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Deborah Conway.
When the call came through from Deborah Conway to discuss 'Broad',
her new five woman show, it was the second time this week I
had heard her voice. She had roused participants days earlier
(Tues 15 Nov) at the National Day of Community Protest against
the governments proposed Industrial relations legislation, beamed
around Australia from Melbourne's Federation Square.
"It was a very impressive crowd, nice of them to come along just to see me sing!" she quips, referring to the rally which was estimated in the hundreds of thousands around the nation. "And for only two songs - well, that is if you include the national anthem. Somebody did say that after my performance the other day that I might be in line for the next grand final gig, so we'll have to wait and see."
It was great to hear a new song - indeed, any song - being performed
at as huge a protest as this, and I was curious as to how the
choice was made. "Well there is a story behind it, Narelle,"
Conway begins. "Greg [Combet] and Sharon [Burrow, trade union
leaders] actually wanted It's Only The Beginning because they
loved the catch phrase 'it's only the beginning', and they thought
it would be a great way to begin the workers rights campaign.
For me, though, it is a 15 year old love song that I have played
a lot, and I am kinda happy not to play the song: I like the
song, I have nothing against the song, but it really didn't
feel like the kind of song that should be associated with this
kind of event, apart from the line, 'it's only the beginning'
it really seemed to have no other relevance. I suggested I play
Here And Now [from last year's 'Summertown' album] and
they said no. And I said what about if I just audition it for
you?" She ended up playing both songs a few times each to an
audience of two - Greg and Sharon - in a damp Federation Square
the night before the morning's protest.
The song provided good interlude between testimonials from Aussie workers and community leaders about the impact of the 'Work Choices' legislation - not great for the low skilled (individual contracts with no award safety net), for workplace safety (fines for speaking out) and for collective bargaining (no union representation allowed). "I think there are some things in there that will be better and I think there are a lot of other things that will really disadvantage a large section of the workforce. I think it really needs to be examined, and I really hope that that is done and that the temperature keeps being taken for those parts of the workforce that are most at risk."
But the real reason for her phone call is to talk about 'Broad', her upcoming travelling festival of women songwriters. "I came up with the idea some years ago for some kind of festival like [US all-female tour] Lilith. It didn't work out at the time but recently I was invited to do a show at the Malthouse, a sweet little theatre in Melbourne, and then three shows, so I went away and panicked. What can I do with three nights to curate? So I started to think about this idea of a woman's festival which shrank to this particular event, 'Broad', which I would dearly love to turn into a yearly event."
An expansion of a country Victoria and SA tour she did with partner Willy Zygier and Rebecca Barnard a few years ago, Broad promises to be an intimate and fresh insight into a group of songwriters. "For me, the theme of the evening will be 'we are all songwriters, let's talk about our songs, why we have written these songs, what were the influences, what were the inspirations to try to shed a bit of light into the dark corners of that process.'"
The four women she has along for the five-city tour are Katie Noonan of George, Clare Bowdich, country music sensation Sara Storer and the legendary Ruby Hunter.
"The idea is we each offer up three of our own songs and we also collaborate on four other pieces that none of us have written. I'm hoping the evening is informal enough for us to chime in on each others songs, whether that be with a voice or instrument, and maybe some of that stuff is more worked out than other stuff, maybe it is just serendipitous."
With Adelaide at the end of the tour, the night promises to be one to remember. Who can predict when we may see these broads together on stage again?
Narelle Walker
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'Broad' happens at the Festival Theatre on Fri 9 Dec.
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