Monday 29 April 2013

Alex Hood's reminiscences of the Bushwhackers, at the National Folk Festival 2012

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Talks from BMC's 2012 National Folk Festival Themed Workshop on BMC's First 10 years.     


recording courtesy of Wayne Richmond, photos by Sandra Nixon





Alex & Bill Scott (son of founders Alan & Gay Scott) standing for 'Ballad of 1891'
Cast & audience stand for 'Ballad of 1891' as was done in the early days of the Bush Music Club
Sydney Trade Union Choir singing 'Ballad of 1891', Silvia Salisbury (holding music below her waist) was in the first production of Reedy River.

Singabout Vol. 1, no. 1 - February 1956

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The Bush Music Club published it's first Newsletter in October 1955, and it's first magazine Singabout, in February 1956. Both publications revealed the strength of the Club in it's early days.

Here are a few pages to give the flavour of the first issue.

Front Cover




























Back Cover - so many publications put out in such a short time!
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  Inside Back Cover 
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 Inside front Cover  
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Brian Loughlin, Alex Hood & Jack Barrie sing Merv Lilley's "Ho Give a Go" at the first Singabout night, a fundraiser to pay for publication of Singabout.

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Th
e Rueful Rabbit by Stan Wakefield
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Contributions by members & readers

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Sunday 28 April 2013

John Meredith, The Bush Music Club & The Australian Folk Song Revival (1950’s)

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Memorial article by Bob Bolton on our website - see below for information from Rob Willis on Merros' accordions.

John Meredith was born in 1920, in Holbrook, NSW and raised in modest circumstances. His father was often away droving sheep - "Out along the lower Darling River and on the Murrumbidgee, down Balranald way where he was born".


Drawing from Singabout (BMC archives)

His mother looked after John and six more on a small block with "an old cow and a few chooks". He remembers that she sang a little as she worked and she entertained the kids with readings from Australian books and magazines such as the Bulletin.


Drawing from Singabout (BMC archives)

His father played the button accordion, an old and much patched "Mezon Grand Organ" model he probably learned to play whilst away droving and when he was at home he played the popular songs and dances of the Bush. He also played the mouth organ, using a tin pannikin as a resonator or playing the bones as he played on mouth organ. He died when John was only nine years old, but many of his tunes stayed in John’s mind.


Mezon Grand Organ accordion owned by John McKinnon of Ecklin
who gave it to Merro, who later gave it to Rob Willis (Rob Willis photo)

John’s mother encouraged him to learn the button accordion at fourteen with the promise of a brand new "Melba" model. He learned to play from the locals as well as learning some tunes from the gramophone. At seventeen or eighteen he began to assist with the playing at local dances and later would play for the entire evening if no other musician was available.
John rode away from Holbrook on his pushbike after WWII, eventually riding down to Melbourne and then as far as North Queensland, working at various bush jobs. When he first settled in Sydney (around 1950) he was interested in international folksongs but he also had a copy of Paterson’s "Old Bush Songs" and started searching at the Mitchell Library to see if there were tunes for these. 


Old Bush Songs, 1906 edition (Wikipedia commons)

He soon found this unsatisfactory due to vagueness of tune details and identity. In 1953 he bought a Pecotape tape recorder (then very bulky, inconvenient and expensive) after a friend told of an old shearer she knew who still sang the old bush songs. After recording him, John sought out and found more informants around Sydney.

Ilustrated ad for Pecotape tape recorder, SA advertiser, 9th Sept 1953 - bottom right of page

In June 1953 John formed a performing group to present this material with himself playing button accordion, Brian Loughlin introducing the Lagerphone (now sine qua non for Bush Bands) which he and John had met up with in Holbrook earlier that year and Jack Barrie playing the Bush Bass (a tea chest against which a broom-handle is pivoted to control the tension of a stout string). Later that year, they formed the nucleus of a band for the New Theatre’s Sydney production of Dick Diamond’s play Reedy River, along with Chris Kempster and Harry Kay.


Bushwhackers in Sydney production of 'Reedy River' (BMC Archives)

This group changed from the Heathcote Bushwhackers to The Bushwhackers, the band which launched the performing revival of Bush Music and inspired a myriad imitators. To contain and train them a club was formed: The Bush Music Club. John was also involved in the Australian Folklore Society, aimed to be the study and collecting arm of Australian folklore, but by 1958 this had merged in function and reality with the Bush Music Club, which performed, collected, published and promoted from under the one hat.

The Bushwhackers made records for Wattle Records (1955 to 1957) and their Bush Songs helped keep the wolf from Wattle’s door for a few years. (Their 78 rpm recording of The Drover’s Dream, with Alan Scott singing, sold 20,000 copies in 1956!)


The Drover’s Dream,(BMC archives)

John shared collected material and contacts with Nancy Keesing (who, with Douglas Stewart, greatly expanded Paterson’s Old Bush Songs and published Australian Bush Ballads) and with Russell Ward who published The Australian Legend in 1958 as a doctoral thesis. Both relationships proved rewarding on both sides.

Australian Bush Ballads, 1955 edition

In the latter part of the 1950s, John spent all his weekends and spare cash in collecting - mostly west of the Blue Mountains, under difficult conditions. The isolation which saved these songs from mass media influence also fought against him. The Meredith Collection, held by the National Library, contains over 1,000 items and their preservation is a monument to John’s endeavours, perseverance and skill.

Within the Bush Music Club John was a mover and innovator. He was the driving force of The Bushwhackers, 1953 - 1957, doing three or four engagements a week as well as radio performances. He was M.C. of the Club and closely involved in the Australian Folklore Society. During the week he sought out old-timers around the city and at weekends he lugged his 20 kg recorder west of the mountains to rural hamlets - where he often had to first arrange a supply of 240 volt a.c. before even starting to record!

He was (1956 - 1961) Editor of Singabout, the only regular publication for Australian Folklore in those days. He had the ideas which led to the Club’s first two books Songs From The Kelly Country and Songs From Lawson. He encouraged the formation of similar groups in other states and the bush music clubs of those states made valuable contributions to our folklore.


The Bushwhackers was the archetype of all Bush Bands. All current Bush Bands interpret their model, including the well known Bush/Rock group that approximated their name.

From the 1960s, John increasingly concentrated on writing books. Folksongs of Australia and the men and women who sang them, volume 1 is one of the major works of the Australian canon and the second volume, published by the University of NSW in 1987 continues John’s excellent work. His many other books have covered a wide area of Australian lore, language, personalities and events, while John’s collecting and writing work is a model for a whole generation of folklorists.


John’s contribution to Australian folk lore, heritage and tradition was recognised by an Order of Australia Medal in 1987 (for which much of the original version of this item comprised the citation) and, in 1992, he was made a Companion of this Order. 


John Meredith opened our eyes to the unsuspected wealth of real Australian tradition and heritage that has never been recognised or embraced by the authorities. Along the way he taught all the newer collectors what there was, how to find it and how to collect it - and taught the rest of us how to sing and play it. John’s other legacy (besides the great body of song, music and folk lore now lodged with the National Library of Australia) is the dedicated body of collectors that are carrying on the work he started. They will miss him, we will miss him but we are all grateful for a lifetime of dedicated work.

RLB

MAJOR SOURCES:

John Meredith,Folk Songs Of Australia,(1st Edition), Ure Smith,pp. 13 - 20.
Alan Scott,Mulga Wire #14, Aug. 1979, Let’s Hear It For Merro,pp. 5 & 6.
John Meredith,Mulga Wire #17, Feb. 1980,In The Beginning..........pp. 5 - 10.
Alan Scott,Mulga Wire #22, Dec. 1980,The Bushwhackers, part 1,pp. 3 & 4.
Alan Scott,Mulga Wire #23, Feb. 1981,The Bushwhackers, part 2,pp. 4 & 5.
Alan Scott,Mulga Wire #24, Apr. 1981,The Bushwhackers, part 3,pp. 3 & 4.

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email from Rob Willis - 9th April 2013


Image taken in Holbrook Museum of John playing ‘Pop Craythorn’s Accordion’  similar to one that John played in early days.
Rob Willis photo

Pop Craythorn was a local musician who had a large impact on Merro’s music as he let him play the extras at dances and sit in with him when he was a kid. Meredith played this accordion on numerous occasions at dances. So this is one of the first.  A friend of John's in the Hunter has the Hohner that he used in the Bushwhackers and early days.

John’s father’s Mezon was held together with gum and was very battered according to John. So it would not have survived.

The Mezon pictured (in the main article above) is mine and is similar to John’s father's. It was given to me by Merro as a gift – he had been given it by John McKinnon of Ecklin. His comment on many occasions was "I have had my enjoyment with this so I give it to you to enjoy – when you have finished pass it on to someone else" Many treasures were given to me with this comment. John also gave Sally Sloane a couple of accordions.

The two accordions that Merro and I are playing are our ‘travelling’ accordions that we took on many field trips.  Busilachio in the key of C.  Both were obtained from people we recorded – mine from Jack Smith of Forbes (grey) his (red) from Ollie Moore of Swan Hill. I still have mine with the original case and a Holbrook sticker pasted on it.

Rob Willis photo 

I have in my private collection the book he wrote about his bicycle trip complete with photos – no accordion there.

He did not have an accordion when he went to Melbourne but after coming back to Sydney and going to EYL camps in Springwood where they sang – yes sang the tunes to dances (the beginnings of what is known as bush dance) he purchased a “squeaky little Italian accordion”  which he may have used in the early Bushwhackers as Hood always said they had to sing high. Then came the Hohner that's now in the Hunter.

All the above information from my various sporadic field recordings of John and our lengthy discussions while on the track.

Cheers
Rob
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Monday 22 April 2013

From the archives - extracts from Mulga Wire no.12, April 1979

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Thursday 4 April 2013

Family Bush Dance. Instructions for Simple Bush Dances Suitable for Children & Family Groups

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Family Bush Dance. Instructions for Simple Bush Dances Suitable for Children & Family Groups

 






















We released our latest book
at our Family Bush Dance at the 2013 National Folk Festival!



 





























Thanks to Helen Romeo (compilation, cover & illustrations), Tony Romeo, Ralph Pride, Sally Leslie & the team for all the work they put into creating this very cute masterpiece. 















Cost is $10 + $5 postage & packaging. Copies will be available at the Beecroft Dance on Saturday.


For Mail Orders please send $15 cheque or money order (made out to Bush Music Club) to
Bush Music Club
GPO Box 433
Sydney 2001


Illustrations by Helen Romeo

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60th Anniversary Dance Competition



 





To celebrate the Bush Music Club’s 60th anniversary, the club is conducting a competition for dance composition. The new dances may be accompanied by new tunes, if desired. The aim of the competition is to encourage the writing of contemporary dances based on the established tradition.

Rules and Conditions

* Each entry must contain dance instructions and an accompanying tune or suggested tunes. 


* The dance instructions should be provided in 2 (two) forms:
        # A summary of the calls # Detailed explanation of movements

* Both forms should include bar counts for each movement. Where possible, and appropriate, use terms described in BUSH DANCE – Instructions to define each movement.

* The dance must be original and may be a couples' dance or formation (set) dance.

* The tune may be traditional or original (with a traditional form), i.e. Jig, Reel, Waltz, Polka, etc. (Please suggest alternative tunes to aid musicians intending to play for the dance.)

* Entries are restricted to 3 (three) per person.

* Entries must be submitted on forms available upon request and must be returned to:


60th Anniversary Dance Competition

Bush Music Club, 
GPO Box 433, 
Sydney NSW 2001
or emailed to - bmcmail1954 (at) gmail.com


*Deadline for entries is 31st December 2013

*The winning dances will be performed during the Goulburn Bush Traditions Festival held on the October long weekend 2014.

*There are 3 categories for entries and the judges may assign the dances to a different category. One entry shall be chosen from each category.


Popular Bush Dance - simple steps and movements suitable for inexperienced dancers 


Dancer’s Dance - involving more complicated steps or movements and suitable for experienced dancers and for displays. 


Multi-figure Quadrilles - simple steps and movements suitable for inexperienced dancers

* The prize in each category is $100.

* The Bush Music Club retains the right to publish any entries.

* The judges may choose to disqualify entries which are considered unsuitable, i.e. those without suitable bar counts or which are not danceable from the written instructions.

* For further information or entry forms please contact secretary on — 

bmcmail1954  (at) gmail.com

* It is highly desirable for entrants to have tested the dance and resolved any difficulties involved with movements or timing.







photo - Kim Nolan

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