SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS & THEMED CONCERTS

Also see our Workshops page

These are listed in the order they appear in the program

 updated 5th February 2009

   
Australia Street
Friday   9.30pm   The Voices Theatre
 
Australia Streets are scattered across the cities, suburbs and towns of Australia. In them generations of Australians have made their homes, expressing their sense of who they are and where they come from. Wongawilli will perform songs and tunes that form a folk music tradition now part of that expression. These songs are on Wongawilli’s most recent CD “Australia Street”
 
 
Turn the Churn and Grow Rich: A history of dairy farming in the Cobargo District.
Saturday    10.00am   Yuin

In the 1880s Bega Valley was described as one of the richest districts in the Colony. Over the next 20 years it became obvious that local dairy farmers would have to join together in co-operatives as it was no longer possible to simply 'turn the churn and grow rich'. Fiona Firth, a local historian from Brogo, will talk about the history of the Cobargo district and the growth of an innovative  and rich dairy industry which produced butter for the world.  Hear how hand milking and skimming butter fat off the top of milk in pans gave way to the use of high tech steam machinery. Changes in world demand in the 1950s lead to the demise of Cobargo Butter and the move into producing whole milk.
 
Blanchard's Dairy, a typical 19th century dairy farm in the Cobargo - Bega district
 
 
Pete Wild CD Launch
Saturday   10.15am   Mumbulla
 
Peter Wild will be launching his debut album. Recorded in the Bega Valley in six different studios with 18 musicians over eight months. “Pete Wild” is a collection of songs from Peter’s eclectic repertoire that tells an array of stories in a myriad of styles – bluegrass, rock, polka, broadway, epic-dirty-melancholic-folk ballads….. Many of the musicians who played on the CD will be at the festival and will be joining Peter on stage to perform some of the songs from the album.
 
 
Renaissance Music Spectacular
Saturday   11.30am   The Voices Theatre
 
Enjoy the exquisite choral and instrumental sounds of the European Renaissance as local musicians from Bega Chamber Orchestra and Prima Venti recorder group, together with singers from Heartsong Choir, conducted by Geoffrey Badger, present a selection of motets, dances, madrigals, and marches from around 500 years ago.
 
 
 
 
 
British Songs – Old and New
Saturday   1.00pm   Mumbulla
 
We are fortunate this year to have two of Britain’s finest songwriters at the festival – Jez Lowe and Graham Moore – together with that internationally renowned UK-Australian family group The Fagans. Consequently, we have brought them together in a special concert of British songs. The Fagans have a huge repertoire of British folksongs and will provide the more “traditional” component to the concert, while Jez and Graham both write and sing songs about British society and social history. Graham is particularly well known for his Tolpuddle songs, the story of which has an interesting connection with Australia.
 
 
                                       Tom Waits  
Tom Waits For No Man
Saturday   2.15pm   The Voices Theatre
 
This is an homage to the song writing and musical genius of Tom Waits, who began his career in the early 1970s and spans 35 plus albums. The band is the brain-child of Narooma based vocalist Peter Markham, combining with the rich vocals and exciting guitar styles of John Hoorweg and the dynamic keyboard playing of Mark Bolsius. The rhythm section includes the talents of Gary Renton on guitar, Mathew Perry on double bass and Al Heffernan on drums and percussion. Playing together for about 12 months, they have had well-received performances at the Tilba Festival, Club Muso, Narooma and the Dromedary Hotel, Tilba.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
 
Australian Balladry from British Broadsides
Saturday   2.30pm   Yuin
 
By the seventeenth century English presses were beginning to pour out ballad texts printed on broadsides. Most of these ballad texts disappeared almost as quickly as most of today's pop songs. But ballad singers hawked the broadsides around country towns and at places for social entertainment, such as fairs and public houses, so a few of the street ballad texts passed into oral circulation. At the same time a few songs that had previously existed only in oral tradition were learnt by the ballad hawkers, taken back to London and printed on broadsides and recirculated in print. Australia inherited the broadside and ballad tradition from the British - some were transported here and others were fashioned here to record local stories and events. These 'penny sheets' were extraordinarily popular and the sales could be compared with a best seller in today's book list. Alan Musgrove will explore the history of the Broadsides and their influence on the Australian folksong tradition while performing many interesting and entertaining examples.
 
 
Forty Years A Larrikin
Saturday   3.30pm   Yuin
 
Warren Fahey started going to folk clubs in 1960. He was 19 when he made his first ABC radio programs and still regularly pops up on the airwaves. He commenced collecting and performing in 1969 and has never stopped or slowed down. He established the Larrikin record label, Folkways Music and, eventually, Rouseabout Records and has been responsible for over 500 recordings of Australian music. He claims to be a graduate of the Dingo University and the School of Hard Knocks.  He has been honored with the Order of Australia, Advance Australia Award, Centennial Medal, Bush Laureate Lifetime Achievement Award,  Music Industry Person of the Year, and, in 1989, declared Republican  of the Year. As a performer he has led The Larrikins around Australia and half way around the world. Join Warren Fahey as he yarns about this unique musical journey.
 
 
 
Comedy Concert
Saturday   4.45pm   Mumbulla
 
 A mixed bag of humorous, satirical and rude songs, verse and stories from Mal Webb, the Shiny Bum Singers, Kate Rowe, Vic Jeffries, Arch Bishop and other surprise (and surprised) guests, interspersed with stand-up comedy from Glover and Sorrensen, will have you rolling in the aisles, or at the very least tickle your funny bone. Laughter is proven to improve health and lengthen life (but don’t expect to be able to claim the cost of your festival ticket from Medicare - not yet anyway)
 
 
 
Songs of the Great Depression
   
Saturday   5.30pm   Yuin
 
Songs of the Great Depression presented by The Silver Strings (Bob Hart, Eric Johns, Sandy Gibney) features ballads and blues from the late 1920's and 1930's: songs of hoboes and swagmen, freight trains, the unemployed and the homeless. The songs come from the Carter Family, the Delmore Brothers, Jimmy Rogers, Woody Guthrie and many others.
 
 
 
Bluegrass Concert
Saturday   9.30pm   Mumbulla
 
We are fortunate to have some of the finest exponents of Bluegrass music in Australia at the festival. The Davidson Brothers are widely regarded as the driving force in Australian Bluegrass. Already with a string of awards to their name, the Brothers have just returned from the 2009 Tamworth Country Music Festival with their first Golden Guitar Award and the Fender Instrumental of the Year. The ubiquitous Sam Martin has again lined up a group of top-notch players to present a dynamic concert of Bluegrass and Western Swing music under the name of Sam and The Sundowners. Joining them in this concert will be The Front Porch Pickers with their superb, ‘down-home’ style of bluegrass and roots music and that dynamic duo of the hot licks, Damien Neil & Damon Davies
         
 
 
Jazz Nightclub
Saturday   9.45pm   Yuin
 
The folk club atmosphere of the Yuin by day will convert to an old style acoustic jazz club on Saturday night. The night’s entertainment will be hosted by pianist Mark Bolsius and will feature Peter Wild and friends, Charlotte Lyngbye and her group Charlotte’s Tangled Webb, The Meandering Wastrels, and other special guests.
 
 
The Southern Cross Is Calling
Sunday   12.00noon   The Voices Theatre
 
Performed by Wongawilli, this is a unique and dynamic concert of traditional and contemporary folk songs and music from the experiences of the many peoples in Australia. The title derives from the song of the same name by Joe Paolacci which relates the story of hard work and assimilation into Australian society for an Italian immigrant. The concert will feature Italian folk music and images together with songs of migration and experience in Australia from a number of different cultural backgrounds.
 
This concert will also include Marmellata (films, images and sounds of Italy with a twist)
 
Marmellata has two meanings– the first is 'jam' or 'marmalade' and the second comes from the Neapolitan dialect in which it means 'mix-up’ which seems an appropriate description of this eclectic combination of film, images and music. A musical performance of Italian folk music will be combined with film footages of tourist style scenery of four regions of Italy - Veneto (Venice), Lazio (Rome), Sicilia and Sardinia combined with humorous Italian film clips from Toto, Robero Begnini (Life is Beautiful), Ciccio Ingrassia and Franco Franchi. The music will be provided by Wongawilli led by veteran Italian film accompanist, David De Santi on piano accordion. It is a huge sound and gives new energy to the traditional tarantellas, songs and tunes from Italy.
 
 
 
Political Soapbox: Songs of Satire and Sedition
Sunday   12.45pm   Mumbulla
 
This has become a regular favourite at the Cobargo Folk Festival. With participants such as Peter Hicks, the Illawarra and Canberra Union singers, the Shiny Bum Singers and Glover & Sorrensen and a number of other guests given the stage and a theme loosely based around politics, a concert both entertaining and controversial is guaranteed. Our international guests, Jezz Lowe and Graham Moore will add a British perspective to the repertoire.