online music com - APRA

Arthur Baysting
APRA Director
There are a very few great philosophical
puzzles. One might be, for instance,
what is the exact nature of the universe?
Another would be: Can we save the
planet from climate catastrophe? And
then perhaps the most perplexing of all:
What Is Folk Music?
Candles burn down and hard drives
burn out; but still the definitions and
justifications fly. Wikipedia has a lengthy
explanation of the whole mess, including
“Further Reading” (section twelve) which
delves into genres
like psychfolk and
folktronica.
A look at recent
finalists in the Folk
Album of the Year
award demonstrate
the range of music –
everything from NZ bush ballads, Irish,
country blues, Maori, Scottish, singersongwriters,
and Celtic.
But, as Dunedin folkie Mike Moroney
says: “if you’re arguing about what folk is,
you’re not getting on with it really.” And
lately, a lot of Kiwi musicians are getting
on with it. Mike’s website www.kiwifolk.
com lists over sixty clubs and venues
throughout the country and has links to
scores of performers. Everyone I spoke to
in the folk world agreed on one thing; folk
is back.
Mike thinks he knows why. “The big
thing is the emergence
of the alternative music
scene. These musicians
mightn’t even call
themselves ‘folk’ but
they play acoustic
instruments and they
want to play their songs
in front of an audience.
Thanks to open mic
nights they’ve got a
forum in the folk world.”
Mike also believes
that the clubs are good for the young
singer-songwriters. “In bars often nobody
listens, or they have to play loud to be
heard over the punters. In a club
everyone’s focussed on the performance.
Suddenly they have to engage with the
audience; it encourages them to develop
performing skills.”
Since 1970 Roger Giles has run
Auckland’s Bunker, home to the
Devonport Folk Music Club. These days
he says, folk nights are generally standing
room only and the same is true of other
Auckland venues like Chris Priestley’s 121
in Ponsonby Road
(ex-Atomic Café).
Festival
attendances also
show the new
popularity. Dave
Barnes, manager of
the Wellington Folk
Festival, is excited
about the new young
audience: “There’s a
missed generation at
our festivals,” he
explains. “Very few
30s to 45s, but
because of the young
ones, our overall
audiences are bigger
than ever.”
Where exactly
does NZ folk music come from? The short
answer, following a troll thru’ various
websites, seems to be anywhere and
everywhere. Lists of “Top NZ folk songs”
include I’ve been Everywhere and The
Gumboot Song, neither of which started
here. Nor did that other
iconic number Ten
Guitars, although it’s
virtually unheard of
anywhere else in the
world.
Yet another consistent
listing is definitely
indigenous: the Chesdale
Cheese song. This
musical icon started life
as a TV jingle and has
had several
reincarnations including as a children’s
playground rhyme, as collected by Janice
Ackerley: Chesdale slices thickly/Always
crumbles, has no taste/And shit is it a
bloody waste!/Chesdale Cheese/The
Poms all buy it – don’t try it.
Traditional New Zealand music has
many champions including Phil Garland,
whose mission for over 30 years has been
to gather and preserve for posterity the
stories and songs of New Zealand.
Phil won the inaugural 1984 Folk Album
of the Year with Springtime in the
Mountains and won it again last year with
Southern Odyssey. Phil says he’s busier
than ever, playing festivals, releasing
albums and writing. Following on from his
successful Singing Kiwi songbook, his
Faces in the Firelight – a look at New
Zealand history through Kiwi folklore,
song, poetry and yarns, will soon be in the
bookshops.
Where the music comes from is not an
issue with young bands like Forbidden
Joe, a trio made up of Frances Dickinson,
Alex Bowrick and Emily Giles, who are
honing their songwriting skills while
gaining a strong reputation with traditional
tunes www.myspace.com/forbiddenjoe.
Frances, described by bFM as “a
forthcoming folk superstar” is a folk
activist as well as a fine musician. She
talks about the international heavyweights
who regularly tour through New Zealand
and the considerable number of Kiwi
musicians playing in groups overseas.
For Frances there’s no question about
where Folk is heading. It’s even written on
her business card; Folk is the New Black.
APR AP MAY 2008
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