Hannah Pelka-Caven
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The Palmer’s Song
by Robert Hillman and Hannah Pelka-Caven (The Raglins) This is a re-imagining of traditional Australian ballad ‘The Old Palmer Song’. We found the original ballad in prominent Australian folk collectors Pat Edwards and Kate Baker’s book ‘The Gold and Glory Boys: Australian History in Song 2’. We took the song and composed some additional lyrics, and a Continue reading
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Choice of Company
by Robert Hillman and Hannah Pelka-Caven (The Raglins) A re-telling of the traditional ballad ‘Henry’s Downfall,’ which is a variant of the well-known transportation ballad ‘Van Diemen’s Land’. We found ‘Henry’s Downfall’ in the prominent Australian folk collector Ron Edwards’ The Big Book of Australian Folk Song. We took the story from the song but Continue reading
About Melbourne Tune collection
Melbourne Tune Collection records and publishes original folk tunes and songs from around Australia.
I started this project after realising that I barely knew any Australian folk tunes, even though I’ve been playing the fiddle for almost two decades. It wasn’t that Australians weren’t writing tunes, it’s just that there was limited publishing opportunities for them.
I thought maybe if I collect these tunes and put them together, they would have a better chance of getting played. So in early 2019 I set off with my camera and recorder, first around Melbourne, then across Australia.
This site is the result of these travels. Its purpose is to make Australian folk music as accessible as possible and promote the incredible music that’s being written today. I genuinely believe that there’s something special happening in the Melbourne and Australian folk music scenes right now.
I hope you enjoy playing through these tunes as much as I have!
Katherine Oleinikov
Melbourne Tune Collection 