Auckland Folk Festival presented Folk music at its most varied and diverse, always close to global ethnic roots.
Traditionally held over Auckland Anniversary Weekend, we have seen in recent times that it does not guarantee that the Weather Gods bring the summer sun. It really did not dampen spirits much and there was wonderful music to be experienced.
I can but give you a taster of the many acts on offer, and this is by no means a definitive portrait of al that we could experience this weekend.
Old Man Luedecke is halfway through his set in the Big Shed, and his ringing banjo tones are filling the main stage room.
Christopher Luedecke is one of three Canadian acts appearing this weekend. He is a highly regarded Folk roots musician with interesting and compelling stories to tell in verse.
He has a tribute song to another Canadian Folk legend Ian Tyson, taking inspiration from some of his onstage banter, where he described his many female relationships as being like an old wolf caught in a bear trap. That is the Song for Ian Tyson.
Butter Wouldn’t Melt are a rousing and energetic Country music combo led by Andrea Reid rhythm guitar and Nick Burfield lead guitar.
I last saw them playing a set at the Nix in Auckland (at the Bluegrass club) before heading off on a South Island jaunt towards a Country music festival in Gore.
As well as Cara Brasted fiddle and Marz Connelly standup bass, they have added Michael Muggeridge on mandolin for this show.
They begin in high fashion with Orpheus, very much an old roots Country sound with some Eastern tones added in to the mix.
Their Woman of Fire is a tribute to Reid’s mother. A subdued slow start which becomes a lament before charging off on a folkie breakdown swing.
Culverake are an English trio of Matt Quinn, Seb Stone and Lizzie Hardingham.
They sing in unison and in lovely and captivating three-part harmony, easily filling the Big Shed with their rich tone.
They are selling their debut album Unto the Sky which came about from some crowd-funding last year and offer us three cuts from that.
Peterloo (addressing the infamous St. Peter’s Field massacre in Manchester 1819 when the British cavalry attacked a large peaceful protest group) John Barleycorn (a Scottish version), and a fetching and sweet Irish air called Sweel Lisbweemore.
They end their set in much humour with Horsham Ram, a tune dedicated to a celebrated English singer Gordon Hall.
This ram was fat behind/ This ram was fat before.
Hot Diggity have the honour of being the only all-female Bluegrass band in the country and have been a small sensation at the only two Kiwigrass festivals to date around the same time as covid hysteria was raging.
Songwriters are Heather Carrigan (mandolin), and Deborah Mackenzie (guitar), with great backing from Jenine Abarbanel (upright bass), Sue Drake (banjo), and Louise Eveans (fiddle).
Kick off their set in hard swinging style with a song addressing a bad, black train. Not too far removed from Hank Snow’s classic I’m Movin’ On.
Southern Buster has a whiplashing triple vocal harmony attack and steamrolls right through the furiously flapping tent sides.
Cassie and Maggie are MacDonald sisters from Nova Scotia, Canada and they provide one of the many highlights of this year’s Folk Fest.
They have gathered numerous awards and accolades in their home country. One significant watershed moment was appearing at the Folk Alliance International conference in Memphis Tennessee which helped to galvanise their broader international appeal.
Both sisters learnt the fiddle at a very early age, but it is Cassie who persisted with this, with her glittery Rolling Stones t-shirt on stage.
Maggie it is who sits down behind a keyboard and starts with a medley of traditional reels, Celtic roots mined and eventually breaking out into a boogie-woogie percussive style anchored by the syncopated fiddle.
Just prior to this we are treated to a Gaelic song, Nova Scotia style, called Harvesting the Oaks.
A lot of their rhythmic style has close similarities to original Appalachian music, itself a repository for many of the original homeland music of the British Isles and associated Northern European traditions.
Gold and Coal (2025) is an album worth checking out and they throw out the opening track Bow Down as a rousing stomp.
Earlier album The Willow Collection (2016) and we hear their version of Hangman, which is their take on the traditional Gallows Pole. Raucous Punk Folk energy reminiscent of the Pogues at their best.
Watch out for the current version of the Pogues playing here later this year.
Petty Grass pays tribute to the songs of Tom Petty done in a distinctive contemporary Bluegrass style.
Their origins are from the annual Telluride Bluegrass Fest in Colorado, and Kiwi Benjamin Preston (mandolin) is there along with Andy Jones (guitar), and Warren Gilbreath (banjo).
I catch the folkie strains of Down South from the Highway Companion album, and they excel on their version of Walls (Circus).
Some days are diamonds, some days are rocks. This may have resulted in the Heartbreakers meeting Johnny Cash at one of Rick Rubin’s American Series recording sessions.
American Girl is given an appropriate Byrd’s style jangle.
Mel Parsons may be the most high-profile New Zealand artist appearing at the Festival this weekend and she performs a well-controlled and emotional solo performance late in the afternoon on Saturday.
She specialises in melancholic Americana and can captivate with her quietly powerful and controlled voice. She insinuates rather than over-dramatizes.
Choice cuts from her most recent album Sabotage which culminates with 5432. What if you don’t love me like I love you?
There is still room for the light to flow in as is Alberta Sun from the Drylands album.
Parsons does take time to tell us about the effects of an abusive relationship on Don’t Leave the Light On. The bruises aren’t visible. Cathartic and honest.
In recent times I have seen her supporting Crowded House on their farewell tour, as well as supporting Chris Isaak.
Tiny Hands is one of the few times she addresses her posse of young children. Which leads to comments about balancing the highs of a busy touring schedule with the rewards of parenthood.
Zora I almost missed until I saw it was a quartet of genuine World musicians which consisted of Iranian Rasoul Abbasi, Swedish Hanna Wiskari, Indian Basant Madhur and Tui Mamaki, who has French and Maori roots, and is the leader of the Medena Ensemble, who played here last year.
Last year Mamaki curated a programme at the Village stage which included all these players. This evening, they play as a combo especially for this occasion and mix Middle Eastern, Persian, Nordic and Indian sounds to make a totally compelling collage and kaleidoscope of sound.
As Mamaki comments, they came together especially for this set, and this was a close pick of their ideal collaborators.
Madhur plays rapid tonal shifts and polyrhythms across the music and adds understated strength. Wiskari’s saxophone often sounds like an exotic flute.
Abbasi performs with a kamanche, a bowed four-string instrument and Mamaki takes the singers role with Persian and sub-continental vocal tones.
As a quartet they are totally riveting as the can improvise and extend out with their close mix of styles and genres.
Again, the Auckland Folk Festival achieve a close approximation of World music in a year when the annual WOMAD showpiece is absent. This makes up for it in spades.
Rev. Orange Peel
Photography by Den
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