Silent Recordings
Unpredictable Music for
Unreliable Times

Artists:

CODA
Prop
Telemetry Orchestra
Tracky Dax

Compilations:

Around The Block
Nocturnal Emissions
Silent Soundtracks
Sounds of Silent
This Show Is About People

Rouseabout Records
Keeping it Real

Artists:

Bondi Cigars
Cathie O'Sullivan
Colin Dryden
Creedence Clearwater Revisited
The Celebrated Knackers & Knockers Band
Donna Fisk and Michael Cristian
Eric Bogle
Fiddlers Feast
Gary Shearston
Gordon Lightfoot
Herb Superb
Johnny Wade
Jim Low
John Munro
Julie Wilson
Koori Classic
Kym Pitman
Marcus Holden
Mic Conway's National Junk Band
Ngarukuruwala
Nyalgodi Scotty Martin
Robyn Archer
Roger Knox
Russell Morris
The Newtown Rugby League Football Club Song
Warren Fahey & Luke Webb
Warren Fahey & Max Cullen (DEAD MEN TALKING)

Compilations:

Before the Boomerang Came Back
Down By The Billabong
The World Turned Upside-Down
Forte – Golden Fiddlers
Stand Up & Shout

Yesterday's Australia:

Barbara James
Bob Dyer
Bobby Limb
Buddy Williams
Dame Nellie Melba
Florence Austral
Frank Coughlan
John Brownlee
Johnny Ashcroft
Keith Branch & His South Sea Islanders

Percy Grainger
Reg Lindsay
Shirley Thoms
Smoky Dawson
Strella Wilson
Tex Morton
Tex Morton and Sister Dorrie
Warren Fahey's Diggers

Yesterday's Australia Compilations:

Australian Radio Serials
Australian Hillbilly Radio Hits
Australian Stars of the International Music Hall Voume 1
Australian Stars of the International Music Hall Voume 2
Band in a Waistcoat Pocket
Mastertouch Pianola
Strike up the Band
Stars of Australian Stage & Radio Vol 1
Stars of Australian Stage & Radio Vol 2

Yep! Records
Music Without Compromise

Artists:

Antenna
Jenny Morris
Michal Nicholas
The Lovetones
Saints of India
Screw the Pooch
sounditout
Southend
Spaceniks

Forte - Golden Fiddlers
An album of strung-out mayhem featuring Four Play, Marcy Taylor, CODA, Fiddlers Feast, Cin Cin, Mykl Lozin, Dirty Lucy and more.

Hey diddle diddle - these folks can sure play the fiddle!

The violin or fiddle has a lengthy relationship with Australian music. I'm not sure if the versatile stringed instrument journeyed on the First Fleet but I'd take a healthy wager that one of the officers or crew had had one at the ready, for fiddle music was intrinsically linked to seafaring music. There was definitely an early convict, John Ayres, who had a passion for music since this shoemaker was transported to Botany Bay in 1794 for stealing 'musical instruments to the value of fifty shillings'. Captain Bligh, later to be Governor of New South Wales, reputedly instructed the fiddler on the 'HMAS Bounty' to play for his daily callisthenic’s exercise program!

Whatever the case the violin appeared early enough to be mentioned in early broadsides, newspapers and memories. It fiddled in the convict quarters with jigs and reels to remind of better times and separated love; it heralded the gold rush era when thousands traveled the bush in search of the elusive metal, and were soothed at night by its melancholy airs; it was also there in the shearing stations and drover's camps. It was also in grander environments including Government receptions, military march-pasts and in polite squatter's homes where young ladies were encouraged to play sonatas and parlor songs. It also traveled into the twentieth century joining country crooners, orchestras, radio quartets, jazz dance bands and, later, even rock bands. The second half of that century saw the older styles revived as we re-discovered our traditional music, especially the music of our rich Anglo Celtic heritage.

Released in conjunction with the Golden Fiddle Awards, the first awards which focus on nurturing, supporting and rewarding the wealth of violin playing, performing and composing talent in Australian and New Zealand, each and every particpant on this unique and entertaining collection belongs to a select group with acknowledged credentials. There's the new generation fiddling as displayed by Migel MacLean, Peter O'Shea and the 'family' bands of The Bostocks and the Davidson Brothers. Jenny Thomas breathes new life into a fiddle-centric version of 'Waltzing Matilda' and Ian Cooper makes his 'Brazil' really swing. Original compositions are also featured, especially with the music of Sean O'Boyle, Marcela Taylor (nominated for this year's CMAA Golden Guitar Instrumental of the Year) anMykl Lozin. There are some wonderful ensemble tracks too where the fiddle jumps out and dances - Four Play, Cin Cin, CODA, Dirty Lucy and of course, Rouseabout's Fiddlers Feast.

Forte – Golden Fiddlers
'Various' (Album)
Catalogue Number RRR44

 

An album of strung-out mayhem featuring Four Play, Marcy Taylor, CODA, Fiddlers Feast, Cin Cin, Mykl Lozin, Dirty Lucy and more...

Track Listing:

  1. Hunter Valley Breakdown – The Davidon Brothers
  2. The Devil – Fiddlers Feast
  3. Pale Moon – Sean O’Boyle
  4. 1=2=2=5 Radiohead – Fourplay String Quartet
  5. Beautiful Child – Peter O’Shea
  6. Brazil – Ian Cooper
  7. Black And White – Marcela Taylor
  8. Interlude – Dirty Lucy
  9. Little Words – Dirty Lucy
  10. Olliebod’s Jig – Mykl Lozin
  11. Rocking Horse – CODA
  12. Waltzing Matilda – Jenny Thomas
  13. 44 Gallon Drum – Crooked Fiddle Band/Jessica Randall
  14. Common Koel Don Harper Project – Nigel MacLean
  15. Up Jumped Spring – CinCin
  16. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Bostocks – The Bostocks

     

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    Black And White by Marcela Taylor

Press
What the Media have to Say...

"FORTE is a marvelous compilation that displays Australia's fiddling talent at its best. A great mixture of styles and performances. Will get a lot of airplay".
Bob Cady, Highland FM 107.1

"An intricate and expressive work manipulated by music and machinery... sensuous and hard-edged... dangerous and daring"
(Sydney Morning Herald)
 
"Innovative and energetic, musical directors Mara and Llew Kiek have assembled a breathtaking array of talent. The unexpected combination of influences and mediums presented in this work create an irrepressible sense of fun, yet with a prickly undertone."
(Daily Telegraph)