"The 26th Cygnet Folk Festival whizzed by
in a blur of colour, music and excitement. A complete weekend was gone in a matter of seconds; or so it seemed at the time.

My greatest recollection is the way our volunteers came forward and kept all the venues ticking over, kept the shop running far into the night, patrolled the camping ground and generally did all the things that make the festival what it is – just wonderful.

My second recollection is of the performers, their talent, their cooperation and goodwill in responding to variations that inevitably crop up in such an intense weekend of action.

Last but not least we had an audience captivated by all the action, enchanted by the variety and totally delighted by the ‘finds of the festival’.

Shane Howard and Mick Thomas are well known and have their dedicated fans. We know what to expect and they did not let us down.

Kath Tait and Jack Hardy were not as well known, actually not known at all. The surprise for everyone was just how good Kath and Jack are, the depth of their recording capacity and their stunning presentation.

Bob Fox ended the festival with a profile far higher than when he started. A frequent visitor to Australia he had never been to Tasmanian before so another revelation for our audiences was the strength of Bob’s voice and his powerful interpretations of traditional and contemporary material.

That’s what we love to do at Cygnet: introduce the surprise packets, such as French performer Tete who stunned audiences with a powerful beat and a truly engaging personality that is as honest off stage as it is on.

On Saturday night Tete and Shooglenifty lifted the roof off the Town Hall.
Babaganoush were brilliant, Jugularity, Bohemian Nights and Klezmeritis set toes tapping and people dancing.

Grumpy Neighbour peddled their bullshit stories, while the Funny Green Smelly Things did the snot and bum noises show for the ecstatic kids.

Of course our Tasmanian contingent matched it with the visitors. Peter Hicks and Annie Parsell explored the harmonies of traditional and contemporary songs, Harlequin demonstrated that Tasmanian hand made instruments can play mediaeval style tunes as well as any in the world and the list goes on just to mention two out of an impressively talented bunch.

Trouble in the Kitchen closed out the cabaret with a dynamic dance set and in so doing closed out the festival.

Thanks to the committee for a wonderful job, to all the volunteers without whom we could not survive, to the performers for being on stage doing what we love best and to the audience for coming. We did it for you all!

The next festival runs from 9 – 11 January 2009. See you there!


Funny Green Smelly Things at work grossing out the kids.