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The Kransky Sisters.
Those who attended last year's Cabaret Festival or watched the
popular SBS TV series 'In Siberia Tonight' will be familiar
with the curiously intriguing trio - Mourne, Eve and Arva -
known collectively as the Kransky Sisters. With their unique
take on a wide range of songs learned from the "old wireless",
their eclectic assortment of musical instruments and close-knit
and dour harmonies, the Kranskys took time out to chat whilst
relatives packed the faithful Morris for a tour of country South
Australia ahead of a season at this year's Fringe.
Growing up in Esk (rural Queensland) under the initially watchful eye of an attentive if rather puritanical Polish father, the girls' unusual choice of instruments - guitar, electronic reed organ, musical saw ("an old Polish folk instrument, also popular in Germany"), and a variety of improvised percussion instruments - was arrived at by necessity rather than invention according to eldest sister and primary spokesperson, Mourne.
"Arva studied the tuba at TAFE Toowoomba," she says, echoed by Eve, literally. "Her father paid for her. She was the only one to receive a musical education. You see her father is not our father. In fact the two brothers never spoke again. Our father left when we were in Grades 5 and 6 and we taught ourselves the instruments."
As they had grown up in country Queensland, I wondered if they
had gathered their repertoire from AM or FM radio stations as
it is so wide-ranging (from Nana Mouskouri to Pink Floyd, Hendrix,
AC/DC to Pink). In fact Mourne and Eve let it be known that
their neighbour Lance Boil (a local abattoir worker) had introduced
them to the music of Pink Floyd stating that the "lyrics rather
than melody speak to us. That is why we chose Another Brick
In The Wall. We were taunted at school, so we could really
identify with these words."
As to whether they listened to AM or FM radio, Mourne felt that "FM was more appropriate as we are very feminine."
Mourne and Eve concur that the Sisters will be performing different material to that aired at last year's Cabaret Festival. "Yes we will do an AC/DC and a Jimi Hendrix."
Mentioning having seen and heard Magda Subanzski deliver a 'killer'
version of Purple Haze which ended with her jumping on
her accordion before setting it on fire, Mourne suggests that
Eve's saw may well combust also. "In fact we used to have an
accordion." ("Yes. An accordion," is drawn in agreement from
a seemingly emotionless Eve.) "But father set it on fire and
it was never replaced."
The Kranskys have gained quite a few fans due to touring and their television performances, including a few famous ones.
"We met Chrissie Amphlett. She was nice and was very interested
in working with us. We could do Pleasure And Pain and
[Mourne sings] "I thought that love was science fiction". My
suggestions of Boys In Town and I Touch Myself
were met with a very definite loud and stony silence indeed.
Having heard that a close friend of the siblings had studied opera, I wondered if there was any chance of the Kranskys branching out into other musical styles. Both Mourne and Eve simultaneously agreed "...it would be difficult to do opera whilst sitting down and that your ribs could pierce the diaphragm." All three sisters are very much looking forward to the Fringe and have cut theirs already in homage and expectation.
Brett Allen-Bayes
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The Kransky Sisters perform in Union Hall, Adelaide University, from Fri 24 Feb as part of the Fringe Festival (hair today, gone tomorrow).
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