Val McGinness
Val McGinness (1910-1988), Darwin, NT, provided details of some of the Australian tunes in this archive. He was collected by Jeff Corfield.
"Val's father did not play an instrument but could dance Scottish dances and sing Scottish songs. His mother, Alyandabu, sang Scottish songs too, but never Aboriginal songs. Val recalled that "It was very strange to hear my mother, a full blood Aboriginal, singing Scottish songs". Val learned to play mandolin and button accordion, using tunes and songs learned from local musicians in Darwin. Among the many influences during the 20s and 30s was the Filipino string band culture manifest in Darwin at that time. He learned to play the 8 string flat-back mandolin with the encouragement and tutelage of Jaffa Ah Mat of Thursday Island. This instrument became Val's signature instrument." -- Jeff Corfield in "Verandah Music, Roots of Australian Tradition", Curtin University Books, Ed. Graham Seal and Rob Willis, 2003, p.19.
There is a book "String bands and shake hands: a tribute to the life and music of Val McGinness, one of the last of Darwin's old string band musicians", by Jeff Corfield in the National Library of Australia in Canberra, 2010.
