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17 Apr 06 - 10:07 PM (#1720721) Subject: Review: National Folk Festival, Canberra, 2006 From: GUEST,Gerry Not so much a review as a few thoughts/observations/whatnot. Acts I wanted to see but didn't get around to seeing: Allez-Gator, Bernard Carney, Bruce Watson, Colum Sands, Hide 'n' Cheek, Jerry Epstein, Jugularity, Les Smokin' Gitanes, Mal Webb, Martin Pearson and the MP3, Peter Hicks, Touchwood, Trio Triplika. Acts I saw once, but wish I had seen more of: David Francey, George Papavgeris, Margaret Roadknight, Vardos. Fortunately, I saw Francey at the Blue Mountains festival last month; mostly what I regret is that I didn't tell more of my friends at the National to make sure to see him. I saw George Papavgeris at the Budawang, Saturday afternoon, right after Dick Gaughan. GP's first song was on essentially the same topic as DG's last - the idealism of the 60s and the materialism of the present. DG's song was angry - look at how *you* have changed. GP's song was sad - look at how *we* have changed. With all due respect to DG, whom I hold in high regard, I thought GP's song was by far the better of the two. Vardos have either gotten much better, or I just forgot since the last time I saw them how sensational they are. A couple of other acts that just keep getting better: The Wheeze & Suck Band, and Cloudstreet. Impressive bands I didn't know about before: Coolgrass and Tulca Mor. Coolgrass have a bluegrass lineup, and play just about everything except bluegrass (well, they do play a little bit of bluegrass). Their take-off on Time Warp (from the Rocky Horror Picture Show) has to be seen to be believed. Tulca Mor is that rarity, an Irish band without a bodhran. Thier instrumentals are pretty good, but where they stand out is in their sensational vocalist, Jenny Fitzgibbon. Disappointments: The Wailin' Jennys. They do very nice harmonies, but I found their choice of material quite ordinary. Maybe I didn't give them enough of a chance. The Black Nonnas were fine as long as they were singing & playing, but mostly they were doing schtick, and it didn't do much for me. The poor emcees who have to cope with all the non-English names of the acts they introduce...the one who introduced the Virmalised Estonian Folk Dancers as VIR-mal-ised, when it's actually (closer to) vir-MAL-uh-sed. Every year at the National, there's one act that just blows me away. This year, it was someone who wasn't even in the program - a young Japanese guitarist named Naoki Jo. I saw him at the Blackboard tent on Sunday afternoon. He did things with a guitar I've never seen anybody do. I don't mean he did the things other people do, but did them better - I mean he played the guitar in a whole different way. He used the whole instrument, not just the strings, doing rapid-fire percussion on various parts of the instrument. He may be the only guitarist with calluses on his knuckles.... I can see I'm not going to be able to give a good description here of what he did - all I can say is that I sat there, not believing what I was seeing, but enjoying the entertainment tremendously. I hope you all get a chance to see him some day. |
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18 Apr 06 - 05:55 AM (#1720900) Subject: RE: Review: National Folk Festival, Canberra, 2006 From: Sandra in Sydney I didn't see Dick Gaughan & El Greko in the Union Concert, cos it clashed with another MUST SEE, but I was also told by somone who was there that Dick Gaughan's songs seemed very angry, perhaps because it was a union-themed concert. Anyway I'll be seeing him at The Harp on Friday. (Jerry - are you aware that George is El Greko?) I was talking to a volunteer who said everyone was telling her she must see El Greko. I didn't get much of a chance to talk to him during the festival, so I don't know how his concerts went, but this unsolicited testimony from an unknown volunteer sounds promising. I do know Cloudstreet had him on stage adding harmony to some of their tracks. I'm listening to his new CD & also have Cloudstreet's latest in my 12 new CDs I'm currently playing through my new CDs, just finished the wonderful 'An Audience with the Shiny Bum Singers' where 4 songs were recorded at my folk club 'The Loaded Dog' in 2003 - were you part of the audience that night, Jerry? Occasional Mudcatter Canberra Chris is a founder of the Bums & recorded all the tracks. Lots of great new music to somehow fit on my shelves. Highlights for me were the Bums' performances (natch, I'm their greatest fan!!), the late night Singing Sessions, the shanties & seasongs (Danny Spooner has a new CD - The Great Leviathan - songs of the whaling industry) One night in the singing room a bloke interrupted to say he was a sound engineer doing sound at one of the venues, & praising the room as a live acoustic venue. He was happy wondering around the room listening, and asked for something louder to really show off the acoustics. Visiting US & UK artists said the Festival was bigger & better than festivals they are accustomed to. We had lovely sunny days & frost at night on Sat & Sun, tho Mon night was much warmer. I took pics of the frost on someone's table & the grass, and the sheet of ice on a pan of water. I was toasty warm in my van. |
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19 Apr 06 - 03:02 AM (#1721654) Subject: RE: Review: National Folk Festival, Canberra, 2006 From: GUEST,Gerry Sandra, if you're talking to me, then 1. Yes, I know George is El Greko, that's why I didn't say anything nasty about him here, oops! No, seriously, I didn't and don't have anything nasty to say about him. I recommended to my wife & my daughter that they see him on Monday when I was at the Chris Kempster CD launch, and they came back quite pleased. That must have been the set Cloudstreet joined him on, as my daughter mentioned how well the harmonies worked, 2. If there's a loud voice in the audience singing all the wrong notes on the choruses, then I was probably at the Dog for the Bums' performance. Anyway, I know I've seen them at the Dog, but I also know you've had them there more than once, so I can't say for sure whether I was there for that particular show, 3. It's Gerry-with-a-G, please. |
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19 Apr 06 - 09:22 AM (#1721735) Subject: RE: Review: National Folk Festival, Canberra, 2006 From: Sandra in Sydney Gerry - at least I'm consistant! sandra |
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19 Apr 06 - 01:46 PM (#1721971) Subject: RE: Review: National Folk Festival, Canberra, 2006 From: JennyO I don't think I saw a single occasion when George and Cloudstreet didn't invite each other up on the stage for a couple of songs. They have been doing a lot of stuff together in the UK. John and Nicole contributed to George's CD too. It's a good friendship! I posted more of my thoughts about the National in this thread OzCatters meet at National, Easter 2006? I've been playing CDs today, while downloading pictures onto my computer. I filled up my memory card over the 5 days, and needed to clear it to be ready for Snalbans this weekend. Got some nice piccies too, but I need to put them somewhere so I can link to them. My earworm for the day is George's song "Friends Like These". Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy :-) Jenny |
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19 Apr 06 - 06:52 PM (#1722318) Subject: RE: Review: National Folk Festival, Canberra, 2006 From: breezy Great to read about El G' here btw, El G upstaged D G here in St Albans recently when the former supported the latter As I can understand what the papa is singing, maybe its not that hard to understand why. Pass on to him our thoughts from the Windward club and wish him and Vanessa a safe return |
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20 Apr 06 - 06:45 AM (#1722642) Subject: RE: Review: National Folk Festival, Canberra, 2006 From: GUEST,Canberra Chris I was pretty much a moving target at the Nash, with the Bums, and as Angelic Host to the Poms from Oz who were carefully programmed into the same performing slots. Murphy lives. I did finally see them at the end of the two hour Tony Miles concert. If you use a blender in your kitchen, their voices have been on a fast whisk for two and half minutes. Anyone who claims they can distinguish Judy's voice from Kathy's is a liar, and Alan's has to be the smoothest male voice in folk. We also caught up at the Homebrew Workshop which is the best and also a secret performing venue at the festival, with a 'real' audience, rather than lines of very well-behaved people carefully arranged on chairs. Well, perhaps another exception was the Queen competition audience, viewed from the stage through dark sunglasses under a 'Tamworth' black Akubra, who looked about to storm up and rip our black singlets and moustaches off. Terrifying. I was also doing mad chases across town rescuing guitars etc, so didn't see a great deal of the festival. The Cyril Tawney songs were great. I saw Coolgrass but not in drag, and caught Colum Sands. We launched Bruce Watson's song-book, using the books instead of computer keyboards as the sticks in our Morris Dance parody - to the horror of his children who had been told to guard them with their lives. Other moments were witnessing the mug-washing operation - the beating heart of the festival, the gentleman dressed magnificently as an Indian cavalry officer in the Ball, the friendliness of the instrument lock-up people, the Thai foodstall, the Kids Tent, the Dome (spend $2), Dave O'Neil loooking as though he would have no recollection of the day the following morning, a whole table of dulcimers in the instrument makers', spotting that the pipe band leader was a well-disguised former (female) colleague, and the disgrace of the potted palm blocking off the late-night singers' stairwell in the session bar. What miserable wowser was moved to do that. But mainly it just went too fast. Come back everyone! Chris |
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20 Apr 06 - 07:10 AM (#1722654) Subject: RE: Review: National Folk Festival, Canberra, 2006 From: GUEST,Simon Wells Hell I knew i shoodna dun it, ought not have logged onto NFF post mortems when I couldn't go for the 1st time in 15 years. After only 5 mins I've noticed I'm growing a mould of envy and regret. But of course I've been eliciting the impressions of my various returned brisbane friends, and what i wanna know, since it seems to be wall-to-wall singers, dancers and mulled wine-drinking Martin P-and-Cloudstreet groupies on these 2 Nash threads, IS ...... HOW WAS THE SESSION BAR ? I've heard 2 non-players grumble abt it in the last 2 days, more talk of the need for another sesh venue for singers { I told em they were whimps, since wot's wrong with the fires in the 44s out the side doors for a sing). And I mean an alternative not only to the main bar but also to the restaurant upstairs, which a number of people say is a bit hard-core, not join in-ish [mein Gott !!!] enough. And last year it was tune-players themselves complaining of too much leakage from neighbouring sessions into their own. yeah, i know ... whingers. but don't ya love a good whinge. I know I do. |
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20 Apr 06 - 08:33 AM (#1722688) Subject: RE: Review: National Folk Festival, Canberra, 2006 From: freda underhill grumble. |
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20 Apr 06 - 09:55 AM (#1722746) Subject: RE: Review: National Folk Festival, Canberra, 2006 From: Sandra in Sydney The session bar looked ok each time I walked thru! There were lots of folks playing lots of instruments in small & large groups. But I'm not a muso, so can't give you a complete report, tho I joined a fantastic singing group there one evening. Dunno what your whingers meant by the Singing Session not being join in-ish, I was singing along with choruses all night each night. Do they mean they had no chance of singing a song? That they were lost in the crowd & weren't chosen? To me being part of the choruses is the thing as I can't hold a tune on my own. I love being part of a collection of voices. I love hearing wonderful harmonies around me. some Festival memories - Bob Fagan to my left, Alex Bishop from Ryebuck on my right!, surrounded by harmony at Bernard Carney's round singing, I never even went near the stairwell, silly me, cos it's the best singing spot in the whole festival (kills me poor back & legs tho) but I also forgot to have my annual German-sausage-with-saurkraut-in-bun,!! Silly me, I'll have to wait a whole year for both these treats. sandra |
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21 Apr 06 - 07:19 AM (#1723640) Subject: RE: Review: National Folk Festival, Canberra, 2006 From: Hrothgar I'm posting this in both NFF threads, just in case. Does anybody know who recorded our Cyril Tawney presentation on the Saturday? One of our group was going to, but was suddenly attacked by the dreaded flat battery syndrome. There was a recorder out in front of us, though, and I thought I knew whose it was, but it wasn't hers after all. Would be nice to have a copy. |
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22 Apr 06 - 02:28 AM (#1724452) Subject: RE: Review: National Folk Festival, Canberra, 2006 From: George Papavgeris Thanks for the kind comments Gerry, Sandra etc. The truth is I had the time of my life at the NFF, and I even enjoyed the 3,000 sea of heads at the Budawang, once I got over my initial feeling of disembodiment in that vast space. I won't compare it to UK festivals, it would be so unfair to them. Even the sessions has such variety and inclusiveness! I am still on cloud 9 - and still in Oz; Should be back behind my desk by Wednesday afternoon, and will write more then. |
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22 Apr 06 - 03:13 AM (#1724460) Subject: RE: Review: National Folk Festival, Canberra, 2006 From: Sandra in Sydney Roger - Canberra Chris was doing some recording, I'll ask him sandra |
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24 Apr 06 - 01:39 AM (#1725792) Subject: RE: Review: National Folk Festival, Canberra, 2006 From: GUEST,MaryB The array of talent at NFF was great. I thoroughly enjoyed it - except for that loud drumming business with the 'Sweet (?!) Sounds of Sugartown' Personally, I couldn't find anything 'sweet' about it - the concept was good and the guy who played on the opening and closing concerts may have been a very competent (and extremely showy) drummer but I thought that it belonged in some sort of Pop or Rock music show - it definitely was not folk - why on earth could they not do the same concept with some 'real' instruments? I thought 'Sweet Sounds of Sugartown' was very "Woodford" actually. |
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25 Apr 06 - 04:48 PM (#1727305) Subject: RE: Review: National Folk Festival, Canberra, 2006 From: George Papavgeris The frogs at Narita had a concert last night, but at last I am home; and try hard as I might, all around me familiar yet nothing feels right... So tonight I will dream of rozellas. Lots of love, and thanks |