Posted by Jerry on April 10th, 2007 — Posted in Journal, Music
Well, the Australian National Folk Festival has come and gone for another year, and soon I’ll catch up on some sleep – but not before I’ve told you how wonderful this festival is.
This year there were several great highlights – and it was great to be performing with my daughter as part of Will o’ the Wisp musical circus.
The campsite was a brisk short walk in the chilly evening (okay well into the morning) after a night playing in some amazing Irish music sessions – and the up-and-coming young players give great hope for the future of folk music in Australia.
The festival is set in the Exhibition Park grounds on the northside of Canberra and it has come a long way from my first National Folk Festival in 1977. The venues are well signposted and the festival atmosphere is deliciously enhanced by the myriad food stalls and exotic clothing, jewelry and musical instrument makers.
And session bars provide great spaces for singing and swapping tunes across musical styles from bluegrass, to hungarian to various flavours of celtic music and jazz and blues – this festival has it all and the fusion of styles shows the folk tradition at its best.
I was pleased to see that a new session bar has been opened up and dedicated to the memory of the late Billy Moran
Between performances with Will o’ the Wisp I managed to see several great concerts and see some emerging talent at the blackboard events. Martin Pearson did a great satire on the daVinci Code, Mothers of Intention launched their new CD and there was a breathtaking array of amazing fiddle players from around the world.
Mother of Intention
I did the Chris Duncan Fiddle Workshop where I learnt a couple of great Scottish tunes, and got to see Chris’s style up close.
For me there were three stand-out performances – The first was to see the amazing Dave Swarbrick on his ‘Lazarus’ tour – just several months after his double lung and heart transplant – his style is smooth and whimsical – and yeah he’s still got that swing! Sadly, the performance I saw turned out to be the only one he gave at the festival – knowing how tiring it is to tour, I felt privileged just to have heard him once. He played with singer-songwriter Allistair Hulett.
The second was the Festival Fiddlers concert, featuring Jane Unger (daughter of the writer of the tune Ashokan Farewell); Kevin Burke (legendary Irish fiddle player); Nancy Kerr (English style); Lisa McIsaac (Cape Breton fiddler, member of Mad Violet, and sisiter of Ashley McIsaac); and Chris Duncan (Australian Scottish fiddler). It was great to see all these leading exponents of their respective styles in one concert!
The empty chair next to Chris Duncan was reserved in case Dave Swarbrick was able to return.
Jane Unger performed her father’s tune and then did some nice Appallacian style fiddling
Jane Unger
Kevin Burke has a smooth Irish style that made even the most dramatic reel seem effortless
Kevin Burke
Nancy Kerr was described as having two brains – for her ability to sing one tune while playing a different accompanying tune on the fiddle and plucking a third rhythm – all at the same time! You have to hear it to believe it 🙂
Nancy Kerr
Lisa McIsaac is closest to my style of playing – attacking the fiddle with gusto and moving with such energy that the chair was just there to keep her on the ground. Her Cape Breton style is amazing – although her bow hair expenses will be very high: hair was just fountaining off the bow as she played! I’m not sure whether it was Jane Unger of Lisa McIsaac who was given an excellent piece of advice when beginning the fiddle – “either get mad at it or don’t play fiddle at all” Lisa certainly embodied the passion in the music.
Lisa McIsaac
And Chris Duncan provided some Pagannini moments showing his technical skill to considerable effect on a range of Scottish tunes.
Chris Duncan
The third particular treat was Mad Violet – haunting ballads and furious Cape Breton fiddling.
In the session bar Tony Pyrzakowski and I turned a few heads with our duelling fiddlers routine – just nudging the speed a little 😉 We were both practically airborne and still going note for note so you could hear each note of the tune clearly defined but at breakneck speed! Both fiddles were practically smoking by the end!
I only saw the sun come up on the second morning – the rest were comparatively early nights finishing between 5.00AM and 6.00AM most nights.
I came away with a few new tunes and some great memories.
See you all next year! Or in two weeks time at the St Albans Festival in New South Wales, Australia
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on April 3rd, 2007 — Posted in Journal, Music
When the strangely-shaped packages arrived addressed to me I thought there was some mistake – clearly the chocolates and whatever else there was, were meant for Sharon as a get well gift … Sharon just smiled and told me to stop being silly and open them.
I could not believe my eyes! Someone must’ve sneaked a peak at my blog a little while back – remember the mystery location challenge set by another blogger – Angela Thomas? Something about chocolate?
But hang on… these were not from Angela – but from Linn who was so kind in asking after Sharon’s health. Now, Linn had emailed me about another blog post of mine – on the Japanese drain covers, and said she had some rubbings of some different ones. Then I opened the long tube package – and there was a mysterious hint of aged but high quality paper. I carefully unrolled it with a wooden batten so as not to tear the delicate parchment and slowly some precision pen drawing and some words emerged – PLAN No 3 – STRADIVARIUS VIOLONCELLO –
yes a complete set of cello plans – hand drawn and with a wonderful patina of age. They were drawn by Joseph V Reid of Hamilton Ontario Canada in February 1963.
You could’ve knocked me down with a feather – Much better than a musty old treasure map of book of spells – these are full size luthier’s drawings.
I am touched and amazed – thank you Linn Skinner 🙂 You have made my day! And the chocolates are wonderful!
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on March 19th, 2007 — Posted in Journal, Music
Well, I promised some audio from St Patrick’s Day – and some audio of the newly repaired violin, so it seems a good idea to combine the two 🙂
The first tune is Ashokan Farewell, written in 1986 by Jay Ungger, about the town of Ashoka – and farewell to the town as it disappeared beneath the artificial lake created by a dam – in much the same way that part of old Canberra was submerged to make way for the artificial lake. So I guess that makes Canberra and Ashoka sister cities. It’s a lovely tune. [NB: It was recorded at a high level – so you may wish to turn down the volume on your computer first] 😉
The second tune is a kind of ‘wall-of-death’ version of a reel called Tongadale (not to be confused with a small Pacific Islands nation). As St Patrick’s Day gathered momentum, so did our music, culminating in a somewhat blistering pace that just seemed to get faster as the night went on 🙂
I hope you all had a great St Patrick’s day!
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on March 18th, 2007 — Posted in Journal, Music
And what a glorious St Pat’s it was too! Both shows were packed out and the energy was high 🙂
At PJ O’Reilly’s in Civic (Canberra, Australia) we started at 1.pm sharp with a set of reels – Paddy Fahey’s Number 1 and Gravel Walk (well… sprint actually!) and that set the tone for the session.
At one point a troupe of Irish dancers invaded and called for a couple or reels – the dance schools usually use CDs so they welcome the opportunity to dance to live musicians – and we were quick to oblige.
We did a bunch of old favourites, like Black Velvet Band and New York Girls, threw in a few slip jigs and double jigs and generally had a great time. Then it was time for a quick pack up (ie hurl everything into Jerry’s van) and drive to Kingston to set up at Filthy McFadden’s where we played from 5.00pm-8.30pm.
Full Circle live at PJ O’Reilly’s
…not bad bowing technique!
Hmm – those mic stand drink holders are handy!
Full Circle live at Filthy McFadden’s
There was little time for a sound check, but the sound was quickly sorted – and it got better by the end of the first bracket. The audience were great calling out requests, getting up and dancing and having a great time. At the end of the evening we were called back for several encores and throughout the show there were queues outside waiting to get in – the place was at capacity crowd. Our energy was high and the pace quite blistering 🙂
Some said Jerry played fiddle like the Devil himself! This photo was taken mid-leap!
The Ashokan Farewell went over in classic style – an Army bloke came up after and said he had tears in his eyes…
At the end we were exhausted but bouyed up by the energy – and relaxed with our first pint of Guinness at the end of the night – with two shows we have to be disciplined and stick to low-alcohol beer otherwise our fingers fall off and that gets messy 😉
Happy St Patrick’s Day to you all – may the road rise up to meet you and the wind be ever at your back!
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on March 16th, 2007 — Posted in Journal, Music
It’s St Patrick’s Eve and the first of three shows was at the Hyatt hotel in Canberra. The audience was excellent and clearly had a great time – I know we did 🙂
We were using new speakers for the first time, and my newly repaired fiddle was awesome. We hope to get some video footage at tomorrow’s shows at PJ Oreilly’s (Civic) from 1.00pm-4.00pm and then Filthy McFadden’s in Kingston from 5.30-8.30. Watch this space for some YouTube footage in a couple of weeks!
Here’s some pix from tonight’s show
See you tomorrow!
Cheers
Jerry
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