Bliss n Eso perform for troops in Afghanistan

AUSSIE hip-hop heroes Bliss n Eso spent a week entertaining audiences overseas for whom touring is not so much a pleasure as a duty.

Bliss n Eso in Afghanistan.

THE local touring circuit has been buzzing of late, but Aussie hip-hop heroes Bliss n Eso spent a week or so this month entertaining audiences overseas for whom touring is not so much a pleasure as a duty.

The three-piece Sydney outfit - MC Bliss (Jonathan Notley), MC Eso (Max MacKinnon) and DJ Izm (Tarik Ejjamai) - performed five shows in the Middle East for our troops, getting an extremely warm reception, as can be seen in the picture. The shows, organised by Forces Entertainment, part of the Australian Defence Force, were the first of that kind Bliss n Eso have played. "We are all about peace, love and unity and we certainly don't support war and conflict," said MC Bliss. "However, we do support our fellow Australians no matter where they are or what jobs they are tasked with. To be able to play shows for these guys and give them some positivity in a tough situation is something we could not pass up." Good on them. They follow in the footsteps of such Aussie pop luminaries as Kylie Minogue and, er, Hamish & Andy.

AT the risk of becoming the Hunters & Collectors weekly newsletter, we must note the group's renaissance went into overdrive this week with the release of the tribute album Crucible, their performance at the AFL grand final today and the announcement of a national tour that stretches from January until April next year. The band will perform a string of dates in wineries as part of the A Day on the Green touring series, with Something for Kate, You Am I, British India and Diesel among those lending their support. In addition Hunnahs will play Melbourne's Palais Theatre and Sydney's Enmore Theatre in April. Singer Mark Seymour was in nostalgic mood about the band's heyday when the tour was announced. "It was very much about being in a pub and having thousands of people jammed into a room, with this big, incredible sound," said Seymour. "There was unity, there was pride and a total lack of bullshit." Let us hope those qualities remain intact as they make their presence felt in the more well-heeled environment of the chardonnay-on-a-blanket rock fan next year.

BACK in the present, Rihanna's Diamonds world tour is ploughing through Australia, continuing tonight in Brisbane. It seems the American singer has turned the raunch factor up to 11, as our Perth reviewer Polly Coufos noted with some eloquence. "Rihanna shook her tail feather in a manner that could have knocked Miley Cyrus back to pony riding classes." Nice. One wonders if the upcoming Beyonce extravaganza, the Mrs Carter Show, which begins its Australian leg in Melbourne on October 22, will be modest by comparison. Of course it's all about the music, really.

FINALLY this week, some pause for thought on matters of the French horn. New research from the universities of Queensland and Sydney has revealed French horn players are among the musicians most likely to suffer hearing loss in the course of their duties. A study of 144 such individuals attending a conference (they have conferences?) in Brisbane revealed one third of them suffered from some form of hearing loss. Cries of "you'll have to speak up" prolonged the keynote speech by a half-hour, we are led to believe. Or maybe not. One reason put forward for the poor hearing is that only 18 per cent of those interviewed wore protection such as earplugs while performing.