Wagga Wagga (Uranquinty) Folk Festival 2006
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I’ve been a regular at ‘Quinty for the last few years, but this year was a bit different. For the first time in recent years, the festival was not being organized out of Canberra and I had gone from being on the organizing committee to doing a bit of volunteering.

We arrived at ‘Quinty on the Friday night, just in time for the last song on the programmed concert in the Pub – the ‘Quinty pub has had a major renovation in the last year but the back room is still the same. After a round of hellos, we headed to the campsite and joined up with a session in the Tennis Club, where it was warm and cosy.

By now, being a seasoned veteran, I had learned to pack clothes for all weathers. Unlike previous years, no storm arrived, but the days were beautiful and sunny and summer dress hot, the nights were clear and freezing.

The list of performers at ‘Quinty this year was great – regular Warren R White from the US, Romney Getty from Canada, a singer/songwriter of roots influenced music with a powerful voice and Datu Mandipensa a musician and itinerant tribal chieftain from The Philippines.

Some standout acts included Western Australian Khin Myint, who matches the beautiful sensitive lyrics of his songs with a fine guitar accompaniment (he also featured at the FAA convention), Melbourne folk trio Milk, and Peter Hicks who was up from Tasmania who in addition to performing did some great workshops on Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie, and was a major contributor to the evening sessions – a fantastic treat. The Jim Stubbs Backing Band as always was a treat.

There was the usual ‘Quinty flexibility in programming and Tony reunited with Andy Cole to perform on Saturday night and Sunday – expect to see more of them together around the traps.

The festival featured its usual Poets Breakfasts led on Saturday by Graeme Johnson and Sunday by Jan Lewis. On Saturday night the Tin Shed Rattlers provided the music for a great bush dance and on Sunday Peter Anderson led a scratch band for dancing.

But what really made the festival were the late night singing sessions around the fire. They were the best sessions I’ve been to in years – a huge group of singers and just one song after another until the very late early hours of the morning.

‘Quinty remains a unique festival – a place to relax around the campsite, session, fly kites on the oval, listen to some great acts, dance, sing and have fun.

The new organizers in particular Bede Nowland, Alan and Heather Hunter and Andrew Lang did a great job with the festival and while the numbers were down this year that didn’t stop the festival being a great success.

Eileen Newmarch