This CresFest World!

This is the second (see Episode 2) in an occasional series consisting of extracts from interviews recorded by Hugh Anderson, a primary school principal from Ballarat, on his portable reel-to-reel recorder in 1967, with Simon 'Simmy' McDonald , a well-known local character who lived in Creswick all his life, from 1906 to 1968. He was an amazing singer, musician, poet, story-teller and local character. The recordings now reside in the National Library in Canberra, and this series delves into them. Great stories from Simmy, and some insight into how one of his songs arrived in Creswick having started out in the Southern States in the 1840s.

Neil Murray is one of Australia's best-known and well-loved songwriters. For many, he is known as the writer of My Island Home, recorded first with the Warumpi Band in the 80s and then a hit for Christine Anu in the 90s. There is a wealth of history and interest in Neil, and his life-long commitment to indigenous people is a foundation for his work. Here, one of CresFest's great interviewers, James Freemantle, asks him about his life and work. It's a fascinating insight!

Judy started playing recorder in the early years of primary school and music has rarely been absent from her life ever since. Here she talks about her musical life and how it inspired the crazy idea that is CresFest! A great personal insight.

You might have been lucky enough to see Chris and Catriona on any of their previous trips to Australia. As members of one of Scotland's most loved big fiddle bands, Fiddlers Bid, they first toured here 25 years ago, and they have returned regularly as a duo, as you will hear. It's a long journey from a tiny island with 60 inhabitants off the coast of Shetland, to the concert halls of the world, and here Catriona and Chris, incredible concert performers on harp and fiddle, talk with Neil about that journey. A big hit at CresFest 2 years ago, it's just great to welcome them back!

Folk Alliance Youth Artists of the year in 2024, Apolline are three great young string players, and they have begun to appear at festivals across Australia and now, overseas. In this podcast, they talk about the people who helped them along the road. Featuring interviews with Felix Meagher of https://lakeschool.com.au/ and Jack Wilson of https://www.melbournescottishfiddlers.com/

Mickey and Michelle are a Victorian fiddle, harp and vocal duo building an exciting name for themselves in acoustic music circles in Australia. This week, with Neil, they talk about establishing themselves as music festival and venue favourites in Australia, about composing and arranging... and about their love of long-distance hiking!

One of the great things about CresFest is the Conversation program. Musicians, artists, historians, community activists, all have appeared at the festival in public conversation with our two prize interviewers Cate Kennedy, Australian writer, and James Freemantle, media presenter and film maker. CresFest is so lucky to have such experienced professionals running this part of the program. In this episode, they talk with Neil about their favourite interviews from past CresFests, and what's coming up this year.

Archer has a fascinating wide-ranging career in folk and country music across the world, but also leads an unexpected life on a country property not far from Creswick. Neil and Archer spent some hours together talking about both.

Grassy Strings are perhaps unexpected members of the bluegrass field. They live in Kolkata in Eastern India, and in this interview we talk about how they make a living from touring and playing music. As usual, the conversation roves beyond music, and we talk about extended family life...and related matters

Neil talks with Stella Savy, CresFest Director and also Musical Director of one of Victoria's best known community choirs, the Sweet Monas, about the choir's history, the way it runs and the secrets of its longevity and success. Choir members of all ages and backgrounds also talk about the impact the choir has had on their lives, and select their favourite tracks from the soon to be released new Sweet Monas CD. For more information https://sweetmonaschoir.com/

Chantel and her partner Cam are the duo who run Leavers Hotel in Creswick. The story behind this great wine-bar venue and its role in bringing live music to Creswick, is a great story. And then, as usual, there is another side to the conversation as Chantel talks about one of her Other Lives!

Kerryn is one of the team of amazing performers you will see at CresFest 25. Inhabiting a musical world somewhere between folk and country, the combination of humour and sincerity she brings to each performance is quite something to behold. In this podcast, Kerryn gives us honest insight into how her life has led her to where she is now.

Geoffrey has had an extraordinary musical career. In this podcast, he thinks back over his teenage determination to be a soul/pop singer, how he achieved that dream, and how his life has taken shape in the years since he had 5 songs in the charts and wrote for Michael Jackson and Dusty Springfield. A great performer, we can't wait to see him at CresFest in 25!

Joe has had an amazing career, from Indigenous reggae rock group No Fixed Address in the 80s, through to the Black Arm Band in the 2000s, and periods of leading his own band before and since then. His father and mother were forcibly removed from Palm Island in 1957, before he was born, after a strike in which indigenous workers campaigned to be paid for their work. His take on indigenous matters is always worth hearing, as is his best known song Yil Lull, an Indigenous anthem, and recent songs just recorded for a new vinyl.

Mark is the guitarist and one of 6 singers in The Cherrypickers, a contemporary bluegrass band from Adelaide, recently one of the headliners at CresFest 24. We started talking during the festival, then caught up again a couple of weeks later, covering topics as varied as his experience at CresFest, singing harmony, the band's music and history together over the last 20 years, and then about his new life regenerating a rural property in Tasmania. You'll have no chance to get bored!

Part 2 takes us to King Charles receiving Reuben's marmalade, the story of Martindale Hall, and the Marmalashes.

Why volunteer at a local music festival? A conversation about why a person did gets side-tracked by the world of competitive marmalade making, and the conversation heads off in unexpected directions.

Gina and her partner Guy Ghouse will be headlining at CresFest 2024. Here, Gina talks with Neil about songwriting in Noongar, her recently premiered opera Wundig Wer Wilura, and her take on the No vote...amongst other things!

Lucy Wise, one of Australia's great songwriters and performers, talks openly with Neil about her journey balancing good mental health and a career in the performing arts, her new album Into The Blue and the influence of her mum, musician and songwriter Louisa Wise!

For 15 years, Melisande and her partner Alex have been taking traditional Quebecois music and turning it into something quite different and incredible. They talk about their mission to support the music of their area and their part in a more general community approach to keeping French Canadian language and life flourishing. It's a fascinating conversation! Come and see them get the place moving with their band at CresFest 24. Tickets at cresfest.com.au

Owen is from country Victoria, but developed an obsession with Argentinian music, went there to learn the bandoneon, and stayed. He tells his story, and the story of the music he is bringing to his Australian tour with the Guanaco trio this autumn. CresFest performers 2024.

Gerry Paul and Richard Klein are great exponents of roots music... and gourmands! This podcast celebrates their music and culinary histories. Stand by for a couple of great recipes. CresFest performers in 2024.

Neil talks about the Flood Opera project with Professor Jane Davidson, Mark, a local who lived through the storm and took part, and Lisette, an opera student. The project is an amazing co-operation between Creswick people, the local Creswick Lions Club, CresFest, and students and staff from the post-graduate Masters in Opera course at Melbourne University.

Catherine and Mark are a couple who had been living in Creswick for more than 20 years when the floods and storms hit in January 2022. Here they talk about their experiences during and after the storm, its impact on them, and how they have managed to rebuild, literally and figuratively, since then.

Alisa and Brian are a young couple who had just moved to Creswick before the January 2022 storm and floods. Here they talk about their experiences during and after the storm.

Stella Savy is a professional musician and choir leader from Ballarat. But that doesn't tell much of the story. In this podcast, Judy Turner (Director of CresFest) talks with Stella about the journey to investigating her family roots in the Seychelles, and her views on the importance of community music. It's an inspiring conversation! https://cocosounds.com/ https://cresfest.com.au/

Simmy was one of the best known traditional singers ever recorded in Victoria, and he lived in Springmount, near Creswick, in the Victorian Goldfields. He passed away in 1968, but in the decade before that, 30 hours of recordings were made of him singing and talking about his life. With the permission of the Anderson family, this podcast from the National Library of Australia replays the first section of the recording made by Hugh Anderson in 1967, and gives insight into Simmy and his life. https://www.neiladamandjudyturner.com/the-simmy-show https://cresfest.com.au/

Paddy is in his late 70s, and has a repertoire of around 200 Irish songs, many learnt from his family as a young person growing up on the family farm in Co. Monaghan, Ireland. Paddy moved to Australia in the 1970s, and has only recently got back into singing. We recorded an album's worth of songs which you can hear on Spotify (by typing his name into the search function), and in this podcast, Paddy talks about one of the songs we recorded, The Stately Woods of Truagh. The discussion moves backwards and forwards between Ireland's history and Australia's, and Paddy reflects on the importance of Survival Day. https://www.neiladamandjudyturner.com/paddycaulfield https://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/city/my-community/aboriginal-ballarat/survival-day-dawn-ceremony#:~:text=While%20a%20day%20of%20mourning,Torres%20Strait%20Island%20people's%20history. https://cresfest.com.au/