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Interview with John Dengate, singer, songwriter and poet [sound recording] / interviewer, Peter Parkhill
Bib ID 2091639
Format AudioAudio
Author
Dengate, John, 1938-
 
Access Conditions Access open for research; written permission required for personal copies and public use during the lifetime of the interviewee. 
Description 1998. 
7 digital audio tapes (ca. 450 min.) 
Summary

Dengate speaks of working as a busker in Sydney; brief personal history since giving up teaching; takes up tin whistle; begins busking; first tunes played on the whistle; rejects the idea of full-time performance in folk music clubs or on the club performance circuit; songs used in busking; busking: conditions; audiences; sites for performance and audience reactions, his repertoire compared to other buskers; rationale for performing traditional music; how his earnings have improved over the years; ethics in busking; incidents with other buskers; audience/passers by; qualities of buskers; behaviour of audiences/passers by and the tolerance of shopkeepers; attitude of audiences towards Australian music and songs; why JD sings the songs and plays the music he does; unexpected responses among the young; begging in the streets of Sydney; his relations with the beggars; his opinions and experiences of begging; sites for Sydney busking; dealing with authorities and personal attitudes of buskers.

He then talks about the importance of the BMC to shaping his career, his use of traditional models in composing songs; composing parodies; learning songs; his father's interest in this music; his song about his father's work in the orchards; how his father plays mouth organ; his views of the social spirit of the 1950s such as the rise of the Sydney Push; Don Ayrton; people from the Push come to visit Mooney at Menindee; Don Ayrton's singingand his influence on JD; how the Push influenced Australian culture.

How the involvement of the Sydney Bush Music Club in the folk scene lead to a folk revival and the philosophy behind the BMC; his concerns about Americanisation; JD song about folk singers: The Lindfield Fake; the impact of British folk songs and British singers on the Sydney folk scene in 1960s; the Blues scene in Sydney; how he began to play in folk clubs during the 1970s; the changes in folk clubs in Sydney; Alex Hood; the relations of the BMC with 'outsiders'; BMC's 'Bushwackers' band in 1960s; folk clubs in pubs; Gary Shearston; Edinburgh Castle folk club; Declan Affley's performances of Dengate's songs; Dengate's use of Irish models and melodies for his songs and the impact it had on his career; his views of the 1980s, clubs and festivals; audiences, 1970s and 80s; MacColl, Seeger, Behan; influences on JD's songs; Cyril Tawney; Banjo Patterson; Duke Tritton; influences; Frank Povah; his role as singer and songwriter in Australia.

Notes

Preservation and user cassette copies made.

Uncorrected draft transcript available (typescript, 111 leaves)

Recorded from Nov. 16 to Dec. 22, 1998 in Glebe, Sydney, N.S.W.

Index/Finding Aid Note Detailed timed summary available (10 p.) and uncorrected transcript (typescript, 157 leaves) 
Subjects Dengate, John, - 1938- - Biography.  |  Dengate, John, - 1938- - Interviews.  |  Bush Music Club (Sydney, N.S.W.)  |  Satirical songs - Australia.  |  Folk singers - Australia - Interviews.  |  Satirists - Australia - Interviews.  |  Folk music - New South Wales - Sydney - History.  |  Sydney (N.S.W.) - Social conditions - 1945-1965.
Occupation Singers.  |  Lyricists.  |  Poets.
Other Authors Parkhill, Peter
Details Collect From
ORAL TRC 3808 Petherick Reading Room (Oral History)
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ORAL TRC 3808 Petherick Reading Room (Oral History)
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ORAL TRC 3808 (transcript)
Copy: Transcript
Petherick Reading Room (Oral History)
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Members of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Maori communities are advised that this catalogue contains names and images of deceased people. All users of the catalogue should also be aware that certain words, terms or descriptions may be culturally sensitive and may be considered inappropriate today, but may have reflected the author's/creator's attitude or that of the period in which they were written.