By Illawarra Folk Festival honorary publicity officer Nick Hartgerink
The 38th Illawarra Folk Festival at Bulli Showground gets underway on January 17, and organisers received a timely boost when one of the festival’s headline acts, Austral, was named Australian Folk Band of the Year for 2024.
The Melbourne-based Celtic band already had a reputation for high-energy performances and superb musicianship, and were named Folk Band of the Year at the Australian Folk Alliance awards in late October to add to growing list of achievements.
Co-Artistic Director David De Santi said Austral had been selected back in July as one of the 85 acts booked for the festival, and having them subsequently win the prestigious Band of the Year award later in the year was a welcome bonus.
“We are thrilled to have Austral in the line-up because they are such a lively band with really talented musicians,” De Santi said. “They had already had an Album of the Year award in 2022 Having them named Band of the Year for 2024 is a really nice bonus for them and for us, and it shows the high calibre of performers we have for the festival.
“Austral are an amazing band. They just exude joy, and it is very contagious. I guarantee people won’t be able to keep their feet on the floor during their four shows.”
Austral features Angus Barbary on fiddle, vocals and mandola, Caity Brennan on fiddle and vocals, Rhys Crimmin on guitar, percussion, didgeridoo and vocals, and Connor Hoy on Uilleann pipes, flute and whistle.
Over the past 12 months Austral have featured at some of Australia’s leading folk festivals, including Woodford in Queensland, Cygnet in Tasmania and now NSW’s biggest, the Illawarra Folk Festival. The band was also invited to Brittany in France in 2023 to perform at the world’s biggest Celtic music festival, the Inter-Celtic Festival of Lorient, which attracts more than 800,000 people over its two weeks. Angus Barbaby said performing at the Lorient event was “absolutely amazing”.
Barbary, who performed at the Illawarra Folk Festival in 2011 with the band Get Folked, said he was really looking forward to getting back to Bulli Showground. “I have very good memories of Illawarra as one of the folkiest folk festivals around, with its unique, slightly tacky but endearing racecourse vibe.
“We don’t get to play in NSW very often, and we’re all really looking forward to it. Illawarra will be the middle of a bit of a festival run for Austral – at Cygnet in Tassie again the week before and then off to New Zealand for the Auckland Folk Festival the weekend after we play at Bulli.”
Barbary said while the majority of Austral’s songs were Celtic instrumentals, the band had a number of vocal tracks in their repertoire – from classic Australian folk songs to those of folk royalty like Ewan MacColl (Movin’ On) and Richard Thompson (Beeswing).
“Our core desire is to encourage people to throw away their inhibitions and dance, but we also play to the time of the day … ,” he said.
Based on that comment, festival-goers hoping to hear Barbary singing the poignant Beeswing might need to be at the band’s 4pm Saturday performance. Austral’s other sets will be at 8.30pm on Friday at the Tivoli – a designated “dance hall”, and at 8pm on Saturday and Sunday nights.
Austral are one of around 85 international, national and local acts ranging from arguably Australia’s greatest ever folk singer Eric Bogle (who received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2024 Australian Folk Alliance Awards) to North East Arnhem Land reggae ragers the Andrew Gurriwirri Band and US singer-songwriter Martha Spencer, from the Blue Ridge Mountains.
And for one show only, on the Friday night opening program, Sydney’s international reggae band The Strides with members from Barbados, Sierra Leone and Fiji will strut their heady brand of hip-hop-infused reggae.
Festival Director Cody Munro-Moore is excited by the line-up, and sees a generational change in the musical offerings while making sure the festival still caters for traditional “folkies” with a mix of music, comedy and poetry.
“We are very excited to have Andrew Gurriwiwi and his band come down from remote NE Arnhem Land to perform after his debut album 'Sing Your Own Song' was released this year,” he said. “Andrew and his band are complemented by a whole raft of national and international artists who will make the 2025 event one of the most dynamic and entertaining festivals in our long history.”
The Illawarra Folk Club and an army of volunteers stage the Illawarra Folk Festival, which will also feature a strong contingent of Illawarra performers, including Kiama’s sensational Water Runners, returning from a six-month sabbatical, The Carefree Road Band, Country star Darren Coggin’s talented daughter Olivia, The Con Artists and comedy duo Rheinberger and Wilson.
The popular Folk School, where aspiring musicians can learn from some of the festival performers, will also be held during festival week and will feature sessions run by some of the high profile performers, including Martha Spencer.
Tickets and festival information at www.illawarrafolkfestival.com.au
2025 Illawarra Folk Festival line-up
International and National: Alara Livingstone, Andrea Kirwin and Claire Evelynn, Andrew Gurruwiwi Band, Austral, Barbara Giamalvo (USA), Belly Savalas, Black Joak Morris, Brodie Buttons, Broken Creek, Bush Music Club Inc, Cameron Jones , Charley Castle, Ciarán Wynne (IRE), Concrete Sea, Eric Bogle, Good Tunes Session, Jan Preston's Boogie Circus, Kejafi, Ken Field's Hoot Band, Mal Webb & Kylie Morrigan, Martha Spencer (USA) and Archer, Maypole with Molly, Mitch King, Peter Mace Bush Poet, Peter Willey, Ray Dimakarri Dixon, Redfern Shanty Club, Riff Raff Radical Marching Band, Robyn Sykes, Rocky Bottom Girls, Rough Town (NZ), Saplings, Shellie Morris, Snez, Stonybroke, Sunday Lemonade, Sydney Irish Ceili Dancers, Sydney Scottish Fiddlers, The Ramshackle Army, The Seben Brothers, The Spooky Men's Chorale, The Strides, The Water Runners, Tuck Shop Ladies, Wadaiko Rindo & Noriko Tadano, We Mavericks, William Crighton, Workhorse, Zumpa.
Local: Anvil: Queen of the Ribbon Gang, AZ-I-AM, Beatmeisters, Carefree Road Band, Gobsmacked!, Gray Read, Illawarra Nature Stories and Songs, Illawarra Union Singers, Kiama Sea Shanty Club, Koori Voices, Marco and Rusty, Maurie Mulheron, Meridian, Mother Banshee, Murmur, Mz Mally Moo's Music 4 Minis, Nick Moses, Olivia Coggan, , Rheinberger & Wilson, Shalani, Shanties and Worksongs, Silver Lotus Tribal Bellydance, Slippery John Sausage & His Bayou Brothers, Smith and the Devil, Somesing Laik Zat, Steampunk Vagabonds, StoryBeats, Super Kenny and Magnificent Manda, Tempo Dance, 'That Summer Feeling' - A Jonathan Richman Tribute, The Butter Trackers, The Con Artists, The Dempsey Brothers, The Femme Fatales, The Midnight Feast, The Other Noonans, The Swingaleles, Yoga – Dru Yoga with Erika Steller and Fiona Davis