girgarre junkestra
AN ORCHESTRA WITH A DIFFERENCE
the IDEA
EVERY THING HAS MORE THAN ONE PURPOSE
It's happening again, Graeme Leak and the Girgarre Junkestra have been meeting to produce a new piece for the concert in the Girgarre Soundshell on Sunday afternoon 28 April 2024.
Girgarre Junkestra is part of the Girgarre Revival.
Find us on Facebook: the girgarre revival
The Gala Opening of the Soundshell, with the premiere performance of 'Spirit Rising', was held on 21 April 2018.
What a magic evening! Everyone was blown away by what the town of Girgarre and supporters had achieved. Thirty-three members of the Junkestra, the Girgarre Line Dancers, the Girgarre Fire Brigade, the Rushworth and District Concert Band, Doc and his musical agbike and the Jigarre Jammers, all under the baton of Graeme Leak, conductor extraordinaire. Graeme conducted 54 workshops in a few short weeks and melded us into an orchestra with solos from the above-mentioned stars.
The new sound shell worked perfectly and an audience of 700 or so were entertained by an hour and a half of music from some very surprising instruments.
Pete Gibson, a regular contributor to Jigarre Jammin’ and the Muster, floated the idea of an ‘orchestra’ comprising instruments made from ‘junk’. The orchestra had a spot in the program at the 2017 Muster as the Jigarre Junkestra. What a great idea, Pete. If you were at that Muster you may have seen the beginnings of the Junkestra. The ‘Drawer Harp’ was made from a couple of old wooden drawers and some secondhand guitar strings.
a MUSICAL SUPERMARKET
SHOPPING FOR JUNK
The talented Graeme Leak ran the music part of our extensive artist in residence program in Girgarre. He was the creator of the Winton Musical Fence which attracts thousands of travellers annually. He worked with the community to develop instruments and installations from reclaimed materials and other people's junk, with an official launch along
with our soundshell on 21 April 2018. He set up a Music Supermarket in the former Supermarket building, attracting equal donations of junk and treasure that formed the basis of our Girgarre Junkestra.
Read more at Graeme's blog:
the MASTERPIECES
WHAT CAN YOU CREATE?
It’s a terrific fun idea so put on the thinking caps and fossick around in that old cupboard or shed. As your masterpieces take shape, send us a photo and we’ll see if we can find a spot for it in our gallery, as an inspiration to others (unless it’s top secret of course!).
The first of our instruments: Pete made his Milodeum from a Milo tin and bits he found around the farm. Graham made his Bikkie Banjo from a shortbread biscuit tin and bits he found, including the slide from a piece of pipe. They set a high benchmark!
Below are the first performance of junkstruments, Pete and his oilcan guitar, Wallace and his tin violin, Graeme Leak and Pete in milking aprons with a musical contraption mainly made of milking machine parts. They performed the overture at our inaugural concert. Lastly, the enthusiastic audience at that concert.
