Bush band

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A bush band is a group of musicians that play traditional Australian folk music or contemporary folk music played in a traditional style. Instruments featured in bush bands may include fiddle, concertina, accordion, banjo, guitar, mandolin, piano, tin whistle, bones, spoons, musical saw, harmonica, the barcoo dog (a sheep herding tool used as a sistrum), lagerphone, and bush bass (tea chest bass). An interesting article on the history of the lagerphone is found on the Wongawilli website).

Bush bands play music for bush dance, in which the dance program is usually based on dances known to have been danced in Australia from colonial times to the folk revival in the 1950s. Contemporary dances, composed in the traditional style, are also featured at bush dances.

Some popular traditional bush dances are Stockyards, Haymaker's Jig, Galopede, Brown Jug Polka, Virginia Reel and Barn Dance. Popular contemporary bush dances include Blackwattle Reel, Jubilee Jig, CHOGM Pentrille, Knocking Down His Cheque and Midnight Schottische.

Bush bands also play "bush ballads," many of which date to the 19th century. Among the most notable bush lyricists was the poet Banjo Paterson.

The Bush Music Club, based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, hold regular bush dances and Colonial Balls where bush bands perform.

Bush bands, as currently formulated, experienced a revival in the 1953 with the musical play Reedy River, which was first produced by the New Theatre in the Sydney suburb of Newtown. Written by Dick Diamond, the musical featured twelve or so Australian songs, which included Doreen Jacobs' setting of Helen Palmer's "Ballad of 1891," as well as the title song, Chris Kempster's setting of Lawson's "Reedy River." The backing band for this popular stage production was "The Bushwhackers." As the musical was performed in Brisbane and other Australian cities, local "bush bands" modeled on the Sydney group, such as Brisbane's "The Moreton Bay Bushwhackers" sprang up in each place; many of these remained together following the closing of the musical, and spawned other, similar groups.

Perhaps the best known bush band internationally, albeit in their later years with the influence of English folk rock bands like Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span, was the Bushwackers (spelt without the “h” as in the earlier 50’s Bushwhackers Band). The “Wackers” toured around the world and with their larrikin, outgoing style, song books, dance instruction books and records, helped to promote the spread of bush music and dancing in Australia. The period leading up to and following the Australia’ Bicentenary, 1988, saw a marked resurgence in bush music and bush dances that lasted for many years. Long lasting bands like Eureka! and Skewiff also bearing the rock influence and adding original music rode this Australiana wave.

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