FESTIVAL HEADLINERS AUSTRAL NAMED BAND OF THE YEAR

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.

Austral (from left) Rhys Crimmin, Caity Brennan, Angus Barbary and Connor Hoy – seated in this picture but guaranteed to get you on your feet at the Illawarra Folk Festival.

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 a 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.

Austral at the AFMAS receiving the Folk Band of the Year Award, 2024

“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”.

Austral performing at National Folk Festival Canberra, 2023

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. You can find the festival program here.

Austral are one of 85 acts performing at the festival, including Eric Bogle, arguably Australia’s greatest ever folk singer (who received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2024 Australian Folk Alliance Awards) to North East Arnhem Land reggae ragers the Andrew Gurruwiwi Band and US singer-songwriter Martha Spencer, from the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Andrew Gurruwiwi, Martha Spencer & Eric Bogle.

You can find tickets and festival information here.

Story by Illawarra Folk Festival Publicity Officer Nick Hartgerink.