NZ folk stuff in April 2013?

Subject: RE: NZ folk stuff in April 2013?
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 17 Dec 12 - 09:40 PM

Malaya via NZ seems a long way round but obviously you are taking advantage of being in the almost right latitude to fit a trip in to NZ - and why not!

Subject: RE: NZ folk stuff in April 2013?
From: GUEST,SG
Date: 17 Dec 12 - 07:01 AM

The Sprig and Fern on Hardy Street in Nelson featured Acoustic sessions when I was last there in February - the beer's good too, as is the Indian Restaurant on the opposite site of the street: a perfect night out , for me at least.

Subject: RE: NZ folk stuff in April 2013?
From: GUEST,vectis sans cookie
Date: 17 Dec 12 - 06:01 AM

in the Bay of plenty:

Tauranga jam session every Sunday and Katikati folk club one Friday a month, looks like a singaround in April.

Nelson Folk Club on 2nd and 4th Sundays.

Subject: RE: NZ folk stuff in April 2013?
From: Little Robyn
Date: 17 Dec 12 - 05:30 AM

Ian, from Titirangi FC, member of Supersheep
is also a Northumbrian piper.
Robyn

Subject: RE: NZ folk stuff in April 2013?
From: Little Robyn
Date: 17 Dec 12 - 05:22 AM

Not much activity on the NSP front - Helen has shifted to Australia for awhile, otherwise you might have found her at an Easter FF.
I'll be at home - in Hawke's Bay, if you come over this way. There's a Wednesday session at the Rose & Shamrock in Havelock North but unless it's a school holiday, I won't be there.
Sue lives in Wellington but I don't know if she's playing her pipes anywhere.
Sorry I can't be much help.
Robyn, Northumbrian piper

Subject: RE: NZ folk stuff in April 2013?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 16 Dec 12 - 08:50 PM

The allusion to Northumbrian pipes was intended to bring another Kiwi Mudcatter out of the woodwork...

I was thinking of visiting Kapiti anyway (I've only seen it across the water but it looks worth the trip).

I wouldn't have picked April if I'd had the choice, the weather is completely unpredictable. Still, I'll be in the right place to get a Drizabone for a good price.

Subject: RE: NZ folk stuff in April 2013?
From: Fossil
Date: 16 Dec 12 - 08:35 PM

Stick with it, Jack, most of NZ closes down for holidays just before Christmas, and doesn't start again until February. The folk clubs also all take a break in January, but by the time you get here, things will be going off again.

Hard to realise, even for those of us who are used to it, but this is actually high summer here, right now and the fabled Christmas BBQ on the beach can be very real. So all the folkies will be out in their tents, out in the boonies, tramping, fishing, or sailing. Not by April, though, the weather will have turned by then (think October in the Northern Hemisphere).

The Balladeer is the best thing for news of what's on in the Wellington region and its appearance in February/March is usually pretty reliable. I have a piper friend Phil Cowan, who lives in Otaki (Kapiti Coast) who'd be a good source of info about pipey stuff. I'll contact him nearer the time to see if there's anything going on. You might have to be a little less specific about your choice of pipes, though. The NZ population isn't that big that you can be choosy, so it might be Scots or Ulieinan rather than Northumbrian that you get to listen to.

There's a lot going on, but not right now...

Subject: NZ folk stuff in April 2013?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 16 Dec 12 - 07:43 PM

I am likely to be in New Zealand in April 2013 (on the way to a wedding in Malaya). Thinking of starting and finishing the trip in Auckland (where I lived until 1974), travelling down to Nelson and back by public transport (different routes) with a bunch of side trips.

NZ folk websites are fairly numerous but it's hard to tell the dead ones from those that are reliably updated. The only one I've found that looks a virtual cert to have something I can get to is Devonport Folk Club. Titirangi FC, maybe (they aren't as frequent). Blues is not a big thing for me, but Hamilton Blues Club seems pretty active and I'll be there at some point. There seems to be a fair bit happening in the Wellington area, judging by Acoustic Routes's "Balladeer" bulletin, but April isn't listed yet.

Sessions: The Clare Inn in Auckland (or is this Irish exclusively?). Maybe Biddy Mulligans in Hamilton, 3rd Sunday afternoons. Nothing in Wellington or Nelson that I can find.

Festivals have all finished long before I'll get there.

What have I missed? Is there some vibrant musette music workshop in Blenheim or a sea shanties club in Dargaville? Where do I go to hear Northumbrian pipes, for that matter?...