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Singer Robyn Archer has hand-picked more than 30 songs for her show, An Australian Songbook. <\/i>But don\u2019t expect to recognise many \u2013 or probably any \u2013 of them.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no Click Go the Shears <\/i>or Home among the Gumtrees<\/i>. And you won\u2019t get Khe San<\/i> or Flame Trees<\/i>.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe show is deliberately not Down Under<\/i> or Great Southern Land.<\/i> It\u2019s more of an opportunity to say, \u2018Here\u2019s a different picture\u2019,\u201d says Archer, who has worn many hats over her long and distinguished career, from performer and writer to artistic director, stage director and fierce advocate for the arts in Australia.<\/p>\n
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Robyn Archer on stage during the Queensland leg of her tour.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Brett Boardman<\/cite><\/p>\n Archer\u2019s different picture, which she has deliberately not cast as the definitive list of Australian songs, is as quirky as it is diverse.<\/p>\n Among the list is a lesser-known song from Yothu Yindi, a piece by Lou Bennett sung (with permission) in Language, settings of words by poets Kenneth Slessor and Michael Dransfield, and songs by Kate Miller-Heidke and the Coodabeen Champions. There are also several of Archer\u2019s own songs, including The Backyard Abortion Waltz<\/i>.<\/p>\n \u201cI deliberately said I\u2019m not going to call this The Great Australian Songbook<\/em> because it\u2019s got quite a lot of my songs and humility stopped me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Early memories of growing up in South Australia, particularly involving her country-music-loving mother, have influenced many of her choices.<\/p>\n \u201cI refer to the Pub With No Beer<\/i>, which my mum sang with gusto, but I don\u2019t sing that,\u201d she says. \u201cI sing a beautiful song about the river Murray called Murray Moon<\/i> then I follow that with the McKean Sisters\u2019 Gymkhana Yodel<\/i>, which gives us all a chance to get out and yodel.\u201d<\/p>\n Towards the end of the show Archer, who is joined on stage by piano accordionist George Butrumlis, Cameron Goodall on guitar and Enio Pozzebon on keyboards, gleefully takes the mickey out of love songs.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not much of a love song person,\u201d she says, \u201cBut I do one of my so-called love songs called An Insect on the Windscreen of My Heart<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n More seriously, she is acutely aware the Sydney leg of her concert tour opens at Belvoir St Theatre just four days after the national referendum on the Indigenous Voice to parliament.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the concert, when I am paying tribute to an unbelievable list of great First Nations songwriters I ask pertinently why Archie and Ruby and Mandawuy \u2013 all younger than me \u2013 are not on the stage singing their songs in their beautiful voices. It\u2019s because of this horrid gap, this shameful gap. Not just in life expectancy but in practically every other category.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be an interesting moment. We want it to be celebratory and to celebrate those songs even more.\u201d<\/p>\n