National Folk Festival

New photos and reports now available below...

What an exciting time we had over Easter at the National Folk Festival! The Bush Orchestra played every day. in programmed gigs at the Stock Camp and busking around the Festival precinct. Quite a few other NFFC members were there too, including Steve and Anne, Moira Y, Christine M, Simon L and Simon K. It was busy four days with so many workshops to go to and other musicians to listen to. Not to mention the great fun of jamming with other musicians from all over the country in the Session Bar!
See blog posts below from Bruce, Greg and Leonie.

Bruce's take on his 2011 National Folk Festival.

Well, I went to Canberra last week, blinked a couple of times, and here I am back home again! Thought I’d jot down my impressions of the 2011 National Folk Festival while they’re still fresh in my mind. I’ve found that each of the five National Festivals I’ve attended has been very different and this year was no exception. I arrived last Monday in order to attend the mandolin workshop run by one of my mandolin heroes, Mike Compton. I spent four hours per day from Tuesday to Thursday with mandolin in hand; running through some wonderful tunes and exercises. Mike was a great teacher and a fun person to be around. I have to say that this time around, the three days of the workshop were a personal highlight of my festival as opposed to the acts of past years.

The Bush Orchestra crew started turning up on Tuesday, and by Thursday afternoon most people had arrived. On Friday morning a number of Bush Orchestra members had an informal practice come busking session just outside the Session Bar. This drew a lovely crowd and we got lots of compliments – and the offer of a live to air mountain district community radio gig from it (http://www.3mdr.com/). We’ll be talking to the radio station people soon.

The Bush Orchestra’s first gig at the infamous Stock Camp was on Friday arvo and to my mind was very successful. I think we were all very happy to be there and were high on the overall buzz of the festival. We played well and got a great response from the audience.

That evening I cut loose in the session bar and staggered home at about 3.45am after Rob Richmond tore the house down (and yes, the bar staff have photographic evidence of this) with a killer version of ‘8’th of January’. Unfortunately I was in no condition to hold, let alone focus a camera. I do remember getting back to my tent and trying to open it with my house keys!

A significant portion of the Bush Orchestra crew, including our esteemed leader, a nefarious ruffian named Grumpy Greg, over-indulged that evening and were somewhat worse for wear at our second Stock Camp gig. The music for that gig reflected the way our stomachs felt – strange rumblings and odd gurgling noises every now and then! We realised that a few of the tunes we thought we had down were in fact not quite gig ready. This was easily fixed with a quick rehearsal on Sunday morning and consequently we were back on song (figuratively and literally) for the next gig. Rob, Leonie and Alasdair also contributed wonderfully with their signature songs; ‘Boatman’, ‘You Are My Sunshine’ and ‘Rd to the Isles’ and ‘Loch Lomond’, all of which went down a treat.

As I remember it, we pretty much paced ourselves at the Session Bar that night and I recall getting back to my tent at a much more respectable 2.30am – although I also have vague recollections of trying to put my long johns on over my head.

On Sunday we were raring to get back into the music and had a great session with the well-known fiddler Harry Gardner at the Stock Camp just prior to our gig. Dave and Alan also contributed songs that went down very well at the Harry Gardner session. A number of the musicians from that session stuck around and help us bring it on home.

That evening Leonie, Rob, Wendy and myself watched a number of the regular dances. There was a Colonial Dance, a Contra Dance and a number of others. It was wonderful to watch and listen to. I later found out that Simon Dew actually went to a workshop and played in the band at the Contra Dance!

On Monday, the rumour went around that Ted Egan, one of the larger acts, had decided to slum it down at the Stock Camp and consequently we (and a number of other acts) got bumped (he didn’t turn up). Our initial disappointment quickly changed to happiness as we discovered the joys and (financial) rewards of busking. We made some dosh, handed out a bunch of NFFC cards and had a lot of fun. It was a perfect way to finish up the festival. We also made one young busker’s day when we donated our ‘earnings’ to his busker’s hat!

Well, that just about wraps up my take on the festival. It was wonderful to play music with everyone and learn the kind of skills that can only be gained through performance. I had a ball and hope that the other Bush Orchestra players had as much fun as I did.

Photos to follow soon.

Bruce

Greg on National Folk Festival

Bruce has said most of it.
This is what i would like to say.

When I put forward the idea of going to the N.F.F. I came on strong about how it was putting my long term and the Folk Clubs' short term reputation on the line.
It had me really worried. I wondered if it was too soon to be taking on such a high profile project and so on.
I am delighted to say that ALL the members who went excelled themselves. Our reputations had a huge boost. The festival director thanked me directly for our contribution. It will make our return to the National a much easier prospect, now we have a great track record.

I am also so pleased to be associated with a group of people who can work as a team. I want to thank those folks who chose to rein in their emotions for the benefit of the group. It will not be forgotten. Some members missed out on having their moment in the sun mainly because I was making decisions on the run. I apologize for that and thank them for taking it on the chin.To those BO members who did not come, could you please bear with us while we rave about our experiences, I promise you will have another opportunity to go up there( maybe next year).

I was expecting the festival to take a physical and emotional toll on me but thanks to you and your efforts the opposite happened.
Thank you all.
Grumpy Greg
PS I was jamming with a great accordionist from Sydney, Greg Wilson, when dulcimer player Kath on my left called out "hey grumpy". We both turned our head! I am not the only Greg to be grumpy!

National Folk Festival - by Leonie

What a week! Fun and festivities coming at you from every angle!

A simple walk to the shops could involve dodging Morris Dancers all a-jingle, leaping about through the crowd, hankies flapping in the breeze. Or you could be led Pied Piper style into a nearby tent by some fabulous tune.

Workshops galore! Ever wanted to learn Appalacian Clogging? How about Broom Building? Choir, Percussion, Dance, Yoga, all manner of Arts and Crafts from Blacksmithing to Oragami. Brush up on your Fiddle Skills, learn some Swing Guitar, improve on the Bits Between your Songs or maybe Stage Craft is your thing.Buskers, busking at every turn. Acrobats performing deadly acts, street performers, giant seagulls pinching your chips, little kids trying out their newly learned skills, groups of teenagers having a sing-along with their favourite tunes, an assortment of choirs, dance troups, poets and musos. Even the Newport Bush Orchestra strutted their stuff and drew a crowd.

And speaking of NBO, you could catch us everyday at 2pm at the Stockman's Camp. It was a fantastic gig, watch out for the photos.

There was plenty of eye candy at the instrument makers exhibition . We got to drool over some beautiful, hand made instruments. You could chat to the makers themselves about the finer points of constructing their wares. They even let us play them.

A huge circus tent dominated centre arena. This hosted a variety of shows, including a late night Not For Kids Kid's Show. We were treated to some acts of absurdity by balloon blowers, contortionists and the like. Plenty of ooohs and ahhhhs and ouches coming from the audience.
The session bar was just a bit too much fun. A huge human soup of all kinds of people, sporting every concievable instrument. Dancers leaping about, singers singing. Too many of us made the tragic error of going for one last quick stroll through on the way to bed. You would be dragged into the maddness, and before you knew it, you would be performing solos to an appreciative, but slightly sozzled audience, dancing on tables etc. until they threw you out at the crack of dawn. And then you had to find your way through a sea of tents, tripping over guy ropes, making lots of apologies, (sometimes to the people that you woke up, sometimes to lamp posts).
Then you had to chip the icicles off your tent, quickly put on every piece of clothing that you own and get into bed. Those Camberra nights are freezing!

It was all great fun. The best bit of all for me was the comeradie. There were plenty of Newport Folkies at the festival, and in true NFFC style we soon constructed a small community. Some of my favourite moments were sitting around the camp site, sharing food, a cuppa, a bottle of wine, a conversation and some music. I had so many belly laughs that my ribs were aching.

Go Life!