The Festival Of Folk Rhythm & Life 1996 a Piece of Stuff by neilfahey (Neil Fahey) A story about the best weekend to ever hit North East Victoria On the seventh of December 1996, the hippies and musos came out in force for the first festival of Folk Rhythm & Life at Eldorado in Victoria. This was to be one hell of a weekend. We arrived at the site in eager anticipation at about 2 pm on the first day to find out the only band we had missed was Obesidy who opened the festival. As we set up our tent we were drawn to the stage by an amazing voice of Tali White from The Lucksmiths. We sat on the grass in front of the main stage, taking in the tunes and the sweet smells, and watched the hippies go by. The Lucksmiths mystified us throughout their set, playing mostly songs off What Bird Is That?, which had just come out, as well as a few from The Green Bicycle Case and Boondoggle. Despite screams of "Andrews Pleasure" from the crowd, they didnít play any songs from The First Tape. They were definitely my favorites from day one of the festival. The music on day one continued right through until about 3 oíclock the next morning, on both the main stage and in the Guinness tent. Other performers included Archie Roach, Blackthorn Stick, Chiaroscuro, Lavida, and Clumpy Bogg. When there weren't musical performers in the Guinness tent there were plays being performed and poems being read. There was even a spit roast, salad and vegetarian meals that night for those who had bought the early tickets or for anyone who wanted to pay $10. The music started at about midday the following day. The second dayís performers included Matt OíDonnell & Band, Andy Rigby, Lisaís Friends, Fabio Chivastec, Ruby Fruit Jungle and Chris Wilson & Shane OíMara. My favorites for day two were Fabio, Ruby Fruit Jungle and Chris Wilson & Shane OíMara.Fabio Chivastec and Ruby Fruit Jungle were one after the other in the middle of the second dayís lineup and they blended together brilliantly, as both of them put out a kind of African beatsy sound. Fabio is African and as well as amazing us with the sounds of his people, he told stories and explained the songs he was playing. He also showed us some excellent native dance as he sang. The instruments he performed on were all native instruments as well, and he would have been worth listening to just for the interest they drew. He had two different sets of shakers, which he gave to a couple of people from the audience to play on stage with him. He originally told Ben Hedderman and myself we could play with him but we missed out and, in the end, one of the people that were up there was Ben Fraiser. Ruby Fruit Jungle were also amazing to watch, even though they're no Africans (theyíre five girls and a guy from Melbourne). They danced around as they performed their beatsy sounds and drew an amazing number of dancing hippies to the front of the stage. As I said, Fabio and Ruby Fruit were an excellent pair. Later on in the day Chris Wilson, a blues performer from Melbourne sang and played harp with guitarist Shane OíMarra of the band Rebeccaís Empire. He was a brilliant musician and he definitely outdid the other blues artists from the festival. The second day's entertainment ended at about 6 oíclock that night, and people were welcome to stay at the site for another night rather than drive home (few were sober). This festival was a brilliant way to spend a weekend, everything was perfect and everyone was friendly. A CD has been released with the highlights of the weekendís music and is available at Disclocation, Wangaratta. All proceeds from the festival and the CD sales go to Mittagundi Outdoor Education Center. The festival will, most likely, be held again around the same time this year, so come along. Created on Sun, 14 Sep 1997 and last modified on Mon, 20 Oct 1997.

LOUDonline - http://www.loud.net.au - Fri, 10 Apr 1998