WARREN FAHEY – AUSTRALIA: FOLK SONGS AND BUSH VERSE, VOLUME ONE

Warren Fahey’s invaluable cultural archiving continues with part one of this two volume, ten CD set put out with ABC Music. Volume One is the colonial material: tales of bush-rangers, convicts, swag-men, drovers and drovers’ wives. As box sets go, it’s a fine frame-up: each CD comes with a booklet with an essay on the theme (i.e. “Songs of Colonial Romance”), period illustrations and notes on the source and performance of each song or poem – and the performances are good, Fahey delivering the songs with such spirit you’d think he was colonial. The musicianship strikes a pretty good balance between an “authentic” sound (fiddle, squeezebox, jew’s harp, cittern) and a more playful take, with sound effects, atmosphere and other little bits of production, but after a while, the melodies and parts begin to sound a little samey. It’s hard to get personally invested in this kind of music qua music, but these songs are stories, “yarns” even. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I’ve enjoyed this volume best not when I’ve listened to it alone, but when I’ve listened with a group of friends, a kind of recreation of the social environment this music is meant for. This first installment of Folk Songs and Bush Verse might not be every-one’s cup of tea, but it’s a well-executed bit of archival reproduction nonetheless.