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Two very different folk concerts
By GRAHAM McDONDALD
THIS weekend sees two con-
certs in Canberra by two very
different, but highly talented,
performers.
Tomorrow night the Merry
Muse Folk Club is featuring fid-
dler Dave Swarbrick, and on Sun-
day Dya Singh play at the Tug-
geranong College Theatre.
Dave Swarbrick has been a ma-
jor figure in the English folk
movement for more than 30 years.
His professional music life start-
ed in the early '60s with the Ian
Campbell Folk Group. In 1966 he
teamed up with Martin Carthy.
This duo changed the way that
folk songs were performed and, 35
years on, the recordings they
made still have astonishing power
and drive.
In 1969 he joined a young band
called Fairport Convention, which
was beginning to fuse English folk
music with electric instruments.
After 15 years with Fairport
Convention Swarbrick went back
to more acoustic music with the
band Whippersnapper. For the
past six or so years he has been
performing solo and has again
started playing with Martin Car-
thy
As a fiddler Swarbrick takes el-
ements of English, Irish and Scot-
tish music, and has doubtless ab-
sorbed lots of other styles over
the years.
This will be his first solo tour
since settling in Australia a year
or so back, and his show should
be a ripper.
The support act tomorrow night
will be Canberra multi-instrumen-
talist Dave O'Neill, who is no
slouch around a fingerboard him-
self. Some fireworks will eventu-
ate if the two have a chance to
get together. At the Lithuanian
Club at 8pm.
A very different kind of music
will be performed by Dya Singh
on Sunday night.
This is a group which is on the
brink of major overseas success,
with a musical style which com-
bines devotional Sikh music with
western jazz.
There is a lot of music out
there being marketed as "world
music", but little of it combines
the various elements as well as
Dya Singh.
The group is built around Dya
Singh and his family. Dya sings
and plays harmonium, his
brother-in-law Charan plays ta-
blas, and Dya's wife and daugh-
ters are a choir accompanying the
songs, with a variety of other mu-
sicians.
For this tour they are joined by
Keith Preston on bouzouki, Alis-
tair Black didgeridoos, Dang Tao
Vietnamese zither, and Canberra's
own Cicilia Kemezys on flutes.
Cicilia is a member of Straight
Ahead, along with Dave O'Neill,
and has a reputation as one of the
most adventurous and skilled jazz
flautists around town.
Dya Singh gives her the oppor-
tunity to improvise around music
that has a definite, but different,
structure, and that is full of great
joy.
It is music of emotional depth,
centred around the Sikh hymns
sung by Dya, but with contribu-
tions from all the musicians.
Indian music is often hard to
comprehend by western audi-
ences, but this music is readily
accessible, and a delight to listen
to.
The concert is at 7pm on Sun-
day night at the Tuggeranong Col-
lege Theatre. Bookings can be
made on 293 1860.
$