Canberra comes to life
CANBERRA comes to life over the Easter break each year for the National Folk Festival and, as in years gone by, there was a distinctly Jewish feel at the 2012 event.
CANBERRA comes to life over the Easter break each year for the National Folk Festival and, as in years gone by, there was a distinctly Jewish feel at the 2012 event.
This popular five-day festival, held in the huge grounds of the Exhibition Park, attracted a crowd of about 50,000 people, 40 per cent of whom travelled from interstate to attend this smorgasbord of folk, roots, blues, country music and folk dancing.
The line-up included children’s entertainment, arts and crafts, circus and street acts, and choir groups.
There was also a wide variety of workshops to participate in, whether you fancy learning the tin whistle, bluegrass banjo, Irish dancing or exploring klezmer tunes. Participation plays a big role in this wonderful festival, bringing everyone together with its variety of activities.
Each year a state or territory is chosen to feature in the national festival, and this year it was Queensland’s turn. Artists from around Queensland were encouraged to perform and showcase their talents among the 200 acts selected from around Australia and abroad.
The London Klezmer Quartet proved to be one of the most popular instrumental groups at the festival.
Performing in the larger venues, the quartet was selected to play at the closing concert on Monday night, inviting well-known Jewish klezmer/dobro player Stacy Phillips to join them in playing Shalom Aleichem. Carol Isaacs on piano accordion and Ilana Cravitz on fiddle gave wonderful performances, as did Susi Evans on clarinet and Indra Buraczewska on double bass, all playing with passion and flair.
Their infectious repertoire of much-loved, toe-tapping klezmer tunes from Eastern Europe wowed the crowds. The audience enjoyed singing along to the chorus, learning Yiddish words and learning about the festival of Passover, coinciding with Easter.
Jewish American guitarist and educator, Stefan Grossman attracted large crowds to his concerts. Laced with humour, educational banter, skilful and varied guitar techniques, Grossman, who learnt from Rev Gary Davis and played with Paul Simon and Eric Clapton, mesmerised the audience with his guitar playing.
He is a legend to millions of guitarists who have studied blues and ragtime from his tuition books, tapes and videos.
Jewish musicians Phillips and guitarist Paul Howard, both New Yorkers, entertained and gave workshops over the weekend.
Songs from Phillips’ deeply moving album From the Inside featured at his concerts, with Howard on guitar and vocals.
Phillips is an internationally acclaimed resonator guitarist and violin player, and author of more than 25 books and DVDs on various aspects of his chosen instruments. Both musicians were well received at the festival, playing an eclectic mix of Americana and original music, known as neo-urban traditional music, to jazz, Caribbean, klezmer and Hawaiian tunes.
Other highlights at this year’s festival included, Stanley and Kip Greenthal (USA), the Volatinsky Trio (Russia/Australia), Flamenco Fire-Primavera Mia (Spain), April Verch Band (Canada), Battlefield Band (Scotland), Victor Valdes (Mexican harpist), Mic Conway with Robbie Long, and Mongolian throat singer Bukhchuluun Ganburged.
ROBYN ARYA
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