Buskers, balladeers and broadsiders – or beggars - in colonial Sydney

 

The Flying Pieman - William Francis King

Tony Smith has been researching colonial Sydney's street performers - forerunners of today's buskers. You can read the results in our articles section here:

REVIEW - MARTIN DOHERTY AND LEIGH BIRKETT 'BISCUITS ON BROADWAY'

Martin Doherty’s adopted grandson, Camillo, just loves to bake, especially biscuits. He takes them down to Sydney’s Broadway and distributes them to the homeless people who gather there. This story is told in the title track of the latest double album by Martin Doherty and Leigh Birkett, Biscuits on Broadway.

 

Here is Tony Smith’s review of the album. You can stream through Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, etc.

 

This double CD of 26 tracks provides fresh relief from the stasis of recent Covid lockdowns. The songs essentially fall into three categories: the need for understanding the plight of people who are less prosperous, Martin Doherty’s nostalgia for his homeland of Ireland and stories of historical interest. Some songs fit multiple categories. 

 

The title track concerns the hard city streets where ‘a little humanity goes a long, long way’. Indeed this is the album’s theme. ‘Man of the Earth’ by Bernie Parry tells of someone who worked hard for decades then has nothing but an ‘allotment’ in retirement. ‘Ordinary Man’ by Peter Hames concerns another battler, a factory worker laid off to become human waste. ‘Cry Like a Man’ by Jonnie Barnett, Dan Penn and Carson Whitsett and ‘Try a Little Kindness’ by Curt Sapaugh and Bobby Austin augment this theme as do some of Martin’s originals - ‘Never Be Forgotten’ and ‘Heart Reaching Out’. 

 

Some tracks are either written by someone in Ireland or else covered by an Irish singer. As Martin explains, some are lesser-known Irish tunes and songs and others give his own thoughts on his homeland. He penned both lyrics and music on ‘Dublin Today’, ‘Spike Island’ and ‘The Road to Doolin’. A feature of these tracks is the flute and whistle backing by nephew Alan Doherty, one of Ireland’s finest. 

 

Among lesser-known Irish songs, the lyrics to the traditional ‘Dark Island’ were learned from Martin’s great friend, the late Tom Minogue. ‘Sail On Jimmy’ by Albert Niland is a.k.a. ‘Irish Pagan Ritual’. The lively ‘Man from the Daily Mall’ satirises how the British press in 1920 saw rebels everywhere. This song by Peadar Mac Ghiolla Chearra is set to tune of ‘Girl from Clare’ by Percy French. Other covers include ‘Bridge over Troubled Water’ by Paul Simon and Canadian Glen Reid’s ‘My Green Valleys’ with fine strings backing. 

 

There are seven tracks with either words and music or just lyrics by Lyn Doherty: ‘Biscuits on Broadway’, ‘SacredGround’, ‘The Star of Taroon’, ‘The Birthing Tree’, ‘Mystic Mountain’, ‘The Cameliers’ and ‘Pelorus Jack’.  Lyn’s compassion for people of diverse backgrounds is plain from these songs, as is her profound respect for Australia’sIndigenous peoples. The four songs about Aboriginal relationships with the land are exceptional. ‘The Cameliers’ describes eight Afghan camel drivers who joined the Burke and Wills expedition with 26 camels. Spelling with an ‘i’ suggests they

are ‘cavaliers’. The song has a Middle Eastern sound at beginning. ‘Pelorus Jack’ is replete with nautical terminology. A pelorus is an instrument that keeps a ship on course. These tracks show something of the depth of Lyn Doherty’s research. Brass backing is suggestive of the seaman’s mission. 

 

Martin Doherty has an exceptionally clear voice and Leigh Birkett’s arrangements ensure that the instruments provide background but never overwhelm the lyrics. Vocal harmonies are subtle and supportive. Graham Seal’s ‘Tea and Sugar Train’ has very good guitar sounding like a train whistle while his ‘River Ran Like Murder’ has appropriate arrangement, including chorus and guitar interlude. The traditional ‘Ramble Away’ has beautiful mandolin backing. 

 

The musicians are Martin Doherty (lead vocal, guitar), Leigh Birkett (guitars, bouzouki, mandolins, bass, keyboard, orchestral arrangements, programming, backing vocals), Alan Doherty (flute, whistle), Rebecca Daniel (violin) and Ian MacKenzie (uilleann pipes). Nigel Davey and Kevin Shortall (accordions) and Tola Custy (violin and viola) join from Ireland. Gordon Hamilton is the whistler, Tara Gray and Lyn Doherty provide backing vocals. Five-year-old grandson Arthur with help from dad Matt sings ‘Black is the colour’. 

 

Production was at Brays Lane Studio and FolkLAB with additional recording in Dublin. Leigh oversaw the artwork.These songs are presented tastefully, provoke thought and compel further listening. Biscuits on Broadway is an exceptional album presented in true folk style.

© 2022 Tony Smith  

REVIEW - WARREN FAHEY’S AUSTRALIAN BUSH ORCHESTRA MUSIC FOR BUSH DANCE & CAMPFIRE

Reviewed by Tony Smith 2021 

This is a hugely enjoyable album. There is plenty of variety in the 27 tracks – 12 of which pair a couple of tunes as happens for a dance. Under the directorship of Warren Fahey, the Australian Bush Orchestra produces a broad sample of the music that country people enjoyed in the days before mass media homogenised outputs and fast transport brought the neglect of many little bush halls.

There is a debate among musicians who consider themselves purists of the Australian tradition. Some think that they have discovered authentic bush music outside urban areas and re-produced it on lager phone, tea chest bass and banjo. Others are more sceptical and think that ‘bush music’ as we know it is an invention of city based researchers catering for urban nostalgia. They suggest instead that often bush dances featured pianos, violins and drums, possibly even saxophones. Others of course do not care and just enjoy the lot!

The Australian Bush Orchestra makes a great contribution to these discussions. On this album the splendid musicians play various instruments from the piano to the button accordion and from fiddle to banjo. If songs appear on this album, you can be sure they have not been plucked from the modern salon but were actually sung by the ‘folk’. Let’s not open that can of worms! 

Many tunes and songs played at dances and around campfires such as ‘Donkey Riding’ were indeed imported. Fahey’s comprehensive sleeve notes always acknowledge provenance. So we learn that ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’ is an English nursery rhyme, that actor Walter Brennan recited a popular version of ‘Life Gets Tedious’ and that ‘Old Dan Tucker’ was possibly composed by minstrel Dan Emmet who was a major influence on Bill Monroe, founder of bluegrass music.

Of course, Australian collectors, researchers and composers are responsible for most of the A.B.O.’s material. The list includes Rob Willis, John Meredith, Bill Harney, Harry Cotter, George Strong, Steve and Marjorie Gadd, Eddie and Paddy Dawson, Ebb Wren, George Kyle, Basil Cosgrove and Dave de Hugard. Dave Johnson’s work collecting dance tunes is mentioned - for example ‘Australian Jim’ – as are Eileen McCoy for her varsovienne, and Ray Schloeffel and Sally Sloane for their compositions and personal renditions.

It is delightful that this album includes conversations with a few people who ‘were there’. Several tracks feature the resilient Susan Colley. It was an excellent decision to put Fahey’s conversations with Colley into the audio rather than just describe them in the sleeve notes. Colley would probably be described in the old parlance as a ‘trick’ as she describes dancing all night and even playing concertina while partnering the blokes.

The Orchestra includes assistant producer Marcus Holden (stroh violin, banjo, mandolin, national steel guitar, cittern), Clare O’Meara (fiddle, accordion, piano, vocals), Garry Steel (piano, accordion), Mark Oats (fiddle, vocals), Ian ‘The Pump’ MacIntosh (melodeon, vocals), Elsen Price (bass), Peter Kennard (percussion, drums, bodhran, jingling Johnny, piano), George Washingmachine (guitar)  and Warren Fahey (vocals, jaw harp, concertina, bones). 

Many tunes are instantly recognisable, even to the casual listener. Most Australians must know ‘The Springtime It Brings On The Shearing’ and The Bullocky’s Ball’, while others will recognise almost every tune without being able to put a name to them.

As there is such a good balance in the tracks, it is not likely any listener will lack a favourite. And there is such good ensemble at work that it might seem rather pointless  to single out some performers, but personally, I find it easy to admire Ian Macintosh’s rendition of ‘The Banks of the Condamine’ on melodeon. Similarly, Marcus Holden’s stroh violin with its trumpet resonator adds an immediate atmosphere of the ‘old time’ to several tunes. 

Visually the CD is attractive. Bill Wood’s caricatures are a feature and pictures of sheet music covers make perfect background for the composed and published pieces. Specialists of dance will find enough polka, schottische, waltz and barn dance tunes to satisfy the most critical while the casual listener will be convinced that the music of the bush was rich and enjoyable and worth preserving.

The arrangements are exceptionally fine with a clear emphasis on getting the feet tapping and the face smiling. Because the musicians each play several instruments, Fahey and Holden had impeccable resources at their fingertips. Indeed, they are all well known to one another under the banner of the Larrikins bush band. Happily they settled on superb versions of each tune, giving vitality to well known pieces such as the ‘Galopede’,  ‘Jenny Lind’, ‘Starry Night for a Ramble’, ‘Davy Davy Knick Knack’ and ‘The Rakes of Mallow’.

The Australian Bush Orchestra benefits from Warren Fahey’s research in the New South Wales State Library and postings to his online Australian Folklore Unit. Seldom are sources acknowledged and arrangements explained so well as in his sleeve notes. Listening again to this album recorded in 2011 and released by ABC Music in 2012 reminds me that this is a superb contribution to bush music. While there are other excellent albums of settler songs and tunes, if overseas listeners wanted one CD to serve as an authentic introduction to the best of bush dance music, they could not go past the work of Warren Fahey’s Australian Bush Orchestra, now re-released through Rouseabout Records.

 Album links: Spotify: Apple Music: