Girgarre Junkestra receives standing ovation at Deakin Edge

Ovation for the Girgarre Junkestra at Deakin Edge Saturday 4 May 2019. A wonderful night in a superb venue. Thank you Anne Smith and all the team from Independent Schools Victoria and the Arts Learning Festival for bringing Junkestra to Melbourne. Great care and skill from sound tech Jarrod Hansford thank you. Thank you also to Patrick Cronin for all your work, and to our guests who added new dimensions to the music: my sister Lynne Kowalik on violin (drove from Canberra to play), Boris Conley on bassoon, Ben Segal on percussion and Thea Rossen on melodion and percussion. Take a bow, Girgarre Junkestra. The Girgarre Revival

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Junkestra - the string can orchestra from Girgarre in Northern Victoria

Over my ten-week residency in Mar-Apr 2018 JUNKESTRA literally grew from a pile of rubbish to an orchestra with 30+ players. We built instruments, we practiced a lot, we invited guest groups to appear with us and we put on a great show for the opening of the new Gargarro Soundshell

It is the brainchild of the Girgarre ReViVal committee - Jan Smith, Athol & Sandra McDonald, Lisa Smith, Pat Sufra and Carrie Donaldson. They had the idea, they raised the money and they made it happen. It is a fantastic project.

After eight weeks of preparation the Girgarre Junkestra was ready to take to the stage. These glimpses of their final indoor rehearsal were filmed by Liz Arcus and capture some of the joy and energy of the participants, many of whom had never played music before.

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performance excerpts..

the full performance video is available here

Des Crichton plays a bin-lid guitar, another Wallace Williams creation, with the Junkestra at the Soundshell Gala Opening

Featuring Pete Gibson, Harp, Wallace Williams and Lynne Leak, violins. Wallace is playing his unique hand-hammered, hand-made tin violin.

Opening theme of Spirit Rising performed by the Girgarre Junkestra, Gargarro Soundshell Gala Opening. Wallace Williams is playing his hand-hammered sheet-metal violin.

Fifteen string-cans were created and played by the Junkestra in the opening concert for the Gargarro Soundshell. Ten were made by Wallace Williams, three by Peter Gibson and two by myself, however it was a collaborative process with all of us working on various aspects of all instruments.
The instruments were temporarily on display in the Music Supermarket on my last day in residence, last April 2018.

The Girgarre Junkestra were joined by the Girgarre Line Dancers for their first ever public performance at the opening of the Gargarro Soundshell

The Rushworth and District Concert Band were special guests at the opening of the Gargarro Soundhell in Girgarre on 21 April 2018

The CFA's Girgarre Fire Brigade made a guest appearance at the opening of the Gargarro Soundshell. They also provided a surprise moment using the firetruck's flashing lights and a smoke-bomb. The effect turned the soundshell into an alien spaceship. Then the aliens arrived...

Athol 'Doc' MacDonald performs some high-octane revving with the Girgarre Junkestra at the Gala Opening of the Gargarro Soundshell in Girgarre

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Most of the players in the Girgarre Junkestra had never played music before they rehearsed and performed in this work. They range in age from 13 to 84. They perform on a range of bespoke percussion and 'String Cans'. Each can has one guitar string, so six played at once is like an open chord on a guitar. This allows non-musicians a way to play chords and harmonies and experience proper music making. It also lends the orchestra its unique sound. There's more information about String Cans here.

The Gargarro Soundshell marks the completion of the fist stage of a long term, visionary development to transform a dusty field into a rich and varied Botanic Garden (https://www.girgarre.com.au/gargarro-botanic-garden). The soundshell and the fledgling garden are part of Girgarre (pop. 190) in rural Victoria, Australia, a town with a resilient and creative community that has worked together through some tough decades to improve their quality of life and keep having fun with regular music jam-sessions in their hall and a monthly Farmers Market, among many other things. ​

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