‘Ali Ben Sou Alle’ and the Saxophone in Australia, 1852–55
Journal: Nineteenth-Century Music Review
Year: 2025

Although Adolphe Sax’s serpentine invention hailed from Belgium, and then France, saxophones today are widely perceived as symbols of United States-led popular modernity. This image’s strength occludes a largely unknown antipodean precursor: the instrument debuted in British colonial Australia before being first heard across the Atlantic. This article foregrounds the goldrush-era Australian introduction of an instrument otherwise known as a ‘turkophone’, by enigmatic French musician Charles Jean