Saturday, September 04, 2004
Gympie Muster goes from strength to strength
From Landline: ABC-TV (Australian Broadcast Corporation)
For six days every August, the hills flanking a valley west of Gympie resonate with music and festivity.
From the sea of tents pegged on every available campsite you'll hear all manner of music.
Country music had its genesis in American 'hillbilly' mountain folk music, popularised by the advent of the wind-up gramophone in the late 1920s.
Dianna Corcorcan began yodelling at the age of 12. After three years working as a human resources manager she decided music was her true calling. At the start of the year she quit the corporate world for the gypsy life of a country musician.
Dianna Corcoran is an inheritor of a rich tradition of musical performers. None loom larger than the late Slim Dusty, who died last year. A regular headline act at Gympie, Slim Dusty emerged in the 1940s when country music hit the road with rodeos, circuses and Wild West shows. His legacy - songs written about Australia and sung in an unmistakably Australian accent.
Musician Peter Denahy says Slim is gone and there's no-one to fill his shoes.
"There are people who there who'll do different things and that's the way it goes, Johnny Cash has gone in the States too, no-one's going to fill his shoes, but that's the thing, Slim was different and just an individual and he always sort of pushed for that when he was encouraging other young talent too," he said.
In its 23 years the Gympie Muster has raised some $7 million dollars for various local and national charities and this year the recipient is Transplant Australia, for people awaiting organ donations.
The emphasis is on people in isolated rural communities. This year's Muster is expected to net some $600,000.
Read the Article
Landline (Australia)
For six days every August, the hills flanking a valley west of Gympie resonate with music and festivity.
From the sea of tents pegged on every available campsite you'll hear all manner of music.
Country music had its genesis in American 'hillbilly' mountain folk music, popularised by the advent of the wind-up gramophone in the late 1920s.
Dianna Corcorcan began yodelling at the age of 12. After three years working as a human resources manager she decided music was her true calling. At the start of the year she quit the corporate world for the gypsy life of a country musician.
Dianna Corcoran is an inheritor of a rich tradition of musical performers. None loom larger than the late Slim Dusty, who died last year. A regular headline act at Gympie, Slim Dusty emerged in the 1940s when country music hit the road with rodeos, circuses and Wild West shows. His legacy - songs written about Australia and sung in an unmistakably Australian accent.
Musician Peter Denahy says Slim is gone and there's no-one to fill his shoes.
"There are people who there who'll do different things and that's the way it goes, Johnny Cash has gone in the States too, no-one's going to fill his shoes, but that's the thing, Slim was different and just an individual and he always sort of pushed for that when he was encouraging other young talent too," he said.
In its 23 years the Gympie Muster has raised some $7 million dollars for various local and national charities and this year the recipient is Transplant Australia, for people awaiting organ donations.
The emphasis is on people in isolated rural communities. This year's Muster is expected to net some $600,000.
Read the Article
Landline (Australia)
# posted by Dave Sichak @ 3:26 PM 
