A RARE piece of Tasmanian history will take centre stage tonight when the Cooee Cabaret leads Hobart audiences on a journey back through Australia’s history of sound and song.
Cooee Cabaret weaves together iconic Australian recordings from the National Film and Sound Archives, from The Road to Gundagai to I Should Be So Lucky.
A highlight of the free show is a rare recording of Tasmanian Aboriginal songs and language by Fanny Cochrane Smith considered to be the last fluent speaker of the language in Hobart in 1899.
“It’s pretty spine-chilling stuff actually,” producer Brendan Smith said.
“It’s the second or third-oldest recording we’ve got, and it shows.
“It was recorded on to a wax cylinder, one of the earliest forms of recording sound, and it’s fairly safe to say that it’s one of the only recorded examples of that early Aboriginal song and spoken word.”
Cooee Cabaret will be at the Theatre Royal from 7.30pm. Bookings are recommended, phone 6233 2299.
The show goes to Launceston on Friday (6323 3666), Devonport on Monday (6420 2900) and Burnie next Wednesday (6430 5850).
- This article originally appears at:
- http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2012/02/01/297131_most-popular-stories.html
- Article taken from the following publication:
- The Mercury
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