Mike Harding (New Zealand)
Encyclopedia
Mike Harding is a well-known New Zealand
folk
musician born in 16 July 1952, now living in New Plymouth
, Taranaki.
, Harding practised his music in "the streets, markets and clubs of Auckland
in the early 1980s", before he describes himself as having spent a "Time on the Road" decade all over New Zealand and parts of Australia and Britain. In 1998 he created his tenth recording, "Past to the Present", described by Radio New Zealand
as a "20 track exploration of NZ from north to south, its people and places, past and present." and his first record available on CD. In 2008, he followed it by "Here we have a land", with a selection of New Zealand folk songs and his own original creations.
Mike Harding has played at the Auckland Folk Festival several times, especially in the 1990s, was a top performer at the Marlborough Folk Society's concerts in Blenheim, as well as playing at other music festivals like New Plymouth's "TSB Bank Festival of Lights
". Since about 1995, Mike Harding also plays on and off as guitarist of the Gumboot Tango band, appearing regularly at events like the Taranaki International Arts Festival.
Sings of Home", a source guide to the folk and popular songs of New Zealand, described as important in raising the profile of a little-studied part of New Zealand popular music history.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
musician born in 16 July 1952, now living in New Plymouth
New Plymouth
New Plymouth is the major city of the Taranaki Region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after Plymouth, Devon, England, from where the first English settlers migrated....
, Taranaki.
Musician
Growing up in EketahunaEketahuna
Eketahuna is a small rural service town, the most southerly in the Tararua District in the Manawatu-Wanganui region of the North Island of New Zealand, but is considered to be in northern Wairarapa. It was called Mellenskov, but was renamed soon after its founding.The town is located at the foot of...
, Harding practised his music in "the streets, markets and clubs of Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
in the early 1980s", before he describes himself as having spent a "Time on the Road" decade all over New Zealand and parts of Australia and Britain. In 1998 he created his tenth recording, "Past to the Present", described by Radio New Zealand
Radio New Zealand
Radio New Zealand is a New Zealand public service radio broadcaster and Crown entity formed by the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news, current affairs and arts network Radio New Zealand National and classical music and jazz network Radio New Zealand Concert with full government funding...
as a "20 track exploration of NZ from north to south, its people and places, past and present." and his first record available on CD. In 2008, he followed it by "Here we have a land", with a selection of New Zealand folk songs and his own original creations.
Mike Harding has played at the Auckland Folk Festival several times, especially in the 1990s, was a top performer at the Marlborough Folk Society's concerts in Blenheim, as well as playing at other music festivals like New Plymouth's "TSB Bank Festival of Lights
Festival of Lights (New Plymouth)
thumb|right|Waterfall lightsThe TSB Bank Festival of Lights is an annual event held in Pukekura Park, New Plymouth. Running for free every year from mid-December to early February, it has daytime and night time programmes of events for people of all ages, and the festival itself transforms the...
". Since about 1995, Mike Harding also plays on and off as guitarist of the Gumboot Tango band, appearing regularly at events like the Taranaki International Arts Festival.
Music historian
In 1992 he also wrote "When the PakehaPakeha
Pākehā is a Māori language word for New Zealanders who are "of European descent". They are mostly descended from British and to a lesser extent Irish settlers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although some Pākehā have Dutch, Scandinavian, German, Yugoslav or other ancestry...
Sings of Home", a source guide to the folk and popular songs of New Zealand, described as important in raising the profile of a little-studied part of New Zealand popular music history.
External links
- Mike Harding (official website)