Artists

The artist bill for the 2009 Nanga Music Festival is finalised:

• Fiddle Chicks (SA)
• Tonchi McIntosh (Vic)
• Bernard Carney (WA)
• Blue Celts (WA)
• Freya Hanly (WA)
• Loaded Dog (WA)
• Matt Gresham (WA)
• Peter Bugden (WA)
• Resonators (WA)
• Rose Parker (WA)
• The Lonely Brothers (WA)
• The Spooky Men of the West (WA)
• Peter Capp (Wongan Hills)

There are also six slots for emerging artists and plenty of other performance options.

Artists

Fiddle Chicks (SA)

An experiment to create a band with just 3 fiddles and voice (shedding the guitars & the guys) has created three inspired and entertaining APRA award winning Fiddle Chicks!

They’ve played Traditional Folk, Blues/Roots and Originals, singing harmonies and inventing new and interesting soundscapes from their voices, digital effects, fiddle percussion, pizzicato, strumming and their own mini stomp. More information.

Tonchi McIntosh (Vic)

“Tonchi McIntosh grew up in Bourke and has Mexican blood running through his veins on his Mother’s side. He sings, his voice full of warmth and emotion, of Australia with a clear-sighted passion for the land and its traditional owners, moving from acoustic folk/rock to electric and touches of reggae and country. This mixture of musical forms enfolds his lyricism, and one of his strengths is the meshing of imagery, be it allegorical or as raw and rich as the red earth of the outback”. Warwick McFadyen “…the most important Australian songwriter to emerge in the last ten years.” Shane Howard “Holding the songwriting torch for the next generation…” Neil Murray More information.

Bernard Carney (WA)

Bernard’s songs tell of Australia, its people, and its history, interwoven with story and humour. He has nine successful recordings, and a swag of song writing awards to his credit. He was named Artist of the Year at the prestigious Port Fairy Festival in 2003. He is a lousy dancer. More information.

Blue Celts (WA)

Blue Celts bring a fresh approach to the Celtic & blues genres with their swinging jigs and reels, jazzy country blues and soulful trad ballads featuring local blues & Celtic muso’s – Dave Clarke, Stuart Paterson, Dave Brewer and Jon Cope. More information.

Freya Hanly (WA)

Traversing a sea of folky-jazz melodies, humorous love songs and deeply poetic pieces performed with an innovative guitar style and impeccably pure vocals, Freya Hanly takes her listeners anywhere from the living room to the dance floor to the breathtakingly sublime. More information.

Loaded Dog (WA)

Loaded Dog is a WA based group of musicians playing contemporary and traditional Australian folk music, with a particular interest in WA music. The music reflects some of the aspects of living and working in the cities and towns and the vast inland areas of Australia. More information.

Matt Gresham (WA)

There aren’t that many award winning 20 year olds out there who’ve been gigging for over 6 years, have two albums out, a third in the pipeline, play up to five gigs a week and have a massive following but that’s the case for Matt Gresham, Perth’s favourite upcoming blues, roots and reggae artist. Pulling from influences which stretch back over the past half century Matt has now developed a truly individual original sound with a positive message. He has a joyful, infectious and exuberant style which floats his audiences from soul to the packed dance floor. More information.

Peter Bugden (WA)

Although Peter has been involved in the folk music scene since his teenage years in England in the early 60’s, when, armed with a very loud voice and a 3 song repertoire he descended on his local folk club, he credits his wife and a “Midlife Crisis” for getting him back to the folk clubs and festivals in Australia.

Peter’s performances are a rich blend of songs and anecdotes incorporating humour, pathos, hilarious introductions and good time entertainment. He is a favourite of the Western Australian folk scene and has performed at numerous festivals around the country. He was a founding member of the “Fo’c’sle Firkins”, a shanty team formed for the National Folk Festival in Perth.

Resonators (WA)

The Resonators are as close to a true representation of early string band and delta blues as two Caucasian, Australian men can possibly get. They play music from Robert Johnson through to the Mississippi Sheiks offering an honest and raw live performance and a dash of history about the music they love so. More information.

Rose Parker (WA)

Rose Parker is an acclaimed singer songwriter guitarist who draws from folk, gospel, blues and alt country to craft clear eyed songs of hope and resignation…humour and grief…gratitude and resilience, celebrating this crazy wonderful rollercoaster called life. She is currently recording her first solo album after ten years of recording and touring with powerhouse folk duo. The Velvet Janes. Due for release in October 2009, Rose is collaborating with Roy Martinez to produce a collection of penetrating songs ranging from bare bones folk songs to lush and layered tunes featuring pedal steel guitar and Hammond organ. Come and see why this artist is quietly growing a legion of fans.

The Lonely Brothers

The Lonely Brothers augment their folk-orientated songwriting with bits and bobs of jazz phrasing, pop sensibility and orchestral strings, always letting their silky harmonies define their sound. After forming in highschool, they’ve added members, played some festivals, supported some Aussie luminaries and released two records.

The Spooky Men of the West (WA)

The Spooky Men of the West are the western chapter of the Spooky Men’s Movement and are what one newspaper report described as a ‘group of weirdo’s who sing’. The Spooky Men of the West, a fifteen strong male a cappella group created from the twisted imagination of spookmeister Stephen Taberner and directed by local sub-meisters Digby Hill and Bill Brennan-Jones, have been refining their pointless grandeur and manhommerrie over the past four years, delivering a variety of songs ranging from Georgian table singing to more contemporary, original songs such as ‘Magnificent’ and ‘Don’t stand between a man and his tool’. Their performances around WA and at the recent Fairbridge Festival have entertained many and bewildered some. Many have noted their resonant sounds including press comments such as “The Spooky Men of the West can sound gentle and sad, even sweet, but also sexy, powerful and unmistakably male”. More information.

Peter Capp (WA)

Peter Capp is a veteran of many festivals including the Gympie Muster several times, Tamworth, The National in Canberra, Fairbridge, Nannup and the Casino Beef Festival. Peter has been at every festival except the Dandaragan Kite Festival. He is Australian Yarn-spinning champion, Gympie Muster Great Debate winner, and National Great Debate winner. Peter has published three books and has recently been invited to the “Oracles of the Bush”‘ spoken word Festival in Tenterfield in NSW. Peter has been hosting the very successful Hilton Park Bowling club session for the last two years. Humour is never far away.

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4-20 Giglet Performers

Some of WA’s finest emerging artists have been invited to perform 20-minute “giglets” featuring no more than four songs. “4-20″ artists will receive a free Festival ticket, but no payment. Our 4-20 artists in 2009 are (in alphabetical order):

Chris Edmondson

The rural south west is unashamedly the source of Chris’ foot-tapping, rambling storyteller style. While working wineries, wheat-bars, festivals, folk clubs & shearing sheds he has found time to release “..Five Stories…Ten People…” (2001), “The Hut Chapter” (2003) & “Somewhere South of Somewhere -Live” (2004). A re-release of “..Five Stories…” is just in time for Nanga 2009 as well as more songs in the studio as we speak. Keep your eye out for Chris. He’s usually around and all over.

Eddie Cole

Eddie Cole is a roots gospel performer from Victoria with a beautiful voice and awesome guitar chops. His 2008 album, ‘It’s the apocalypse, baby’ has had airplay on Triple J, the ABC locally and nationally with songs such as ‘Rusty shack’ and ‘Easy does it’ as well as community radio. One track, “Maria” was number two on The Sounds like Café 2008/09 summer album – distributed to over 1200 cafes around Australia.

Kate Rowe

Charming, quirky and thought-provoking, Kate Rowe is an award-winning songwriter from Melbourne. A former French scholar and ex-party fairy, Kate was described as “fresh and delightful” by Capital News magazine. She writes imaginative songs that are rich with stories: talking kelpies, the Parisian catacombs, love songs to coffee and more.

Kris Arnott

Kris Arnott combines a strong rhythmic keyboard approach with a distinctive, expressive vocal sound and honest, soulful lyrics, to create an original and alternative style with drive and sincerity. Having performed in the folk circuit over the last few years with ‘Iris’ and the ‘Paul Gioia Trio’, she has developed a reputation as a passionate and captivating performer. With a voice that has often been described as “angelic”, Kris brings an aspect of honesty to her storytelling that deeply stirs the emotions of her audiences.

Marie O’Dwyer

Marie O’Dwyer performs original songs using her voice, acoustic guitar and piano to deliver sets described as ‘mesmerising’, ‘angelic’, and ‘entertaining’. With a style set between the lines of country, folk, rock and world music her extensive musical background allows her to effortlessly shift between genres to create a very distinct style.

Raven

Raven is a well-travelled female band, Tessa Joy, Lara Norman and Narelle Hurley. They bring their collection of beautifully arranged world folk tunes for your Sunday morning pleasure.

Workshops

A range of workshops will be provided:

• Fiddle chicks – fiddle workshop
• Blue Celts – playing celtic and blues music
• Resonators – blues guitar
• Spooky Men – singing like a bloke
• Bernard Carney – canons and rounds
• Songgroup – songwriting
• Denise Cunningham – Flamenco dancing
• Amiya Hands of Hope- percussion workshop

Finally, staff from the state herbarium and ALCOA ecologists will lead multiple bushwalks through the stunning Nanga forest.

Other Performance Options

Semi-formal performance options

There are three ways you can be involved in semi-formal performance options during the Festival, as well as the late-night campfire jams.

Blind date concert

The blind date concert will be held on Sunday afternoon. Patrons and artists can volunteer for the blind date concert by putting their name on the blackboard before 12.45pm Saturday (before lunch). Do not put someone else’s name down, please. Performers will be allocated into small groups (3 or more, depending on numbers), to come up with a 10 minute performance piece for the blind date concert. We encourage you to do something creative, not just sing a song which one of you wrote. Humour is a hallmark of the blind date concert.

Blackboard concert

There will be a blackboard concert on Saturday afternoon – three songs or 15 minutes. This is intended for general festival patrons wanting to ‘put their toes in the water’ of performance. If you are a ’seasoned’ performer, please give these people an opportunity.  You can put your name on the blackboard in Timbarra from Saturday morning.

Soap-boxes

Acoustic/jamming performance options are available throughout lunch and dinner at our ’soap boxes’ around the Woodshed building.  These are outside around the campfire circle and upstairs on the balcony, and they are completely ‘unplugged’ and very informal.  Stake out a slot (but please also give others an opportunity).  People can listen to you during and after their meal, if they choose to sit outside.

There will be plenty of other ways that festival patrons can be involved in performances during the festival.

• Jamming around the campfires:
  • Cover songs (11pm-1am) Currawong
  • Originals (11pm-late) Timbarra
• Chorus singing during the acts