To coincide with the fast-approaching 100th anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli, Kamerunga — one of Australia’s most lauded folk fusion bands — has released a fair dinkum tribute that salutes the courage of the ANZACS while acknowledging the horror of war.

‘The Hour Before Dawn’ has already been compared favourably with Eric Bogle’s First World War classics, ‘And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda’ and ‘No Man’s Land’.

“It’s a song that we’ve felt compelled to record and put the Kamerunga stamp on ever since we first heard it,” says the band’s co-founder, manager and player Tony Hillier, himself a national music critic.

Featuring poetic and poignant lyrics penned by esteemed Victorian writer Ian Bland, resident bard at premier Melbourne public radio station 3RRR, ‘The Hour Before Dawn’ calls the World War I action like it was.

Lacerating lines like “adventure we thought when we answered the drum/ not the journey to hell shortly to come” and “both the living and dead share the mud of this trench/ no words can describe the horror and stench” pepper verses that go to the heart of the “Great War”.

Kamerunga will be debuting their stirring new version when they take to the stage at the Port Fairy Folk Festival during the first weekend in March and at WOMADelaide a couple of days later.

In the interim, ‘The Hour Before Dawn’ — recorded by the band’s drummer and ARIA-award winning producer Nigel Pegrum at his Cairns studio — will be available on iTunes and other digital download sites.

Kamerunga will be performing at the Reef Casino this coming Australia day weekend at 8.30 on Saturday night. Entry is Free. The band will also be first cab off the rank in the Tanks world music series at the Tanks Arts Centre on Feb 27 when they support the Saharan desert blues band Bombino.

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