Photos: Supplied.
Music fashions come and go but folk music is always around. Its home on the coast is at Folk Redlands, formed in 2005 by a dedicated handful of folk musicians and supporters under the guidance of Colin Nightingale.
Colin’s unmistakable accent marks him as a Yorkshireman but Australian folk music moves him as deeply as the songs from his old country. When Colin immigrated to Australia with his wife and two sons, he was immediately captivated by the special flavour of our folk and bush songs.
“Most of Australia’s folk songs emigrated from the UK and Ireland but in their new home they took on a new identity and energy,” he says. “They’re an honest reflection of working class life, songs people sang – and continue to sing – about their lives and traditions.”
Realising that the Redlands lacked a focus for folk music aficionados, Colin established a weekly folk music program, Acoustic Harvest, on the Redlands Coast community radio Bay fm. Acoustic Harvest, in its various incarnations, ran from 1993 to 2017 and was the original springboard for the creation of the Folk Redlands club.
“There was no local centre for anything like folk music,” he says, “an accessible, inclusive space for acoustic artists who like to listen, perform and mix with good, pleasant people. For some members, just belonging has helped them through some rough passages in life.”
With a small team of dedicated folkies and drawing on the extensive network built up through Acoustic Harvest Colin was instrumental in creating Folk Redlands, which since 2005 has run a monthly folk event that presents a blackboard concert (put your name on the board if you want to perform!) and a featured artist. Its original home was at Indigiscapes but through the years of COVID turbulence it relocated to the Victoria Point Bowls and Recreation Club – and with a mailing list of 800 it’s still going strong. Because folk music is always around.
For more information contact Colin on 0448 142 883/ [email protected] or https://folkredlands.org.
