Ukastle Ukestra at the Nash 2025

This is a thrill! The Ukastle Ukestra has got into the National Folk Festival to be a part of the most vibrant folk festival in Australia: without the mud or heat of Woodford, or the irredeeming cold of Bass Straited Port Fairy.

It’s at Easter in Canberra – 17-21 April 2025. Can you join us?

You get a free performers and camping ticket if you are a part of the Ukastle Ukestra; ordinarily, tickets for attending and camping at the Nash are in the order of $600. You, as a performer, do not pay this, and we will be a key part of the vibe of the thing (to paraphrase the infamous Dennis Denuto).

To express your interest in joining the Ukastle Ukestra, please fill in the form below.

But first you need to read and understand what your obligations would be in order to be a part of the Ukastle Ukestra and the joy that is the National Folk Festival.

What will the Ukastle Ukestra be doing at the 2025 National Folk Festival?

We’ll be busy, with 2 main jobs, plus another opportunity of which we may be a part.

1. Each day we are participating in ‘Festival Ukes‘. It’d be great to have most of you there at 9:30am each day, for an hour. Essentially it will be like a morning strumalong, or like a normal ukestra session, lead by Thom Jackson (no relation), Mark and Jane. This session is open to any ukers at the Festival, of which there should be many.
2. Your main daily obligation will be to be a part of our performance troupe in the street. We will have a half hour slot each day, where we will be a key part of the vibrancy of the Festival.
3. We have been invited to be a core member of the Mariachi Band, with daily workshops, culminating in a street parade and Latin Fiesta Dance Party. We’d encourage you to be a part of this – you (and we) will learn heaps!

Draft Timetable

•  Four Festival Ukes Sessions – 9:30-10:30am each day (Friday to Monday) in the Daintree.
• Three 20-30 minute Ukastle Ukestra Street performances
  • Friday 18th April – midday outside the Quokka (near the Flute and Fiddle)
  • Saturday 19th April – 5:30-6pm at the Flemington Gate
  • Monday 21 April – 10:50-11:10am outside the Quokka

• Participation in three Festival Mariachi Band workshops held at 2-3pm in the Daintree on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Run by Queen of Hearts Mariachi Band. Anyone welcome to join. Ukastle Ukestra form a core component of the members.
  • Procession with the Festival Mariachi Band 4:30-5pm Sunday. Some type of procession from the Mariachi Band leading to the Latin Fiesta. Led by Queen of Hearts. The Ukastle Ukestra are core members of the Mariachi Band. Also featuring Samba music from Shaking The Tree Choir.
  • Participate in the Latin Fiesta with the Mariachi Band – Sunday 5-6:40pm.  We may prepare a couple of songs to contribute to this. Lead by Vanessa Estrada.
• Be a part of the Festival Parade Monday – 4:50-5:10pm. Not sure if it’ll just be us, or with the Mariachi Band.
• Finally, we have been invited to participate in the Infinite Song Competition. Mark’s band won this about 20 years ago (with a cover of a Queen song), and Ukestral Voices got through to the final (the Elvis Presley year) maybe ten years ago. We have a Sunday timeslot for this. It is unclear if this a heat or the final. Once we hear who the target artist is, and how many ukestrans we have, we will decide on whether we participate. A Newcastle mob were runners up in 2024.

How do I participate?

Not just any ol’ Tom, Jamie or Harriet gets a ticket. You have to commit to ‘working’ (aka performing/participating) for your ticket. You are obliged to do ‘most’ of it, with some activities more vital than others.

The street performances as the Ukastle Ukestra are mandatory (give or take exceptional circumstances).

The admin and rehearsal fee from us is $60. Fill in this form to express your interest and be kept up to date.

Here’s the list of people who have registered their interest thus far. We are yet to finalise numbers and names.

Ukestral Voices also performing

Ukestral Voices have also been accepted as part of the Street Choir program. More information for Ukestral Voices is here.