Category: Culture
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Andy Irvine – On Songwriting, The Road & Woodie Guthrie
In this interview, Andy Irvine chats with Ruth Hazleton about Australia, songwriting, traditional song and his lifetime passion for the songs of Woody Guthrie. It features three songs: ‘Gunshot Creek’, ‘Banks of Bann’ & ‘Polly on the Shore’. From his website: “ANDY IRVINE is one of the great Irish singers, his voice one of a…
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Zulya Kamalova – Tatar Songs From Childhood
Stuck in lockdown in Melbourne, I’ve been listening to a lot more music at home – particularly in the evenings while I potter about, preparing food in the kitchen. After interviewing Zulya last week, I decided to revisit her earliest album, Aloukie. Not having heard it for many years I was absolutely delighted to listen…
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Áine Tyrrell – Identity, Songwriting & Reading the Comments
Since arriving in Australia from Ireland in 2010, Áine Tyrrell has become a popular presence at Australian festivals and venues. She is proudly bold, outspoken and her songs have been described as “anthems for humanity”. In February 2019, Áine released Return to the Sea; her third studio release. Throughout the album, there is a clear narrative that explores…
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Documenting Play: From the Front Line
This article was published in Play and Folklore no. 66, December 2016, by Museum Victoria. In 2007 and 2008 I had the privilege of working for the Childhood, Tradition and Change project as a fieldworker. The project was funded by the Australian Research Council Linkage Project Scheme and received additional support from the National Library of Australia,…
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Halloween in Australia? It’s been here much longer than you might think…
Earlier this month, farmer Rusty Dredge was preparing to harvest around 150,000 jack-o’-lantern pumpkins on his farm near Broome, WA. Most of these pumpkins will have now made their way to homes in Western and South Australia where they’ve been stabbed, hacked at, and lovingly transformed into ghoulish lanterns for Halloween. A steadily growing celebration in Australia, many…
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The Writing on the Wall. Latrinalia: Graffiti from the Restroom.
Latrinalia. The poetry of the bathroom (a.k.a the lavatory, the loo, dunny, closet, privy, urinal, latrine, washroom, little boy’s or little girl’ room, powder room, bogger, john, crapper, pissoir or water closet).
A Hidden Culture 