18 April 2006

National Folk Festival

| jamius maximus
Join the conversation
5

I went to the festival on Friday and Saturday nights scamming on a couple of comps my friend got.

As an outsider to the folk scene I was very impressed by the talent and variety on show. There were about a dozen different performance venues, ranging from pavilion-sized to small tents (Notably, there seemed to be no correlation between how good the music was and the size of the venue, as some of the best stuff I saw was in a smaller venue). I saw a whole bunch of artists I had never seen before. Most were pretty good, but some were really exceptional and I hope to follow them up. Between the venues were a number of food outlets, selling a good variety of world cuisines, and stores selling drums, kaftans, hand-made jewelry, incense and the like.

The event seemed pretty well organised and was well attended, with a high ratio of families on both of the nights I went. A good night out.

Anyone else go along? Please add to my half-assed review.

Join the conversation

5
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

Union Concert was great, though I didn’t catch as much of it as I would have liked. Fortunately, I got to see some of the acts at other times.

Narbalek (modern Aboriginal) and the Jew Brothers Band were great (the latter is hilarious). Gerry O’Connor & Giles Le Bigot were absolutely extraordinary.

The presence of the Coopers’ tent in lieu of the Guiness tent disoriented me somewhat.

Camped for the weekend and it was bloody freezing. Along with my tent becoming flooded on Friday night and the lure of the campfires, I didn’t sleep much.
Age demographic, very polarised: lots of teenagers and kids and baby boomers.
Artists I liked: Colum Sands, Vardos at the Queen competition, Jigzag, the last guy at the comedy night on Sunday.

I would recommend volunteering to anyone in future years. You work 16 hours (shifts are usually 4 hours long), and you get a free season pass, camping and cheap meals in the volunteer kitchen (which are quite good, only $3 a meal and I was asked a lot where I got them from).

jamius maximus2:15 pm 19 Apr 06

I was quite disappointed to find out that mulled wine contains no mull per se. Still, it smells lovely.

Went Sunday night and caught the following:
Blindman’s Holiday – acapella women, hypnotic.
Kate and Ruth – local product made good, acoustic with sisterish harmonies, talented pair.
Two British women who probably weren’t called the Smug Dikes (but great name for a band) – musically talented, but not as interesting as they thought they were.
Godawful duo from Byron Bay whose name fortunately escaped us – earnest songs about Palestine with contrived rhymes, then downhill from there. We and many others left when the woman started closing her eyes and making tribal vocal noises acapella.
Dahahoo – that’s broadening the definition of folk, but they rocked, they ska’d and lots besides. The Narrabundah underage drinking club was in heaven, and the oldies liked it too.

As always, eclectic, creative and fun.

The mulled wine was quite nice, and they did a special deal if you had a folk festival stein in your hands as well.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.