BUSH BAND – OR BEACH BAND?

This photograph was taken in 1895 on Western Australia’s Rottnest Island (Wadjemup). 

Pat Baird on 5-string banjo was a lighthouse keeper on the island, the other three men were members of the pilot boat crew – Tommy Iglow on accordion, Teddy Jones on the bones and an unnamed tin whistler. The banjo and accordion look like quality instruments and the players look like they know what to do with them. 

The band probably played at dances and possibly other social events for the island’s population, which included a large number of First Nations prisoners, boys in a reformatory, administrators, tradesmen and a few farmers, many with resident families.

This band could be considered part of the ‘foo foo’ band tradition of improvised ensembles aboard ships, an island being a very similar environment. They are well-dressed in their work uniforms, so someone thought them worthwhile documenting, possibly for a postcard? Whatever the reason the photograph was taken, the band would have been capable of pumping out a fair bit of sound and rhythm and were probably in great demand. Or, maybe they only played to the quokkas!

Sounds Like Australia

 https://www.outbackmag.com.au/sounds-like-australia/

Article about the collecting odyssey of Rob and Ollie Willis in Outback magazine. We featured this work in a previous post at

 https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2138391645827947224/2607229772787880325

And there is more information at

https://verandahmusic.blogspot.com/p/the-willis-collection-of-life-stories.html

HOW IRELAND THINKS ABOUT TRADITIONAL MUSIC

Interesting article by Toner Quinn on the distinctive communal nature of Irish traditional music, probably also applies to traditional musics of quite a few - though certainly not all - other cultures ...

Journal of Music

or paste this into your browser bar:

https://journalofmusic.com/opinion/how-ireland-thinks-about-music?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1MptX7G42p6Po5LvyVpYDRp22OdClsycGqImurG0zek6TTjvQIbiaO6v4_aem_ASoio_GeDhVdV_J28A0RUas0eqaMkiwiSQvMLeTzg-L0LBEHpZXIoDKIfYIq2_h00mSYk9MNLk2mMrORB2GCMbRF

Verandah Music at the 2024 National Folk Festival

 

Hairyman from Tasmania being interviewed by Rob Willis and Graham Seal in the Fitzroy. Hairyman talked about his life, philosophy, folk festivals and all manner of things - and sang a few of his powerful ballads. (Photo Ollie Willis).

HOBBY HORSE IN HOBART, 1915

 

From Australia in Pictures, https://www.facebook.com/ausinpictures/

Here's an intriguingly rare snap of a British custom in Hobart during World War 1. It's Empire Day (24 May) and the Fire Brigade has adopted the English ‘hobby horse’ custom to collect donations, perhaps to a war fund or charity. Or, as was sometimes the case with the original traditions, to fund a trip to the pub. 

 

The blackened face of the man in the horse is a feature of some ‘guising’ customs, nowadays considered deeply offensive by many.

 

Sailors are helping out with collection boxes. Can't quite make out the name of the ship on the right-hand sailor's cap, could be HMAS Parramatta (1) which was in these waters at this period. 

 

Anyone know any more? Evidence of traditional British customs in Australia is sparse, given the numbers who migrated here, willingly or otherwise.

THE GHOST MUSIC ARCHIVES

                                           Unknown band at Elisha William Gale Mine, Hill End?, NSW, c. 1860

We've had a selection of ghost music on this blog for a while. It has grown over the years and so we've decided to feature the Australian items as a separate blog at 

https://archivesghostmusic.blogspot.com/

The existing articles - which include some non-Australian items and links -  will stay on Verandah Music at 

https://verandahmusic.blogspot.com/p/ghost-music.html

VERANDAH DANCES WITH THE BRUTONS

Here’s a tenth birthday present from Verandah Music, courtesy of Rob Willis:

The late Les Bruton was a versatile musician playing fiddle, accordion and a number of other instruments. His wife, June, learnt slide guitar at an early age and accompanied Les, it was indeed a unique and wonderful sound. Les learnt many of his dance tunes from older players, including his Uncle Charlie and he tells us the story of Uncle Charlie and the Verandah dances. June and Les play us one of Uncle Charlie's tunes, a Schottische. We recorded the Brutons for the National Library of Australia and they are online at Youtube here (double click if it doesn’t work first time and follow the redirect prompt – we don’t know why, either).

https://youtu.be/QBHEgQtejuo  

OUR TENTH BIRTHDAY!

This year, Verandah Music is ten years old. We’ve put up around 150 posts and had around forty-six thousand visitors from Australia and around the world. (In recent times, they seem to like us best in America, followed by Australia, then Singapore, followed by many more countries). 

Our three most popular posts are ‘The First Bush Bands’, followed by Sue Brian on making a cabbage tree hat, then the post on the Ethiopian Serenaders - still stars almost 175 years after they toured here - take that, Taylor Swift!

The most popular section of the blog is the ‘Articles’. We’re especially pleased about that because one of our main aims was to provide readers with information about Australian traditional music in its many different forms.

So, mission accomplished. And looking forward to another decade of sharing Verandah Music with all. 

CONCERTINAS AND CIGGIES IN THE TRENCHES OF WORLD WAR ONE

 

Cigarette cards were used by manufacturers to promote their products. They were attractive mini-art works that came with a pack of 'ciggies' or 'fags' and could be kept, left lying around or collected by adults and kids. This one is from Wills's cigarette company and shows an Australian soldier - later known colloquially as a 'digger', playing and singing the sentimental favourite, 'Home, Sweet Home'. 

Light, easy to pack and usually cheap, concertinas were ideal for soldiers on active duty and are mentioned often in World War 1 sources, along with the even cheaper and more portable mouth organ.  This card is part of a much larger set produced by the cigarette company to commemorate the heroics of the Anzacs at Gallipoli.

Soldiers, of course, were major targets for cigarette company advertising.

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TIN CAN BANJO

Further to our last post on the 'tingaling', etc., here's an item from National Folk of 1967. The late folklorist and everything else, Ron Edwards, ran this magazine and related publications for many years. They contain a wealth of information about folksong, lore, legend and anything else Ron thought worth including, which was quite a lot!

In this article, a reader describes how he/she built a tin can banjo, based on one Ron had collected.

For more on Ron Edwards, see Keith McKenry's  Ron Edwards and the Fight for Australian Tradition.

Or paste this into your browser if the link above doesn't work: https://scholarly.info/book/ron-edwards-and-the-fight-for-australian-tradition/

Also, Rob Willis has uploaded a video on the cardboard fiddle to the VM Youtube channel, here :

https://youtu.be/bVRMeixyMHM 

And he has another video of his interview with Fred Chapman and his amazing kerosene tin 'banjo' at:

https://youtu.be/vadm_qFkMBc