| Biographical Band Notes | | Musical Links | | Band Contact Details | Supported by Australia's Folk Music Magazine

Tullimbah plays traditional and contemporary Australian folk songs, dances and music based upon a real collected tradition from the settlers of Australia. Three of the members are part of Wongawilli, Australia's premiere traditional band since 1987 and have toured North America in 2001 as The Wombats.

The play a range of instruments featuring piano, violin, accordion, guitar, mandolin, bodhran and the icon Australian instrument - the lagerphone.

The Aboriginal word Tullimbah is the place name of an old settled area near Albion Park, New South Wales, Australia. It was settled back in the 1880s. Members of the band, Tania and Jane, are fifth generation Australians, who have grown up in the area.

The players

Jane Brownlee - fiddle, violin, viola, piano, vocal
Tania De Santi - piano
David De Santi - piano accordion
Samuel De Santi (7 year old) - bodhran, lagerphone

	Jane Brownlee (Sam's Aunty) also plays in Wongawilli and is a multi-instrumentalist being equally at home on a violin, viola or piano and has a classical training. She is at home with both traditional and contemporary folk music. She is also the Director of the Jamberoo Valley Folk Music School established in 2003 to nurture Australia's musical traditions. Jane has also been performing as a solo act playing the traditions of her native country. See www.janebrownlee.com Along with David they are the inauguaral National Library of Australia / National Folk Festival Fellows and have unearthing new 'old' songs and tunes from the Library archives.
	David De Santi (Sam's dad) plays piano accordion and has been the main driving force behind the Wongawilli Band since its inception in 1987. From an Italian background he has acquired a great respect and pleasure in performing Australian traditional music. Along with Jane they are the inauguaral National Library of Australia / National Folk Festival Fellows and have unearthing new 'old' songs and tunes from the Library archives. He is also a publisher of Australian tunes and songs publications and is also Editor of Australia's new national folk magazine, Trad&Now, the Director of the Illawarra Folk Festival at Jamberoo, the biggest little folk festival in the world, member of Folk Alliance Australia and secretary of Wongawilli Colonial Dance Club Inc.
	Tania De Santi (Sam's mum) plays the piano in a traditional vamping style giving a distinctive accompaniment to the dances tunes and sensitivity to the songs. She grew up with her sister Jane Brownlee attending the Marshall Mount Old Time Dances, established in 1953. Their mum still plays the drums at the dance! She is an original member of Wongawilli established in 1987.
	Samuel De Santi is the youngest member at 10 years old and has been on the stage with his mum and dad, Tania, David and Aunty Jane, since he was born! He loves good uptempo folk music and plays a mean bodhran and lagerphone having had lessons from Four Men and Dog's Gino Lupari! He even has his own imaginary 'plugged' folk band - Big Snore Hammers - which has been assembled with real musicians at the Illawarra Folk Festival and Woodford Folk Festival!

Band Contact Details

David De Santi, email: desanti@bigpond.com
ph (61) 2 4257 1788, fax (61) 2 4257 1787, mobile 0409 57 1788
PO Box 17, Albion Park, NSW, 2527, AUSTRALIA

Biographical Band Notes

The band includes three members of one of Australia's premiere dance and folk music bands - Wongawilli. Members David and Tania De Santi are the only original members of Wongawilli still playing with the band which was formed in 1987. Seven year old Samuel De Santi also joins the band with bodhran and lagerphone.

Jane and David are currently the National Folk Festival Library Research Fellowship winners. Their task is to research and perform collections of songs and tunes at the National Library of Australia. These collections date back to the 1950s with thousands of items to discover!

Tullimbah play traditional style Australian folk music which Wongawilli has become renowned. The repertiore includes songs and tunes from traditional sources along with contemporary songs about Australia's development and multicultural society.

The band also provides music and calling for bush dances. The music for dancing has its roots in the real tradition of 'bush' musicians collected in the field by folklorists since the 1950s. Members of the band are also active publishers of this material, see website: http://www.wongawillicolonialdance.org.au

This site has been compiled by David De Santi and also has a number of articles about musical and dancing traditions in Australia; worth reading to get an insight into Australia's cultural development.

Performances

Tullimbah  can present up to a 2 hour concert of traditional and contemporary Australian folk songs and tunes, many of these rarely performed or recently discovered, very much in the vein of the Wongawilli Band who have been performing unique Australian material for the past 15 years. See the Wongawilli Band song list for an idea of the type of material Tullimbah can perform. http://www.wongawillicolonialdance.org.au/wongawilli_band/songs.htm

The band can also present workshops on the dance tune tradition in Australia and the development of folk music in Australia. In addition Jane Brownlee is a fine teacher of fiddle.

Tullimbah  can present a 'Bush Dance' featuring Australian social folk dances, a concert featuring songs and tunes and workshops on various aspects of Australian music and life or a combination of these. Samples of Australian tunes the band plays.

Some of the dances Tullimbah can present include:

 Tour dates

To be advised.

Band Booking Contact Details

Links

This page created by David De Santi, Last revised: July 2007