The 2025 National Folk Festival in Canberra saw a great oral history presentation on the Sydney Folk Scene in the early 1980s. There were conversations, songs, music and dance performed by key performers from that time, supported by the next generation of trad musicians.
The project was organised by Paul (Mort) Mortimer, Margaret Fagan and Kevin Bradley, with interviews and performances by Margaret Walters (folk singing), Graham McDonald (community radio), Dave de Santi (bush dances), Bridie Burke for Colleen Burke (folk clubs), Jimmy Mullarkey (music sessions) and Pat Lyons (folk bands).
The event was supported by the Irish National Association through its Public Cultural Fund. The hour-long video below was recorded by Mat Nightingale.
For more information, email info@irishassociation.org.au.
Click on the video below to see this great presentation of stories, held to a full house on the day.
From left to right:
Pat Hunt on bouzouki and Jane Copeland on fiddle, circa 1980
Bob and Margaret Fagan, circa 1980
Kevin Bradley on guitar and Pat Lyons on pipes, circa 1982
Paul (Mort) Mortimer on tenor banjo, circa 1984