. They, it’s, they’re, they’re both Um, wonderful and challenging in different ways and actually people have their own view of which instrument I play better. And it’s not always the same too.

[00:41:02] Steve Davis: There’s just, if you have a look at the Amicus Strings website and have a look at Carolyn’s bio, it is amazing. Just all the different things you’ve done in the world of music. My sense is, there’s a philosophical um, um, quote that, A fish does not understand what water is, because it just is. I feel like that’s you in relation to music.

[00:41:26] I feel like it’s You exist in that musical realm. Am I being too romantic at that notion?

[00:41:36] Carolyn Lam: Possibly. Look, um, music really does feed my soul. I think it’s, um I don’t know. I don’t think I could exist without it. Not just music itself, but performing specifically. I’m a performing musician first and foremost.

[00:41:56] I don’t think I would be able to survive without being able to do that.

[00:41:59] Steve Davis: And in your day job, of course, you’re a lawyer. Um, I’m often curious to see if people’s occupations bleed into their artistic performance. Is there any symbiosis between being a lawyer And being a musician.

[00:42:16] Carolyn Lam: None.

[00:42:17] Steve Davis: None.

[00:42:18] Carolyn Lam: I, um, do the music to escape from my law job during the day.

[00:42:23] It’s way too stressful.

[00:42:25] Steve Davis: Right. Because there is a performative aspect at times in your roles. The lawyer isn’t there when you’ve got to. Perform. I

[00:42:32] Carolyn Lam: I, well, if yes, if you’re standing up in court or tribunal, you know, addressing a judge or a commissioner or something like that, I guess in, in some ways, that is a performance.

[00:42:43] I . I always keep saying that I love performing music more because you’ll never get stopped by an audience member asking you questions, . But what about this and why this?

[00:42:55] Steve Davis: Oh, now there’s something, dear listener, if you’re listening to this and you happen to see. Karen performing stand up and say, I object.

[00:43:02] No, no, no, that’s, that’s vetoed. Um, The Year of the Snake. In 2025, it’s the zodiac calendar from China. Does it have a daily awareness? Like this coming year, will you be aware in the top of your mind about it being the Year of the Snake? Is it more like a ceremonial thing that you Nod your head to from time to time.

[00:43:31] What? How does it integrate with your life? Much? Not much? Probably not much. I

[00:43:37] Carolyn Lam: guess, um, you know, your year comes around once every 12 years. So just like there are 12 signs of the zodiac, there are 12 animals in the Chinese calendar. And I guess it has significance when it is your year because it comes around every 12 years.

[00:43:53] So, um, yeah. Other than that, people are aware of what, um, the animal it is of that year, and some might have their preference of animals and what that means, um. So if they

[00:44:09] Steve Davis: were dating, they might prefer someone born in the year of the horse? Oh

[00:44:14] Carolyn Lam: yes, there’s a whole, there are books and books about compatibility, just like, you know, Virgos and Sagittarius, or Virgos better not date, you know, Virgos Gemini or whatever it is.

[00:44:26] It’s just like, well, oxes are more suited to, um, dogs and rabbits. If that’s for those that believe in those sorts of horoscopes.

[00:44:35] Steve Davis: Well, yeah, because we don’t believe in, well, I don’t believe in the horoscopes here, but try to be culturally sensitive when there’s another culture’s thing, but it seems that many people within China would also have that arm’s length.

[00:44:52] Carolyn Lam: Oh, well, I guess in all cultures there are some people who have a stronger belief in one thing than the other.

[00:44:58] Steve Davis: And can we ask what you are?

[00:45:00] Carolyn Lam: Oh, that would reveal my, um Ah,

[00:45:02] Steve Davis: your age.

[00:45:03] Carolyn Lam: My Aging Age. Step. Okay.

[00:45:07] Steve Davis: I won’t ask. Um, now. Just When With Amicus Strings, when people want to book you, to perform, you and your troupe, do you have to What is the right mindset to approach booking live musicians for an event?

[00:45:27] What things should they be mindful of? And what mistakes do people sometimes make, like in thinking you’re just like a DJ? Or, just, I’d just love to take us into that world. This is your chance to tell us how to be the better customers that we could ever be to get the most out of you.

[00:45:46] Carolyn Lam: Um, we perform at around 120 to 130 functions a year, of which anywhere between 80 to 100 are weddings, and 130 are corporate functions, birthday parties, anniversaries, dare I say funerals and wakes.

[00:46:09] Um, anywhere really where live music is performed. Wanted by the customer. Yep. And live music will always give that visual element over a Spotify playlist. You can’t just replicate that visual. Um, you know, the look of having live musicians, but also personally, I think it sounds better. You can’t really beat live music compared with something that’s coming through a speaker.

[00:46:43] Um, what do people look for? Well, we also work in different combinations where solo duos, trios, quartets, we’ve actually been asked to perform as an octet before. And, um, You know, we work with keyboardists and guitarists as well, so it, it, it, first and foremost, I think people need to think of what sound they want to hear.

[00:47:04] As live musicians, we create sound. And so, you wanting a big, nice, full string section, or are you having an intimate, uh, Wedding of 20 people, you wouldn’t want a string quartet because that’s one fifth of your number already, so you might just want two people. And likewise, we’ve, on the opposite side, we’ve had, you know, functions of 500 people and, you know, to book a duo, for example, you’re just going to get lost without any sort of amplification.

[00:47:33] So what sound do you want? Yeah. And then what’s also, what sort of music are you looking for? And

[00:47:41] Steve Davis: people can say Here is my exact playlist. Can they?

[00:47:45] Carolyn Lam: Oh yeah, absolutely.

[00:47:46] Steve Davis: Could they also say, look, I love Mozart so much better than Bach. Um, can I, can you just give a Mozart drenched? And you just come up with something yourself?

[00:47:57] Carolyn Lam: Oh, absolutely. I mean, we, our first gig for 2025 was in fact a three hour wake after a funeral. And apparently we could only play Baroque music.

[00:48:08] So

[00:48:09] Carolyn Lam: speaking of Bach, I had, I was in my element with playing a lot of Bach that afternoon.

[00:48:15] Steve Davis: Right. And what would be, so one of the things that people get wrong is either too few musicians for the size or too many.

[00:48:22] Is there anything else? Like, if I wanted you to book you and said, I just want you to do Coldplay covers and things like that. Is that okay? Yes,

[00:48:35] Carolyn Lam: um, we have a lot of music that arrangers have written for us. So we’ve got, you know, stacks and stacks of music. But I think where people run into trouble with a string group is, um, you know, a lot of R& B or a lot of rap.

[00:48:49] You know, rap doesn’t, rap doesn’t work for string quartet, for example. Not successfully anyway, because it’s very, you Rhythmic and percussive based, you know, that’s not something that we can really reproduce, but if it is, you know, a rock tune that has chord charts or something, well, this is again going back to your arrangers.

[00:49:09] They can actually write music that we can play. So, um, yeah, there’s, look, there are only certain categories that won’t work, uh, successfully.

[00:49:18] Steve Davis: And last question. If I’m at an event and you have been booked to provide that music, should I be paying attention to you or paying attention to the people I’m chatting with?

[00:49:31] What’s the etiquette?

[00:49:34] Carolyn Lam: The etiquette is, we are there for background music, we’re not there for a concert or a performance. So, people engage us at an event, we don’t expect people to grab a chair and sit down and listen to us. We are there as, um, to fill up the atmosphere with lovely music. We certainly don’t expect people to sit and listen intently to us, because that’s not the purpose of our music.

[00:49:57] Steve Davis: Do you like the music? Eye contact from someone who’s really enjoying it and giving you that sort of nod and encouragement, or do you dissuade? Oh, they’ll automatically come up to us.

[00:50:06] Carolyn Lam: Oh, will they? Yeah, yeah, yeah. They’ll come up to us and thank us and show their appreciation. So, there’s some, uh, they’re not shy in coming forward, uh, about, or having a chat with us about certain things.

[00:50:17] So, we don’t have to worry about that very much.

[00:50:19] Steve Davis: Oh, that’s fantastic. Alright, look, Karen, thank you for that, to head us into the year of the snake. Uh, whatever that is in relation to the Year of Your Mysterious Animal. Um, I hope it is, whether it’s superstition or not, I hope it does bring harmony and sustainability to you.

[00:50:35] Um, I will put the link to Amica Strings in the show notes so people can pursue more and details of that concert with the Hong Kong String Orchestra. on January 31st at Her Majesty’s Theatre. I’ll put the link to that in the show notes as well. Carolyn Lamb, thank you for being part of the Adelaide show.

[00:50:53] Carolyn Lam: Thank you, Steve. It’s been a pleasure.

[00:51:07] Steve Davis: In the musical pilgrimage, uh, thank you so much to John Murch from the Radio Notes podcast. As always, he has An encyclopedic memory and a broad heart that loves all types of music and he introduced me to Jane Anne Power. Especially this album too, this vinyl album I have in front of me called the Analogue Sessions.

[00:51:34] It’s an EP, what’s your rush? Find it on the floor and outside looking in. They are the three tracks, uh, we get the original tracks on side A and side B. There’s some different treatments, some different remixes of the tracks. And it is, well, it’s funked up soul, as they say, gritty grooves, sexy styling. This is.

[00:51:55] Top Shelf. We began the show with a Top Shelf Whiskey. We’re ending the show with a Top Shelf track. And the reason I wanted to play this is because, in the mythology of the Year of the Snake, The year is about transformation, it’s about wisdom, it’s about personal growth, and I really think that making the effort to explore music that is beautiful, that is powerful, and dare I say it, not the music that’s typically on high rotation at mix or triple n.

[00:52:26] I think that’s a step in the right direction of the message and the inclination that the Year of Snake is bringing us. And as we listen to this track, I just want to draw your attention to the talent. Lead vocals, of course, Jayne Ann Power. Guitar, Tommy Bland. Drums, Damian Eldridge. Bass, Tim Wilsdon.

[00:52:46] Backing vocals by Lee Fitzner, Tim Wilsdon and Jayne Ann Power herself. A special mention to to Shane Ellery on the keys. If you love the keys, you love that wonderful sound. Right now, let’s just take this. Listen, this is fantastic. The black plastic. I’ll just put this on the turntable here. And the track I’ve selected for us is Oh, there are so many.

[00:53:14] Of the three, I wanted to play all of them. We might play some others in other episodes, but right now, I think we want to enjoy the Year of the Snake for as long as it lasts, so what better than to listen to Jane Ann Power and What’s Your Rush?

[00:58:29] Jane Ann Power, what’s your rush? And there is no rush. If you have a chance, listen to the episode again, certainly listen to that song again, and try and get your hands on a copy. Thank you so much for listening in for this episode. May all the blessings of the Year of the Snake, whether or not you fully subscribe to them, may they all come true.

[00:58:49] And until next episode, take care. It’s goodnight from me, goodnight Don, and as the snake sheds its skin, may this year bring renewal and transformation.