Tilly Rose and Paul Ray in the Australian National Busking Championships. Photos: Allan Spencer.
Cobargo’s main streets will be alive with music in late February as it joins the Australian National Busking Championships ahead of the Cobargo Folk Festival.
Cobargo is one of eight regional towns that will host a heat of the championships in 2026 in the lead-up to the national grand final in Cooma in November.
Cobargo Folk Festival director Zena Armstrong said she was thrilled to partner with The Australian National Busking Championships (ANBC) to bring this exciting new addition to the Cobargo Folk Festival’s fringe event “It Takes A Village”.
“These heats are all-acoustic, reflecting the festival’s folkie roots and the prizes are generous. We hope South Coast musicians will apply to be a part of this new venture,” Ms Armstrong said.
Ms Armstrong, and Peter Logue, president of the Yuin Folk Club, have followed the development of the ANBC since it began and always thought it would be a good thing to bring into Cobargo.
“Mike Martin, the father of Sam Martin, won the inaugural ANBC competition which showed us how valuable this event is as a showcase of local excellence,” she said. “Many musicians started on the street and many, even those with well-established professional careers, love performing in that unfiltered performance environment.”
People coming this year could see the next Tones and I or Bega’s Felicity Dowd at the busking heat. Both have honed their performance skills at the busking championships,.
Cooma music teacher Allan Spencer has a lifelong love of busking after seeing buskers for the first time as a child in Brisbane’s CBD made a big impression.
“Later in life travelling in Spain I was blown away by the talent and professionalism of the buskers,” he said. “Bringing music to the streets really adds to the vitality of a place so I have been enthralled by buskers for a long time.”
Mr Spencer said the Tamworth Country Music Festival had done an incredible job with its country music busking championships. Casey Chambers, Troy Cassar-Daley and Keith Urban all started busking there.
Seeing a gap and a need, in 2012 Mr Spencer launched the ANBC in Cooma. It has grown enormously since then. Regional towns in NSW, Queensland, ACT, Victoria and South Australia now host busking heats each year. Cobargo is the latest to join.
Mr Spencer gets a kick out of seeing young emerging artists like Rory Phillips cut their teeth at the busking championships. The Tumut teenager is the youngest member of The Bushwackers.
“He started coming year after year to do busking,” Mr Spencer said.
On 26 February from 10 am to 4 pm around 20 buskers will be performing their hearts out at eight sites in Cobargo.
As part of the festival’s fringe event, after the busking, local and regional performers will play at four venues in Cobargo.
Amy Ryan performs on the street.
One is Berridale singer/songwriter Gabi Forman and her band. Ms Forman, who won the busking championships in 2024, and her mother Karen are very involved in the ANBC.
It is a real feast of artists with the likes of The Bega Male Voice Choir, Riverbend Choir, Pete Wild, The Bega District Band, Kate Burke, Pepper and Davies, Benji and the Saltwater Sound System, and more.
Another treat of Thursday’s fringe event is that renowned crime writers Chris Hammer and Michael Brissenden will be in conversation with former ABC international correspondent Phil Williams at Well Thumbed Books.
For a break from the music Bermagui artist Bethany Thurtell’s art exhibition Faces of Cobargo will be at the RSL Hall.
It Takes A Village is also great for Cobargo’s businesses as the rebuild of the village’s centre after the Black Summer bushfires continues.
Busking brings all the intangible benefits of live music such as bringing people together, as well as launching and nurturing fresh talent.
Mr Spencer, who has been teaching music for 50 years, said there is no better way to become a good performer than to perform.
“it is one thing to be good at what you do. It is a totally different experience to perform,” he said. “Busking is a really good way to get over those nerves and be a better performer. It is a great learning experience because you get instant feedback.”
It Takes A Village will be followed by the Cobargo Folk Festival, featuring more than 70 local and international acts across 27 February to 1 March. Tickets are available here. More than 1000 people attended It Takes A Village last year.
