I played on a local concert on Saturday night in Taradale, a tiny country town in Central Victoris (Australia)that is trying to raise money for their local festival which in turn helps the Country Fire Authority. The town was threatened by a bushfire last week and it was only the dedication and heroism of the local fireman plus a little bit of luck, that savde the town. As you can imagine there was a good turnout and all the acts were local volunteers. There was a trio of sitar, tabla and the other onhe that looks like a sitar but isn't. At the end of their act they played a raga based on Waltzing Matilda and the whole crowd burst into song. Despite many Aussies cringeing, or pretending to, when this is brought up as being our favourite national song, you really can't get away from it. As a song, it's not fantastic but as an anthem that draws people together and allows them to share a sense of national identity it is fiercely Australian, even if the yanks own the copyright and the original tune was a thing called Craigielee, or so I'm told. Incidentally, my most embarrasing moment as a musician was playing on the back of a truck at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the lunch break on an England - Australia one day cricket match, parked in front of the old Bay thirteen, and forgetting the words to Waltzing Matilda. That sure felt influential to me, I can tell you.