Penelope Swales is a songwriter,

folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

, instrument maker,

legal aid Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to co ...

lawyer, and activist based in the

Dandenong Ranges The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just The Dandenongs) are a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The ranges consist mostly of rolling hills, steeply weathere ...

in Victoria, Australia. Swales performed at the Poly Pride Day in New York's

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

in 2007, and toured Europe in 2008 with the band ''

Totally Gourdgeous Totally Gourdgeous are an Australian folk band, in which the members' instruments are manufactured from gourds made by the group's Penelope Swales. They formed in Melbourne in 1998, with Swales on guitar, stomp box, hulusi, aslatuas, mandolin, ...

''. She spent much of her early life

homeless Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

. Working with musical instrument maker Jack Spira, she began making instruments using the hard shells of

gourd Gourds include the fruits of some flowering plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, particularly ''Cucurbita'' and ''Lagenaria''. The term refers to a number of species and subspecies, many with hard shells, and some without. One of the earli ...

s similar to

kalimba Mbira ( ) are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and pl ...

s, and has made and sold many of them. She became a

lawyer.

Discography

* ''Between Light And Dark'', 1993 * ''Returning on Foot'', 1995 * ''Homemade Wine'', 1997 * ''Live At Woodford'', 1998 * ''Justifying Your Longings to the Doctor'', 1998 * ''Archive: Demos, out-takes and one-offs 1995–2000'', 2001 * ''Monkey Comfort'', 2003 * ''Archive Vol 2: Songs from the Borderline'', 2005 * ''Skin: Deep – Polymorphous Love Songs'', 2007 * ''Legacy: Two Decades of Topical Songwriting'', 2010

Television appearances

Swales appeared on the

RMITV RMITV is a not-for-profit, community access television production facility based at RMIT University City Campus in Melbourne, Australia. It is a full member of the Melbourne Community Television Consortium, a not-for-profit consortium that ...

show ''

Under Melbourne Tonight ''Under Melbourne Tonight'' was a weekly live variety hour television program produced by RMITV that broadcast on C31 Melbourne. Reaching a weekly viewership of 55,000 people each week, the show was reviewed in ''The Age''s Green Guide by Jim Sch ...

'' in 1996.

References

External links

Penelope Swales' official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swales, Penelope Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Australian folk musicians Australian women singers Australian folk singers