Morrie Gierisch

Morrie Gierisch, (1935- ) Boort, Vic provided details of some of the Australian tunes in this archive.

The National Library of Australia holds aural recordings of interviews conducted with Morrie Gierisch [1].

He was interviewed by

• John Meredith and Rob Willis in July 1989 [2], August 1992 [3]

• Rob Willis in April 1995 [4], and again in April 1995 [5]. "Stuart Sims, piano, and Mori Gierisch, accordion, talk about their association with the Gay Charmers Band and play some dance tunes." "Stuart's musical background; self-taught piano; accommodating playing with an accordion tuned to a lower pitch; history of the Gay Charmers Band; band charges and commercial viability; interjection by John Meredith about the commercialisation of folk music; crowd response; entertainment during intervals in playing; origin of the band's name; highlights of their playing careers; the band uniform; embarrassing moments; Mori's memory of playing to a dead bride; faux pas at a VIP's wife's birthday; playing on a hot night with only sherry to drink; pipers at Echuca; thick fog on way to Donald Vic.; Mori's musical background; his collision with a sleeping horse when cycling to an engagement; playing with the Gay Charmers; learning to play the same versions of tunes; importance of a good introduction; not knowing names of tunes; death of the Band's drummer; playing music to tempo required by dancers." Also available online [6]

• Peter Ellis in August 1995 [7], The Gay Charmers Band performance at the Spring Gully Hall.

"Morrie Gierisch of Boort Victoria, was a member of the Gay Charmers Old Time Band ... The Gay Charmers took their name from Lake Charm, near Swan Hill. They played for local dances for more than 50 years."

There also some photos of him in Peter Ellis, "The Waltz, The Polka and All Kinds of Dance Music", 2007. p216

Related Tunes

You can search for tunes referring to Morrie Gierisch.