Folk in New Zealand

Subject: Folk in New Zealand
From: GUEST,Fyldeplayer
Date: 25 Feb 20 - 02:37 AM

Moving around NZ - south to North, what music options are available - I've heard there is a club in Auckland?

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Mr Red
Date: 25 Feb 20 - 03:17 AM

Kiwifolk clubs updatestamp 2007

Kiwifolk for tourists - 2007 again

They will be a start

otherwise there are many hits if you look at this list - the Titirangi Folk Club looks to have survived more than 30 years

Wellington does not seem to have much that is regular. Taurangi was a house concert series if I remember. Levin (pronounces lu vin) looks to be current - eg Folk nearer Wellington


Best of luck.

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Jack Campin
Date: 25 Feb 20 - 03:18 AM

I went back a few years ago - the only thing I went to was a great session in Nelson, but there are regular folk clubs in Devonport and Titirangi, and a Scottish fiddle club in Lower Hutt.

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: GUEST,kenny
Date: 25 Feb 20 - 04:55 AM

I was in a very good session in Nelson too, about 4 years ago. I've heard that Scottish instrument maker Dave Stewart moved there a year or so past. I think also an excellent flute player called Brendyn Montgomery lives there too. If it's an Irish tune session you want, then I can recommend Nelson. The place is worth a visit anyway.
Best of luck in your search.
Kenny

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: GUEST,Splott Man
Date: 25 Feb 20 - 05:34 AM

Good contacts out there are Mudcatters Vectis in the Bay of Plenty, and Little Robyn in Hawkes Bay. Both are actively involved in the folk scene.
Also Ruth Birnie and Gerard Hudson, who I believe are now in the Wellington area. They are both on Facebook, As is Nigel Parry, and ex-pat who gigs out there.
Also in Wellington are Acoustic Routes who organise events in a number of venues, but have no regular club.

Devonport Folk Club (The Bunker) is a great club on the north side of Auckland Harbour. They have events on various days of the week. The view from the roof is stunning!
Torbay (N of Auckland), there is a Sunday afternoon club in a Bowls Club.
Titirangi as mentioned.
There's also an acoustic venue in Auckland called the Thirsty Dog.
Te Aroha Folk Club c/o Mary Barr, Bay of Plenty.
There's something in Tauranga, but we didn't find it!
Hamilton Acoustic Music Club.

Christchurch FC - every Sunday.
Dunedin,The New Edinburgh FC - every Sunday.
Picton, Seamus’ Irish Bar has acoustic music.

It's worth looking at the tour schedule of Brits who work out there regularly: Dan Walsh, Winter Wilson, Mary Cathasaigh & Chris Newman, Jez Lowe.

Have fun

Splott Man

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Mr Red
Date: 25 Feb 20 - 08:36 AM

Máire Ní Chathasaigh & Chris Newman - if you thought the spelling was difficult, the pronunciation is moreso.
danwalshbanjo.co.uk/
www.jezlowe.com
facebook.com/winterwilsonmusic/ - winterwilson.com/

The Wellington concerts are what is left of the Folk Club. They still produce the magazine "the Balladeer" (December issue) - I recognise a couple of the "officials'".

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Mr Red
Date: 25 Feb 20 - 08:59 AM

Balladeer Feb - looks like the Festival season is largely over now. Good to see Tahora is still going, very much out in the wapwaps.

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Jack Campin
Date: 25 Feb 20 - 09:03 AM

Wellington Bluegrass

Ceol Alba in Lower Hutt

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 25 Feb 20 - 10:06 AM

Look out for Karen Jones: great singer, guitarist and harpist. Returned to NZ a few years back, after quite a few more years in Edinburgh.

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 25 Feb 20 - 10:42 AM

Karen plays in a duo (sometimes trio) called "Across the Great Divide" : she is on Facebook, as is the band, so you may be able to find out uf they have any gigs on during your travels.

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Jack Campin
Date: 25 Feb 20 - 11:13 AM

Wellington Sea Shanty Society

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Jack Campin
Date: 25 Feb 20 - 11:43 AM

This is your best chance of seeing traditional Maori rowing chants:

Turangawaewae Regatta

There is quite a bit of other Maori folk tradition to see and hear. Most museums have exhibits of taonga puoro (traditional instruments) . The Hamilton museum has a terrific display about the life of an itinerant Maori dance band 100-odd years ago.

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Mr Red
Date: 26 Feb 20 - 02:41 AM

If you haven't had one - try and find a Hangi (pronounced hungee). Moari meal cooked under the soil. Rotarua usually does them as a tourist thing. I watched them do one at the Tahora Festival.

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Jack Campin
Date: 26 Feb 20 - 05:42 AM

Wthere is a basic problem with hangis as done for tourists. Everything tastes of steaming dirt and boiled worms. In a traditional village, the umu (earth oven) would have been reused every week and the inside would have been baked hard. Tte tourist ones are usually done by digging a fresh hole.

Maori food is mostly the product of desperation.

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Mr Red
Date: 26 Feb 20 - 07:45 AM

Hey! Experience is experience. That is what you go to foreign lands for anyway. If you want familiar, stay at home.

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Brian Peters
Date: 26 Feb 20 - 08:06 AM

I second the recommendation for the Bunker Folk Club in Devonport. Great setting and room, and good singing too.

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 27 Feb 20 - 10:59 AM

We went to the Christchurch Folk Club while there in 2005: very friendly. Included food and dancing but finished at 10.30. A very kind lady drove us all the way back to our hotel (having arrived by bus.)

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Jack Campin
Date: 27 Feb 20 - 11:14 AM

Early closing is a New Zealand weirdness. We were staying in Parnell (inner Auckland suburb) a few years ago and wanted to go out for the evening. There was an Irish pub, that should be a good bet, yes? It had the chairs all stacked on the tables by 9.30.

Shit public transport is another one. I've no idea how you'd get back to central Auckland from Devonport or Titirangi after their folk clubs finish.

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 27 Feb 20 - 03:57 PM

KA MATE! KA MATE! KA ORA! KA ORA!
KA MATE! KA MATE! KA ORA! KA ORA!
TANEI TE TANGATA PUHURUHURU
NANA I TIKI MARI I WHAKAWHITI TE RA
HAUPANI! KAUPANI! HAUPANI! KAUPANI!
WHITE TE RA!!

From WalkaboutsVerse, my poem, with pics, on "Aotearoa"

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Jack Campin
Date: 27 Feb 20 - 04:20 PM

Not exactly folk. If it had been composed in Britain you'd think of it in the same terms as Blake's Jerusalem, Scots Wha Hae or one of Shelley's radical poems.

Te Rauparaha's "Ka Mate"

Te Rauparaha was a blend of freedom fighter and mobster. Hard to think of a close modern parallel.

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 28 Feb 20 - 02:12 PM

From Jack's link, this is pretty close to what is on the tea towel, given to me as a birthday present from my auntie who lives in Christchurch and whom some other relatives encouraged to repatriate, after the 2011 earthquake there; and, from the translation, we can tell that it is a pretty good motivator at the start of a rugby game!

Ka mate, ka mate! ka ora! ka ora!
Ka mate! ka mate! ka ora! ka ora!
Tenei te tangata puhuruhuru
Nana nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te ra
A, upane! ka upane!
A, upane, ka upane, whiti te ra!

'Tis death! 'tis death! (or: I may die) 'Tis life! 'tis life! (or: I may live)
'Tis death! 'tis death! 'Tis life! 'tis life!
This is the hairy man
Who summons the sun and makes it shine
A step upward, another step upward!
A step upward, another... the Sun shines!

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Nick
Date: 29 Feb 20 - 04:27 PM

My friend Lindsey runs Dunedin folk club and would I’m sure be helpful. I’ll send her a link to this

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Little Robyn
Date: 01 Mar 20 - 06:47 PM

Not much happening in Hawke's Bay these days. There will be a gathering at Tutira in April (somewhere around 25th, I think) and our usual session is on Wednesday nights at the Rose & Shamrock pub in Havelock North. You're welcome to join us if you're passing through on a Wednesday.
Robyn

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Mr Red
Date: 02 Mar 20 - 03:23 PM

Rose & Shamrock Napier Rd - see https://map.what3words.com/hardest.choirs.fezzes looking at streetview it has a nice facade.

One to remember as I have relatives in Napier.

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: GUEST,Jeff Davis
Date: 02 Mar 20 - 05:24 PM

Brian Peters is right: The Devonport Folk Club at The Bunkder is a fine place and has the best scenic vista of any folk site in the world. Also, should you be travelling along the west coast of the North Island, the Dargaville Museum has a surprisingly large collection of concertinas and accordions. The Auckland Folk Festival is quite substantial and has quite a focus on local folk clubs around the country. The headliners at the Festival this year were Tim O'Brien and Andy Irvine. Not bad....to say the least.

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: GUEST,Rob Mad Jock Wright
Date: 03 Mar 20 - 06:53 AM

A lot of music in Queenstown. Best is an open mike nights in a hotel. Those who run it are usually busking on the front of the harbour. Watch for the percussionist.

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Jack Campin
Date: 03 Mar 20 - 07:49 AM

If Fyldeplayer drops into the cafe at Rangiriri (which you probably will if going on SH1 between Auckland and Hamilton) could I get a photo of the score of the Rangiriri Polka they have on the wall? (Commemorates the battle). My phone wasn't up to taking an adequate picture when I was there.

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Mar 20 - 08:24 AM

Jack, I took a shot at a Google search on your cafe and town and score - surely someone has been there and posted the photos. No luck, so far, or at least they didn't add the metadata for the photos to turn up in a narrow search.

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: GUEST,CJB
Date: 05 Mar 20 - 12:01 PM

Here's the collection of accordians in Dargaville Museum.

http://www.accordions.com/kevin/n_gems.htm

At least they are not hung up with the bellows stretched out as I've seen in Palmerston North Museum and in others museums around NZ.

But I bet none in the Dargaville collection are ever played. Meanwhile the bellows and valves dry out and eventually turn to dust. And that is to say nothing about prolific insect infestation.

I have two concertinas saved from the fate that usually falls to such instruments in NZ. One is a George Case English concertina complete with 12 volumes of concertina music in. It was bought in Wellington from the daughter of a professional music hall player. It is in concert pitch - having been retuned and restored by Collin Dipper.

And the other is a Salvation Army Wheatstone Duet (once in low G) from an antique shop in Mount Eden in Auckland. It too was restored by Collin Dipper and retuned to concert pitch. It is for sale, but only to someone who is going to play it.

BTW for those in the UK, the Horniman Museum in London has a HUGE collection of accordions and concertinas - all locked away in glass cases and NEVER ever played. Par for the course with musical instruments in museums.

https://www.horniman.ac.uk/collections/browse-our-collections/keyword/concertinas

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Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Mr Red
Date: 06 Mar 20 - 02:53 AM

Looks to be only one place in Ragiriri that would host a session

map.what3words.com/sturdily.triplet.vocab - have a look at streetview

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Mr Red
Date: 06 Mar 20 - 04:22 AM

actually next door is a tea room

map.what3words.com/gloriously.tidiness.lanky

Subject: RE: Folk in New Zealand
From: Jack Campin
Date: 06 Mar 20 - 04:47 AM

That Dargaville collection looks great. I'd never seen a uniform-keyboard accordion before.