Tasmania’s BobFest!
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Most Sundays in Tasmania start a little later than other days of the week, unless you want to get that early bargain at one of the many fresh food and/or craft markets held just about anywhere around this beautiful island. And, at the Cygnet Folk Festival this year, after a long late Saturday night enjoying the music, food and cider festivities, one might expect Sunday 13th January to exhibit an even slower start to the day, but not so! As early as 8am, scattered sounds of people stirring in and from the hundreds of tents and campers huddled together on the lawn on the south-east corner of Cygnet could be heard as, likewise, the stall holders busied and bustled to ready things for what was looking to be a glorious Summer day for this close and treasured community sharing their locale and energetic spirit with everyone who'd come to town for the Cygnet Folk Festival. What had them stirring so early, despite the groans and complaints of their heads and legs, was Bob Brown's early morning "Earth Celebration", a festival fringe event with a history of delivering much needed optimism about celebrating our planet as a way of ensuring we don't mindlessly destroy it.
For 2019, the Festival organisers had convinced Bob, and his partner Paul who does so much to make it happen, to move the event to the largest venue available - St James' College Auditorium. Even so, over 500 people filled the hall with standing room only, then the doors closed to prevent the risk of over-crowding, leaving late-comers a little annoyed with themselves for being so slow to get up and get there! An hour of live music and messages from local, national and international artists, video message from the traditional owners of the land being targeted for a massive coal mine in Queensland, a video then a live phone call to/from activists in the Tarkine / takayna forest in NW Tasmania, and a rousing speech from Bob about 3 actions for 2019, saw the event live up to and beyond its reputation. I had the honour and privilege of playing for 20 minutes as a prelude to the proceedings, asked by Bob to help people settle in with performances of my Tasmanian piano pieces, some of which have Bob reading his poems to them and available as an EP (with download code) titled "Winter Night At Liffey" (See my Music page) from the Bob Brown Foundation online shop. One of the Spooky Men's Chorale (from the Blue Mountains in NSW) told the audience that even if Bob had asked them to perform a Wiggles song at 3am, in striped pyjamas, the answer would have been a resounding "YES", that's what he means to us. Tasmania's own "Bobfest"! (maybe Neil Young can perform here next year?
