By Mikayla van Loon
The tradition of folk and Celtic storytelling takes a unique twist when local band Bush Gothic perform.
Bringing their show to the Yarra Ranges, with a performance in the Montrose Town Centre on 20 August, the three piece band, led by Jenny Thomas on vocals, explores the inner voice of their audience.
“The music gets our inner thoughts, it’s the soundtrack to our inner thoughts. We weave storytelling into the concerts because everybody loves a good story and there’s some really terrific ones,” Jenny said.
While storytelling became the essence of Bush Gothic, Jenny said originally it was also about providing a female voice in the folk music space.
“The inspiration was actually a feminist reaction to me seeing a lot of folk music played at folk festivals and I didn’t feel and I couldn’t really see myself in the music at all,” she said.
“I was inspired by all of these songs, which are incredibly fantastic stories, so I wanted to find a way to bring out these stories and music is such a wonderful abstract art form that it can voice a lot of the feelings that we’re having as listeners.”
Drawing on the cross-cultural experiences of the Anglo Celtic and First Nations people of Australia, Jenny said its a tale of the “oppressed becoming the oppressor”.
“I’ve just come back from three months in Ireland and Wales. I was living amongst people who were among the first to be colonised by the British government and Australia was one of the last countries to be colonised,” she said.
In the band’s artistic statement, they reflect on the dominance of power shown by the Celts over First Nations people during the time colonisation but how the traditions of signing, dancing and ceremonies of the Celts were also lost at the hands of the British.
“To be Irish in the colonies was to belong to the lowest class. Discriminated against for being
considered a stupid and uncultured race, they would then in turn go on to commit some of the
most atrocious crimes against the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders,” it reads.
“We want to want to drag it out into the light, to remind those of Anglo Celtic heritage of the
culture we lost, the indigenous culture we tried to destroy and the culture we are now
privileged to inhabit.”
Jenny said there’s “a really common thread” between the Celts and First Nations people in “how people cope through any adversity” by using “humour or beauty” or song and dance.
Wanting to give voice to the lost traditions of the Anglo Celtics, Bush Gothic uses the basis of folk tales but does it in a style that is often noted to sound like jazz.
“This is a very rich culture that came to Australia but the folk cultures did not flourish.
“The dominant culture now is English culture or the mainstream culture and so these beautiful folk traditions that can really help us to find a way through life are just hanging in there.”
With herself and fellow band members Chris Lewis (drumkit) and Dan Witton (double bass) coming from musical theatre backgrounds, Jenny said they like to “craft the show so that the songs will flow from one to the other”.
Hoping the performance will invoke many emotions, Jenny said “they might cry, they laugh”.
Having grown up in Boronia, exploring the Dandenong Ranges and the Yarra Valley was a key part of Jenny’s childhood, especially as she learned to play piano in Millgrove.
It was then in The Patch where Jenny based herself as an adult and is also the place she formed Bush Gothic.
“This [concert] is a bit like coming home because I grew up in that area at the foot of the Dandenongs and my childhood was all out there.
“I work as a composer and a musician now and I really feel that I draw on that childhood state to help me to write music and so the images of that area are very strong in my mind.
“So it will be so beautiful to go back there and to be able to play music and take it back to that area.”
The performance begins at 2pm. To book a ticket, go to www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Experience/Events/Bush-Gothic
