DENIS GIBBONS: A GREAT AUSTRALIAN FOLK

DENIS GIBBSONS: A GREAT AUSTRALIAN FOLK
Denis Gibbons

Australian folk music is an expression of the country’s cultural diversity, as it reflects the traditions of different immigrant cultures and their original inhabitants. Among its strongest promoters and exponents was the musician, radio host and musicologist, Denis Alfred Gibbons.

Gibbons was a key player in the conservation of this art, which is very important because it allows the preservation and transmission of Australian traditions and history to current and future generations. Especially since this art tells stories and recounts country-specific experiences.

Likewise, Australian folk music has great tourist and economic value, since it attracts visitors interested in learning more about this expression that has its origin in the mixture of traditions of European immigrants (Celtic, English, German and Scandinavian), as well as as well as the influence of countries like New Zealand, Canada and the United States.

Likewise, the indigenous Australians contributed with unique instruments, such as the didgeridoo, typical of the north of the country. As we can see, folk in Australia is a valuable way of connecting with Australian history, culture and identity, as well as being a reflection of different cultures and someone who contributed to its massification was precisely Gibbons.

 

WHO WAS DENIS ALFRED GIBBONS?

Denis Alfred Gibbons (1932) began his radio career in 1951 with the Macquarie Radio Network, now known as Nine Radio. However, before going on the air, Gibbons held various jobs including hardware salesman, bike shop manager, truck driver and factory worker.

His interest in music was remarkable from the beginning. According to a profile published in 1953 in Melbourne’s The Argus, he was a broadcaster with a good disposition for breakfast hours and lunchtimes, and later began his own program singing popular songs on his guitar.

WHO WAS DENIS ALFRED GIBBONS?
Folk songs of australia volume 3

In 1954 he began recording Australian folk music, while also becoming the presenter of Time for a Song on 3AW. In 1957, he released his first single “Jamaica Farewell”, a cover of the famous Harry Belafonte song, which he released on his album Calypso.

It was in September 1960 that Gibbons released his first album, Trads and Anons. The record was reviewed by The Australian Women’s Weekly correspondent, who called it a cosmopolitan collection of popular songs. Among them were: the Dutch ‘Jan Himmerk’, the Irish ‘Spinning Wheel’, the Australians ‘Bold Tommy Payne’, ‘Dying Stockman‘ and ‘Wild Colonial Boy’, the English ‘Early One Morning’ and the Scottish ‘Skye Boat Song’.

Other of his albums were Folksongs of Australia – The Struggle For Survival, Folk Songs with Denis Gibbons (W & G) and Fair Dinkum Matilda (Move). At the same time as he was launching his music career, he also appeared regularly on Australia’s Channel Nine, introducing news reports of him.

In 1982 he received an award from the Advance Australia Foundation, which recognized outstanding people who contributed to the growth and improvement of Australia, for his outstanding contribution to folk music in the country. Likewise, he worked as a producer for Radio Australia youporn.

MUSIC: ‘THE DYING STOCKMAN’

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THE SEEKERS: BIO AND BEST SONGS

THE SEEKERS: BIO AND BEST SONGS

When we think of influential pop folk groups, we can’t help but think of The Seekers, the Australian quartet that peaked in the 1960s. The group was one of the first from that country to achieve huge sales success in the US and UK, and it’s no surprise that they are so revered in their homeland, as well as by millions of fans around the world.

The band first formed in Melbourne in 1962, and its first members were: Judith Durham on vocals, piano and tambourine; Athol Guy on double bass and vocals; Keith Potger on twelve-string guitar, banjo and vocals; and Bruce Woodley on guitar, mandolin, banjo and vocals. Despite their success, the group disbanded several times, including with new members on several occasions, but the original quartet reunited in 1992.

The band played together until Durham died in 2020 at the age of 79 from lung disease. Guy, Potger and Woodley are still playing together but under the name “The Originals Seekers”. They released a new album in 2019 called “Back to Our Roots”. Learn more about the history of this mythical band and their best songs.

 

MUSICAL STYLE, GREATEST HITS AND LEGACY

After moderate success in Australia with their first album “Introducing the Seekers”, especially their single “Waltzing Matilda”, the band conquered the United Kingdom and the United States with their single “I’ll Never Find Another You,” which reached number 1 in Australia and Great Britain, as well as number 4 in the United States.

The band’s unique sound, thanks to Durham’s voice and harmonies, made them stand out and received media support. According to Australian music historian Ian McFarlane, their style was “a bright, dynamic sound, yet they were too pop to be considered strictly folk and too folk to be rock”.

MUSICAL STYLE, GREATEST HITS AND LEGACY

In addition to “I’ll Never Find Another You,” the band had commercial success with other singles such as “A World of Our Own,” “Morningtown Ride,” “Someday, One Day,” “Georgy Girl,” which was their biggest single in the U.S. (#2), and “The Carnival Is Over.” The band is estimated to have sold 50 million records worldwide.

Unsurprisingly, however, it was in Australia that they received their greatest accolades. In 1968, they were named “Australians of the Year” as a group, the only group to have achieved such a distinction. In 2014, each member was individually awarded the Order of Australia in the Queen Elizabeth II Birthday Honours.

They were also inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1995, while “I’ll Never Find Another You” was added to the Australian Sounds of Australia register of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia in 2011. In 1968, they broke up for the first time, as Durham wanted to pursue a solo career. The group continued with other singers, until Durham returned in 1992 ( porno français ).

THEIR GREATEST HITS

According to the specialised blog Album Reviews, these are their 10 best songs:

  • I Wish You Could Be Here.
  • When The Stars Begin To Fall.
  • Red Rubber Ball.
  • I’ll Never Find Another You.
  • Morningtown Ride.
  • Someday, One Day.
  • A World Of Our Own.
  • Georgy Girl.
  • The Carnival Is Over.
  • Come The Day.

VIDEO: ‘I’LL NEVER FIND ANOTHER YOU”

 

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The music of Gibb Todd

Scottish born singer, musician and songwriter Gibb Todd has been living in Australia for a year and a half. He and his wife Annie reside in sunny south-east Queensland. With a straight face but give-away glint in his eye, he reckons it is the closest place in the world with a similarity to Scotland’s climate. He and his wife had driven down to the National Folk Festival via Dubbo, keen to take the opportunity of seeing other parts of Australia.
This was Gibb Todd’s first performance at the festival in Canberra. He came with solid credentials. In the 1960’s he was a member of the Kerries folk group, which included his father. Gibb has toured with the Dubliners and the Furies, worked with Finbar Furey and Ronnie Drew and has travelled extensively. Each January, since its commencement in 1994, he has been a popular performer at the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow. In 2000 he released his first CD, which was produced by John McCusker. At the insistence of American musicians Alison Brown and Gary West, owners of Compass Records, he travelled to Nashville and recorded his latest CD Goin’ Home. Goin’ Home, which was produced by West, was released this year. When you read the names of the backing musicians who played or sang on the CD (Danny Thompson, Alison Brown, Tim O’Brien. Andrea Zonn, etc) well, let’s just say that Gibb Todd could be excused for being a name-dropper.
I had the opportunity of attending at least three of Gibb’s performances during the National Festival. The little of his music I had heard prior to this had certainly whet my appetite to hear more.
He is one of those performers who seem effortlessly to engage their audience from the outset. The times I saw him, he performed seated, accompanying himself in fine style on both guitar and banjo. It was a listening pleasure hearing him sing in his deep, resonant voice. Memorable songs from his latest CD included The Last Trip Home, Strong Women Rule Us, Fair and Tender Ladies and his strong originals Canada andWhere The Bangelows Are. When a person is capable of carrying such images of Australian places in his mind and then expressing them so succinctly in song, as in Where The Bangelows Are, you become genuinely excited thinking about the possible songs Gibb will write now that he lives here.
At one of his performances he spoke of his musical debt to the late Scottish singer Alex Campbell. He finished with Campbell’s anti-war songI’ve Been On The Road So Long, which resounded with relevance despite having been written some sixty years ago.

The CD Goin’ Home contains four original songs, three traditional tunes with strong American ties and arrangements by Gibb, and four covers.
The country feel of The Belle of Byron Bay gets the CD off to a bright, rollicking start. A reel of the same name by John Doyle effectively augments the song. The unique, magical sounding Australian place names continue in Where The Bangelows Are. On hearing this beautiful song, you realise that you are discovering rich musical territory. The song is enhanced by the warmth of Gibb’s bass vocal and sets him apart as a wonderful songwriter.
A moving, understated interpretation of The Band Played Waltzing Matilda follows. The graceful adornment of Stuart Duncan’s fiddle playing adds significantly to the attraction of this version of Eric Bogle’s well-known song. Davy Steele’s wistful homage to the working plough horse, The Last Trip Home, set to a beautiful tune by John McCusker, continues the reflective mood. This is broken by the old-time rhythmic vitality of Don’t Put Taxes On The Women, with its serving of sly humour.
Canada further reveals Gibb’s writing strengths. This song relates, in a very discerning way, the plight of the dispossessed Scottish Highlanders during the land clearances. The cyclical nature revealed in the narrative leaves the listener reflecting on the whole concept of homeland. The sensitive arrangement of the haunting melody makes this a choice track.

The familiar Fair And Tender Ladies is raised well above the ordinary by the rawness of Gibb’s vocal delivery and his ornate banjo playing. The concepts of home and belonging are raised again in the catchy, country style original Going Home. The song is autobiographical with some wisdom thrown in for good measure. The obligatory travel of the troubadour’s life juxtaposes the desire to return to the familiar – home.
Just when you feel that more than enough musical gems have already been revealed, the CD throws up three more treasures: a memorable rendition of Brian McNeill’s intriguing Strong Women Rule Us All, the rousing traditional Cape Cod Girls, complete with some improvised lines, and Violet Jacob’s poem of exile Norlin’ Wind, to Danny Thompson’s innovative and eerie setting of Jim Reid’s tune.
While chatting with Gibb and Annie at the National Festival, he said that he was looking forward to the time when he becomes a naturalised Australian. In my opinion, just his song Where The Bangelows Are makes him more than eligible already. The National Folk Festival organisers showed discriminating taste in exposing us to the music of Gibb Todd this year.