Ruth Hazleton
-
Shackled
by Ruth Hazleton This song was written for Nûdem Durak, a Kurdish musician sentenced to nineteen years’ imprisonment in Turkey for teaching young people traditional song and dance. The song also references the feminist Kurdish female fighters of the Yekîneyên Parastina Jin (YPJ) who play a fundamental role in military operations in the region. Durak Continue reading
-
The Killing Times
by Ruth Hazleton A song acknowledging the horror of Australia’s frontier wars and the continued act of colonisation implied when we refuse to embrace ‘truth-telling’ about our colonial history. The song recognises storytelling, retelling and remembering as powerful forms of protest and healing. I wrote it after having long conversations online with Patrick Davies from Fitzroy Crossing, 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 