National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 63 | June 2003


National Library Goes Folk

The NLA at This Year’s National Folk Festival

More than 45 000 people passed through the gates at this year’s National Folk Festival in Canberra. It was possibly a record crowd, and the National Library was out to make a strong impression, emphasising our involvement in this area of cultural research and presentation.

Dave de Hugard Margret RoadKnight

Above, left to right, Dave de Hugard, Margret RoadKnight and below, Bob McInnes

Bob McInnes

The folklore holdings in the Library’s Oral History and Folklore Collection, like all materials in the Library, are accessible for research and the pursuit of knowledge. There is, however, a facet to them that distinguishes them from the printed collections, and that is their ‘performance’-based nature. Sung, played or spoken into the Library’s tape recorders, they provide source material which performers can emulate or innovatively interpret, to link Australia’s past and present, and forge new notions of community. The Library’s involvement in that community is extended by its active participation in forums, workshops and concerts.

The Library’s Folklore Collection is the largest holding of Australian folklore field recordings, among them some from the earliest home-grown folk festivals, including the first ‘National’, held at Port Phillip in 1967. The Library began a more formal involvement in the National Folk Festival when it recorded the eighteenth National Festival in 1984. The collection, and the many subsequent years of recording, have more recently been put to fine use with the compilation of a 42-track, double-CD,
The National: 35 Years of the Australian National Folk Festival
—released at this year’s Festival. The Library’s partners in this production were ScreenSound Australia (the National Screen and Sound Archive) and the National Folk Festival, with support from local Canberra public broadcaster ArtSound FM.

The Fagan Family
The Fagan Family

The Library shared a tent with ScreenSound in the Budawang auditorium, the largest of the venues at this year's Festival, and many hundreds of visitors came through to talk to staff in their ‘Come and Hear the Real Thing’ T-shirts—inquiring about the archive collections, their use and accessibility.

Jan Fullerton, Director-General of the National Library, formally launched the Festival, highlighting the Library’s, and her own, involvement in Australia’s informal cultures. She also announced the National Folklore Fellowship, which provides an opportunity for a performer to research original source materials in the Library’s Folklore Collection. The Fellowship provides for a two-week residency at the Library, leading to a guaranteed performance at the next National Folk Festival following the residency. For more details about the Fellowship, see: <www.nla.gov.au/library/awards/folkfestival.html>.

Jacqui Bradley, Kevin Bradley, Christina Mimmocchi, Gareth Hill, and drummer Marcus [not visible]
Jacqui Bradley, Kevin Bradley, Christina Mimmocchi, Gareth Hill, and drummer Marcus [not visible]

At the Festival, the Library participated in, and provided support to, many of the events. In addition to the launch of The National CD, these included the ‘Verandah Music Concert’ (which will produce an important and exciting book and CD over the next year), the ‘Old Time Boxing and Tent Show Concert’ (which celebrated the diversity of rural entertainment), and the Library’s own workshop on ‘Using Archival Sources’—which turned into a fascinating and lively debate.

The Library was additionally visible at many of the major concerts and headline acts, where performers and organisers acknowledged its central role in documenting Australia’s folk heritage. One instance was during the ‘Stairways to Heaven’ finals at the Palladium, which was so packed that the marshals gave up trying to keep a clear runway, and the performers had to duck under the sides of the tent to get to the stage. When one band was tuning up to launch into a central European version of Led Zeppelin’s most famous song using hurdy-gurdy, bouzouki-like instruments, Jembai drum and clarinet, the MC filled in with some patter, asking the audience to name the major Festival sponsors. The entire back row of the stands yelled in unison: ‘Guinness!’, and the audience obligingly laughed. ‘Name another,’ responded the MC, and a small voice in the front row cried: ‘National Library of Australia’. ‘Yes,’ said the MC: ‘the National Library—very good!’, and the audience applauded appreciatively.

NLA Curator of Music, Robyn Holmes with The National CD in her hand NLA Director-General, Jan Fullerton, launched this year's Festival Dr Keith McHenry, NLA Harold White Fellow for 2003
NLA Curator of Music, Robyn Holmes with The National CD in her hand NLA Director-General, Jan Fullerton, launched this year's Festival Dr Keith McHenry, NLA Harold White Fellow for 2003

Clearly many more people, and not not only those who attended the National Library concerts at the Festival, now seem to better understand and value the Library’s commitment to folklore as part of its broader role in preserving and providing access to Australia’s cultural heritage.
—Kevin Bradley

| Contents list for this issue of Gateways |


Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: gateways@nla.gov.au