A FOLKING DELIGHT
STUNNING LANDSCAPES. THE cadences of pedal steel, cellos, violins, voices and harps. Firesides to jam along beside. If this is your jam, the 54th Top Half Folk Festival (THFF) is the place to be over the May Day long weekend.
WORDS ROSIE WILD
IMAGE ZAC HENDERSON
Alice Springs Folk Club bring together over 50 artists from across Australia, New Zealand, and overseas to share music, dance, and culture at THFF, out at Ross River, 80km east of Alice Springs.
Along with its brilliant array of musicians, this year’s program is f illed with workshops, activities, and family-friendly camping on the Eastern Arrernte site called Inteye-Arrkwe. “The location is so special. Every Festival location is unique, but there's nowhere quite like that ancient land, with the start of N’dhala Gorge right there and the ranges all around you,” says Festival Director, Gleny Rae.
“As part of honouring that place, our Friday night opens with a Welcome to Country, a cultural immersion, a bush dance, and Territory showcase.”
The weekend’s rich and diverse program honours authentic traditions while also expanding its representation of folk. The styles traverse everything from Martha Spencer’s deep Appalachian Mountain music and dance, to the powerful and transcendent voice of Tibetan-born musician Tenzin Choegyal, the raps, rhymes and grooves of Katanga Junior, born and raised in Tanzania, to local legend and Golden Guitar nominee, Warren H Williams.
“This year's theme is ‘grounded and connected’. There are many ways we’re bringing that to life. There’ll be a festival choir, with three choirs from Alice Springs and Darwin doing a showcase, running a workshop and inviting people to join the performance on Sunday,” says Rae.
“We also have a Festival String Orchestra rehearsing and playing an original composition written by Liam King and myself, inspired by that land, and inviting everyone from beginners right through to experienced players to join us.
“And there’ll be a fantastic kids festival, with everything from treasure hunts to giant emus, crafting, busking, and children's open mic session.”
There’s a bus from Alice to Ross River on Saturday and Sunday, plenty of room for camping on site, food stalls – where you can bring your own cutlery, mug and plate to help keep down waste – beautifully designed festival merchandise, and a bar dedicated to festival patron, the late Ted Egan.
“We're very sad not to have Ted Egan here this year as our festival patron. But his beautiful wife, Nerys Evans, has stepped in. And we’ll be honouring Ted with a concert tribute, with lots of different artists singing versions of his songs,” says Rae.
“This is a wonderful festival, run by an amazing team who have risen to the challenge of making this the best festival yet. We hope everybody gets a chance to engage, participate, and connect with stories, music, culture, the land and each other.”
Sparkling sunlight. Desert stars. Crackling fires. Music from the voices and instruments of folks far and wide. THFF is set to be an absolute folking delight.
Top Half Folk Festival
WHEN FRI 1 MAY – MON 4 MAY
AT ROSS RIVER RESORT INTEYE-ARRKWE
COST $30-150
INFO alicespringsfolkclub.com
