G'day BT,

My copy winged its way to Australia ... and landed on my doorstep last night. I haven't read as far as I would like to have ... I was up to my elbows in photographs and scans from this last weekend's 8th Australian Folk & Dance Gathering at Albion Park. (It was "Queen's Birthday" public holiday on Monday ... I can't remember which Queen's actual birthday ... maybe George V's Mary ... certainly not Elizabeth's ... and not Victoria's 24 May - but we Australians never query a public holiday!)

The book looks great. Everything else that I have on the songs of Ireland's politics has its feet firmly planted in one camp ... usually the Republican ... and the fine sense of balance of your book is a welcome fresh breeze to clear the fog ... and smokescreens!

Now I need to start looking more closely at the tunes to the Northern/Protestant songs that I don't know so well. The tunes of Southern/Catholic persuasion are often consulted in sourcing Australian folk songs, but I fear the other side has not received its due consideration.

I must post to this thread a song by local singer/songwriter/stirrer John Dengate (which I published in his first book My Shout, Bush Music Club, Sydney, 1982), that starts with the question:

"Who gave Australia the songs to sing,
The tunes to songs so grand ...?"

and has already answered itself in the song's title: The Answer's Ireland. It certainly celebrates the Irish contribution to Australian song ... even if it may be a little one-eyed about which side! (The tune John used is Roddy McCorley.)

Regards,

Bob Bolton