AUSTRALIAN FOLKSONGS BY BURL IVES

The American entertainer, Burl Ives, visited Australia in the 1950’s singing folksongs from all over, including from here. He recorded a selection of these on his 1953 album, Australian Folksongs (frequently reissued) and Stephen Whiteside has been busy tracking down the often twisty histories of these songs. You can find his posts at:

 

https://stephenwhiteside.com.au/?s=the+old+bullock+dray

 

https://stephenwhiteside.com.au/?s=the+springtime

 

https://stephenwhiteside.com.au/?s=click+go+the+shears

 

https://stephenwhiteside.com.au/?s=wild+rover+no+more

 

https://stephenwhiteside.com.au/?s=the+stockman%27s+last+bed

FOLKSONG HISTORIES

Charlie Hammond (1870-1953) Sick Stockrider, 1905

 

One of the many fascinating aspects of engaging with folklore is researching the history of folksongs. The long and twisting paths through which songs have been passed down, sometimes form a long time ago, can take you into all sorts of surprising places.

 

Stephen Whiteside has been looking into some classic Australian songs, namely The Dying Stockman’, Botany Bay’ and The Station Cook’ (‘Fowler’s Bay’). You can read all about it on his blog:

https://stephenwhiteside.com.au/the-dying-stockman/

 

https://stephenwhiteside.com.au/botany-bay/

https://stephenwhiteside.com.au/the-station-cook/

VERANDAH MUSIC UKRAINIAN STYLE

 

Lessja Farrow and Lyudmyla Koziy, Tasmania 

 

Miklós Both, founder of the Polyphony Project, is on a mission: to collect folk music in Ukraine. In the last four years, the project has visited over 100 different villages and recorded 2000 songs sung by the women in each village. All these folk songs are then compiled into a digital archive, as a way to preserve the long-standing musical folklore tradition of each Ukrainian village. You can see and hear some of his work here.

 

Rob and Olya Willis have made many recordings of Ukrainian traditions throughout Australia, a couple of which are available online through the National Library of Australia:

https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-962022982/listen

https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-686884528/listen

 

In the current circumstances, these ‘intangible’ traditions, like much of Ukraine’s other rich cultural treasures are under threat. Tony Smith writes about this below … 

 

THE DESTRUCTION OF CULTURAL ARTEFACTS IN UKRAINE BORDERS ON GENOCIDE

 

Amid the destruction of life and infrastructure during the invasion of Iraq by Australia, the USA and the UK, one unnecessary consequence was the bomb damage and looting of cultural treasures in Baghdad and other centres. The barbaric invasion of Ukraine by Russia will likely target cultural treasures as the invasion is based on an ideological conviction that Ukraine has no right to exist.

The ‘looting’ of Baghdad’s National Museum of Iraq was one of history’s worst acts of cultural vandalism.  https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2018/04/10/iraq-museum-looting--15-years-on.html. The lost treasures belonged to the world’s heritage.

Ukraine’s cultural treasures include visual artworks, sculptures and important public buildings. Already in the military barbarity in Ukraine, some artworks by Maria Primochenko have been destroyed in the burning of Ivankiv’s Museum of Local History. The artist’s style is in the folk art form. 

Folklore societies in both England and the USA have condemned the potential vandalism and have planned co-operation with folklorists in Ukraine to rescue and archive electronic resources where possible. Rare and irreplaceable films for example, cross numerous genres. See for example https://folklore-society.com/blog-post/a-message-in-support-of-the-people-of-ukraine/

Archives in Ukraine are also under threat. These include repositories of the records of music, dance and folk arts and crafts. There is no way that the invading Russian military will show sufficient restraint to preserve cultural treasures. It is more likely to wilfully destroy these important bases of Ukrainian identity. In its efforts to spread disinformation about the war, Russia is proving that truth is an early casualty and that it will be ruthless in destroying the historical records of its victims. The only sure way to guarantee the safety of Ukrainian folk life is to stop the invasion now.

The UN Convention defines genocide as an ‘intentional effort to completely or partially destroy a group based on its nationality, ethnicity, race or religion’. https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide-convention.shtml It is difficult to interpret the Russian invasion as anything other than an attempt to obliterate Ukrainian identity, which is the basis for an independent state.

Several of the regular visitors to www.melodeon.net have produced renditions of the Ukrainian National Anthem https://forum.melodeon.net/index.php?topic=28031.0;topicseen while pondering what else they might be able to do. People in the folk music community always show compassion for people less fortunate than themselves. Ukraine is far distant from Australia and it is difficult to feel we are doing something either for the victims of the war or for ourselves. Perhaps taking an interest in Ukrainian culture and valuing it would be a way of showing solidarity. Sting has certainly done so. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW0Wq-t4kSQ.

 

Dr Tony Smith is a folk musician based in the Central West of New South Wales.

 

 

THE GUM TREE CANOE

We’re no longer ‘up a gum tree’ on the ‘Gum Tree Canoe’. Stephen Whiteside has given us permission to repost the surprising results of his research on the song, first published at his website at https://stephenwhiteside.com.au/gum-tree-canoe/?fbclid=IwAR0sG2-U-efBvvnFpiInki03fniwsnIQp2anqafIKHEeboOkENPByK5oD4M.

 

*

 

The Australian folk song, ‘Gum Tree Canoe’, would appear to have been adapted from an American song of the same name, written by Silas Sexton Steele in 1847. The American version has been recorded by several artists, the most prominent perhaps being the American musician John Hartford, who included it on his 1984 album of the same name.

Mindful that the Australian gum tree, the eucalypt, had not been introduced to the U.S. until the late 19th century, I turned to Quora, a Californian website for asking and answering questions. I received a prompt reply from Ben Waggoner who said that, while he was not familiar with the song, he suspected the tree referred to in the American song was the sweetgum tree, Liquidambar styraciflua. To quote Waggoner directly,

This is a native tree to the southeastern United States, and it does exude a sweet gummy sap when cut. My grandmother used to chew the sap instead of chewing gum. The leaves turn an attractive red in the autumn, and the dry spiky fruits are excellent for throwing at people if you are an obnoxious seven-year-old.

He posted an addendum that the song refers to the Tombigbee River, which is very close to where his mother grew up, in the town of Columbus, Mississippi.

I have uploaded onto YouTube a video I took of the Victorian Folk Music Club performing the Australian version of ‘Gum Tree Canoe’ in 2015 at the annual Wattle Day Festival held in Hurstbridge, Victoria. The musicians are wearing yellow and green, the colours of the Australian wattle. Here is the link:

A performance of the American version of ‘Gum Tree Canoe’ by John Hartford can be found here:

I must admit, I was amazed to discover there was an earlier version of the song that was not about eucalypts at all!

Stephen Whiteside

One Man’s Weeds – Another Man’s Flowers and Tie Wire by Chloë and Jason Roweth

Chloë and Jason Roweth are a multitalented couple of singers, instrumentalists, reciters and songwriters. They have been interpreting traditional music and creating new material live, on recordings and, of late, online for well over twenty busy years.

These outstanding performers have stayed true to their commitment since their early CD, recorded live at Wongawilli Hall, NSW, in 2001. Then performing as ‘Us Not Them’, this CD was titled One Man’s Weeds – Another Man’s Flowers. It contained contemporary songs, several poems set by Chloë and Jason, a couple of their own compositions, some tunes, a few traditional tracks (‘The Drover’, ‘Maiden’s Prayer’, Exile of Erin’), Tex Morton’s ‘Move Along, Baldy’ and three Mike O’Rourke compositions - ‘Sweet Necessity’, ‘Poison Train’ and the CD’s final track, ‘Sing Us a Song, Boys’. Jim McWhinnie helped out very effectively with bodhran on a couple of tracks.

Twenty years later, they have released another live CD, Tie Wire (and other grand plans). Like most performing artists, Chloë and Jason have used their enforced holiday from live gigs to work on recording projects, usually at home. With a similar balance of songs and tunes to their first CD, this one showcases the skills in early evidence, now honed to a confident and, at times, passionate delivery. Some bushranger ballads are featured, together with some contemporary numbers with a social and political message by masters including John Dengate, Alistair Hulett and Harry Robertson. There are a couple of sets of beautifully arranged mazurkas and reels, together with a sprinkling of great traditional ballads - ‘Dark Eyed Gypsies’ and ‘The Female Rambling Sailor’ in the version collected from Mrs Catherine Peatey of Brunswick in 1959 and living here once again.

Then, and now, Chloë and Jason interpret their material with a variety of musical styles and distinctive arrangements that enhance the music rather than getting in its way, always remaining true to the sources of the songs and their singers. With such a range of talents it’s no surprise that they have been a fixture at festivals, concerts and clubs around the country for many years and collected a few awards in the process. Along the way (including playing and recording with the band ‘Collector’) they have created a body of work that respects the tradition and keeps it alive with fresh interpretations and new creations in the same spirit.

You can keep up with them here

Review by Graham Seal

THE PUB BAND IN THE 1880s

 

What tunes did they play and how did they sound? A serious-looking band from c. 1885 at the Glasgow Arms Hotel in Carrington, NSW. Concertina, accordion, tin whistle, triangle and banjo (without a head?).

 

They probably whipped up a pretty good night at the pub, at that time run by Jane Hardy. Jane was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in England, as were many of the people working in the coal industry in those days. It’s likely that the band played ‘Geordie’ music, maybe including ‘Byker Hill’? Jane and the rest of her siblings were baptised at All Saints in Byker, Newcastle upon Tyne. She migrated with her husband in the 1850s.

 

The pic was taken by Ralph Snowball and is part of the Norm Barney Photographic Collection, held by Cultural Collections at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia.

 

Read all about here 

A MINSTREL BANJOIST IN AUSTRALIA

ABC The History Listen features African-American banjo man Hosea Easton. Hosea toured with minstrel bands in the late nineteenth century and, judging by the two thousand people who turned up at his funeral in Sydney, had a lot of fans. Listen here.

See also one of our earlier and very popular posts 'And Now for the Ethiopian Seranaders'.

HUNTING FOR HARMONICAS

 

Here’s a follow-up to our previous posts on the history of the harmonica in Australia. Ray Grieve, author of A Band in a Waistcoat Pocket  and related works, tells of the quest for the fabled Hohner Chromatically Tuned Up-To-Date Harmonica and his encounter with Hohner’s first representative in Australia, Kurt Jacob.

This article first appeared in the estimable Simply Australia site.

 

You can buy Ray’s books, CDs and other products at his Bushlark Music site.

DID SALLY KNOW HARRY?

Sally Sloane

Rob Willis pulls together some history, folklore and personal experience to almost answer this question – Did old time musicians Harry Schaefer and Sally Sloane of the Central West area of New South Wales know each other? If so, they surely played music together in the very busy social dance scene of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Read all about it here in the Verandah Music Articles section. If anyone can throw further light on this intriguing possibility, Rob would love to hear from you.

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: