Report on Music @ Morisset by Pete Cahill

Music @ Morisset report & photos by Pete Cahill    



click here for Program

From the Friday night's welcoming cup of the now famous Graham Dalgleish's roadkill vegetable soup to the singing of Charlie Mopps at our farewell concert, Music @ Morisset for the BMC has been a resounding success.

 

We had friends from Far North Queensland to South Australia and all over NSW come to this event ... musicians and families enjoying the weekend with the weather cool but fine.

 

The many workshops presented by the best of musicians from our tradition were well supported and friendship and laughter was the order of the day.

 

To our organising sub-committee, our Workshop presenters, the Morisset Showground Trust, the local Rural Fire Service and the helpers who jumped in to make this a memorable weekend, THANK YOU all.

I feel confident that approval for a M@M (2) will be given by BMC so keep a lookout for news of this. To those who were unable to be with us this time, I hope the next will fit in your calendar for 2017.

   

  

In conclusion I would like to mention just one name in this report.

Graham Dalgliesh is a friend of the folk community and of mine and from us all I would like to thank him for pulling this together logistically. He was made an honourable member of the BMC for the weekend and for those who met Graham and saw his quiet presence assisting the smooth running of our event I would like to thank him, it would not have been the same.

For myself, a memorable and enlightening experience. THANK You

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Duke's Place - Australian songs in concert & session with Ten Quid Poms, Friday 8th July, 2016 + report

7.30 for 8pm start

Ten Quid Poms are Robin Connaughton & John Warner, performers and songwriters of contemporary and traditional music. Witty incisive commentators on industrial, political and social issues. Ten Quid migrants


Robin is an engaging, witty and enthusiastic (and modest) musician, folk singer, songwriter, teller of appalling jokes and raconteur. Add to this having been an Australian debating champion and you can see why Dermott Ryder once said "Robin is something of a wordsmith.” He is also a skilled instrument maker and repairer. Robin has written a number of political and industrial songs.

John has developed an extensive wide ranging repertoire, both personally and in conjunction with other singers, especially Margaret Walters and The Roaring Forties. He has a powerful singing style, with fine harmonies, and sings both acapella and accompanying himself on a dazzling array of instruments. John writes incisive, biting and wicked songs about life, social change, politics and pirates. Major works include the story of Yarri of Wiradjuri, the indigenous hero of the 1852 Gundagai flood, and songs about Coal Creek in Victoria. 

John and Robin Connaughton collaborated in the song cycle We Made the Steel based on Robin’s first-hand experience of working in the Wollongong and Newcastle steel industry in the 1960s & 70s. Both Yarri of Wirradjuri and We Made the Steel have been recorded by The Roaring Forties.

Bush Music Club
Tritton Hall
Hut 44 Addison Road Centre
142 Addison Rd, Marrickville

Map of Addison Road Centre     http://www.arcco.org.au/contact/
Door opens 7.30 for 8pm start. Session 10.00-11.30pm
BYO songs
Cost - $10
Bring something to drink & a plate for supper
Enquiries - Sandra 9358 4886

Duke's place, named after our honoured early member Harold 'Duke' Tritton (1886-1965), is the place to go once a month for a great night of Australian songs in concert and session. Duke was a powerful singer who supplied BMC with many songs he had learnt in his younger days while working as a shearer and at other bush jobs. He was also a songwriter and poet giving us songs that have entered the tradition such as Sandy Hollow Line and Shearing in the Bar. 

 
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Unfortunately Robin could not join us

.(photos © Sandra Nixon) 

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Duke's Place - Australian songs in concert & session with Jim Low, Friday 10th June, 2016 + report

7.30 for 8pm start
Jim will be singing songs from his latest CD Journey's End

About Jim 

I live in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia and have done so for thirty years. From childhood I have maintained a deep interest in, and love of, Australian history. I have written books and articles, and developed school learning materials on Australian themes.

My interest in Australia has also been expressed in many of the songs I have written. My song writing has been combined with many and varied performing opportunities.

I have performed at restaurants, concerts and festivals and my music has been played on ABC radio. Each year I continue to enjoy the opportunities of travelling to Australian places and listening to, and documenting, the stories of the people who live there.

About the CD



I always appreciate having somewhere to return to at the end of a journey. That place is called 'home' and for me that happens to be in the Blue Mountains NSW. The memories gathered from the places visited, the people met and the new things discovered sooner or later start to inhabit my mind, inspiring thoughts and ideas that sometimes then develop into songs. And the songs on this new CD have travelled these various pathways. Some began on the journey, some were finished before the journey ended and some were ideas that needed more time to develop when the journey was long over.

Bush Music Club
Tritton Hall
Hut 44 Addison Road Centre
142 Addison Rd, Marrickville

 

Map of Addison Road Centre     http://www.arcco.org.au/contact/
Door opens 7.30 for 8pm start. Session 10.00-11.30pm
BYO songs
Cost - $10
Bring something to drink & a plate for supper
Enquiries - Sandra 9358 4886

Duke's place, named after our honoured early member Harold 'Duke' Tritton (1886-1965), is the place to go once a month for a great night of Australian songs in concert and session. Duke was a powerful singer who supplied BMC with many songs he had learnt in his younger days while working as a shearer and at other bush jobs. He was also a songwriter and poet giving us songs that have entered the tradition such as Sandy Hollow Line and Shearing in the Bar.



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Early Bush bands - The Billabong Band, Melbourne, 1955.

Click on pictures for full-screen image

The first bush band was The Heathcote Bushwhackers which was founded in June 1952, became The Bushwhackers sometime in 1953, and achieved widespread fame from late 1953 when they appeared in the Sydney production of Reedy River.  In October 1954 The Bushwhackers founded the Bush Music Club.

Lola Troy's South Coast Bush Band was formed with the assistance of Chris Kempster & the Bushwhackers in early 1954 after Lola saw Reedy River, and mentioned in the first issue of Singabout in January 1956.

The Minutes from October 1954 to March 1955 lists  The early Bush Bands October 1954 to March 1955  There were at least 8 other bands formed between The Bushwhackers & The Billabong Band.

Named bands -
Rouseabouts,
Overlanders (Leichhardt, formed by 28th October)
Ringers (Arncliff)
Spraggers (Lithgow)

Un-named bands -
Lithgow (2nd band, named elsewhere as the Wombat band with a live wombat as mascot),
Junior Eureka League (St George)
North Sydney
Portland (near Lithgow)

Groups hoping to start a band -
Granville
Sutherland (Mirrabooka Youth Group)
Kings Cross
Como
The Billabong Band's formation was also announced in the first issue of Singabout, 1(1), January 1956.



In 1959 members of the Billabong Band formed the Victorian Bush Music Club, later re-named Victorian Folk Music Club, & a brief history of the band is on the VFMC website.


Singabout 3(1), Summer 1958, page 9


A picture of the Billabongs appeared on the cover of Singabout, Volume 3(4), c.1960.







Singabout 3(4), page 16
 
Thanks to Joanna Durst, Joy's eldest daughter who supplied the following two photographs.


Caption on the back of the picture used on Singabout 3(4) cover -
Left to right - Beryl Hill (Lagerphone), Frank Nicholls seated, Keith Watson (squeezebox), Stella Lees, Jim Mills (banjo), Joy Durst

 
Billabong Band, n.d.
   
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First published in 1970, this fine collection of Australian songs was dedicated to the memory of one of the founders of the original Billabongs, Joy Durst. The book covers a wide range, with lyrics and music (including guitar chords) for 100 songs. Many of the songs are well-known standards (including Waltzing Matilda, Click Go the Shears etc), but there are enough new songs to make it a worthwhile addition to any collection (eg Bryant's Ranges, It's On!, Goondiwindi Song etc). The 1980 edition (currently in stock) includes additional verses and revised music for some tunes. 113 pages - spiral-bound so it can be opened out flat.

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The Billabong Band today on youtube

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VFMC at  NFF16





VFMC's Steve Bullock with Joanna Durst


(NFF16 photos - Sandra Nixon)

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