Auckland Folk Festival First Lineup Announcement

The Auckland Folk Festival celebrates its 45th anniversary in January with an entertaining and inspiringly diverse line-up of local and international artists. New Zealand’s biggest annual folk music gathering will take place again at the Kumeu Showgrounds early next year.

The 45th Auckland Folk Festival
Auckland Anniversary Weekend

Press Release:

The family-friendly festival showcases folk musicians from around New Zealand and the world to entertain guests of all ages. Festival goers can enjoy a full weekend of concerts, dances and educational workshops, all within the boundaries of the Kumeu Showgrounds, situated just a short drive northwest of Auckland city.

With a new breed of NZ folk artists enjoying international attention the festival has also been evolving in recent years, drawing in a younger generation of fans who appreciate those authentic modern songwriters, as well as more traditional folk and dance.

The Auckland Folk Festival provides opportunities for the artists and attendees alike to share their own music and celebrations with like-minded people from all cultures.

Sustainability is at the forefront of festival organisers’ decisions with recycling stations and a no-rubbish policy. Set in a spacious rural environ, the festival supports local businesses by using their services where possible. All tickets include camping.

Artist Bios:

Known best in NZ for their stand-out performance at WOMAD in 2017, The East Pointers continue to blur the lines between traditional and popular music and develop a devoted fanbase around the globe. They have spent the last two years touring Canada, the US, the UK, and Australia in support of their JUNO Award winning album, ‘Secret Victory’. In 2016, they won Touring Artist of the Year at the Music PEI Awards and Ensemble of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards. Their sophomore album, ‘What We Leave Behind’ was released in September 2017.

“One of the year’s landmark releases”, says MOJO magazine of Nadia Reid’s 2017 album ‘Preservation’. Life has been steadily going uphill for songwriter Nadia Reid since the album’s release. Collecting stamps in her passport, as well as rave reviews all across the globe, Nadia’s evocative and poetic lyrics are a precious insight into the mind of someone with the ability to connect the warmth of a fond memory and the sadness of a love lost with well-crafted composition and arrangement.

“What one notices immediately is how contemporary her sound is. The harp is used by Swift as less a heavenly instrument and more a bold alternative to the acoustic guitar. Swift’s voice is sultry, settling and sensuous as she sings with confidence and a wry smile…Over the sombre vocals of The Scots Pine and breathless Pinus Silvestrus, Swift takes us on a journey through the Scottish landscape that is draped in traditional stylings. There’s an organic quality to her playing as she veers dramatically from poised, fluid and precise movements to those rich, dark and sweeping bass notes.”

Huw Williams began his professional career as a singer songwriter. He toured and recorded as part of the duo Huw and Tony Williams, whose songs were covered by many other artists in the USA and Europe, including Fairport Convention whose version of Summer Before the War and Simon Nicol’s Rosemary’s Sister brought him to a much wider audience. He has also worked as a broadcaster producing and presenting programs for BBC in the UK.

The Bollands play hearty folk songs about the twists and turns of life. Their aim in life is to get everyone stomping and singing. Always on the road, they have been foot-stomping their way through the world. From Taiwanese pizza rooftops, through the dirty streets of India to international music festivals, Joyce (piano & percussion) and Christian (guitar) come from pretty different backgrounds. Joyce hails from Malaysia and moved to New Zealand when she was a wee lass. She was bombarded with music, studying the classics and sitting numerous exams. Christian, however, spent his early years in a house truck travelling New Zealand with a bunch of dirty singing hippies.

Klezmer Rebs are a seven-piece Wellington band formed in 2002 that plays (mostly) klezmer music, an engaging style of world/folk music born out of the Yiddish/Jewish culture of eastern Europe in the 1800s and 1900s. Klezmer then went to America and in the early 1900s began to fuse with jazz and swing. While many of songs are sung in Yiddish, they also perform partisan songs from Italy, Russian folk tunes, French chansons, Latin cowboy love songs, Argentine Yiddish Tangos and 1940s swing vocal songs. Their own quirky, politically charged multi-lingual originals are some of the most popular crowd tunes. The Rebs are a performance band – full of story songs and interaction with the audience. The songs are portrayed dramatically as well as aurally.

The T-Bone Trio present a soulful blend of high-energy Americana music played on guitars, mandolin, banjo and fiddles with close vocal harmonies and fiery instrumentals. Comprising of Gerry Paul, Cameron Dusty Barnell, and Richard Klein, the T-Bone Trio play an eclectic mixture of styles within the Americana genre, drawing on their backgrounds in Old Timey, Bluegrass, Country, Cajun, Zydeco and Blues. They will be accompanied by their friend and legend Wellington musician Aaron Stewart on Double Bass.

Victoria Vigenser and Tony Hillyard share a love of lyrical music, from contemporary compositions to traditional folk song. They are recognised for their uncanny vocal blend, and performances that are liberally laced with strong, emotional melodies and lyrics. Tony’s velvety vocals and fingerstyle guitar accompaniment guarantee beautiful layers of melody. A balladeer at heart, he has long been associated with folk clubs and festivals in London and New Zealand. Vic adds dynamic guitar, bodhran or dulcimer, and brings her spell-binding voice to their special brand of harmony.