Mike Harding (folk musician)

Mike Harding is a New Zealand folk musician born on 16 July 1952,[1] now living in New Plymouth, Taranaki.[2]

Mike Harding at a wedding performance in 2018.

Biography

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Musician

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Growing up in Eketāhuna, 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.[3] 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."[2] 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.[3]

Mike Harding has played at the Auckland Folk Festival several times, especially in the 1990s,[4] was a top performer at the Marlborough Folk Society's concerts in Blenheim,[5] as well as playing at other music festivals like New Plymouth's "TSB Bank Festival of Lights".[6] 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.[7]

Music historian

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In 1992 he also wrote "When the Pakeha Sings of Home", a source guide to the folk and popular songs of European New Zealanders, described as important in raising the profile of a little-studied part of New Zealand popular music history.[8][9]

References

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  1. ^ "Mike Harding". Puke Ariki, media database. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  2. ^ a b "Music - Seasonal Catalogue". Radio New Zealand. Archived from the original on 22 May 2010. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
  3. ^ a b "Biography". from the official Mike Harding website. Archived from the original on 13 May 2010. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
  4. ^ "History". Auckland Folk Festival. Archived from the original on 13 March 2010. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
  5. ^ "Swan song for folk society". Marlborough Express. 8 April 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2011.[permanent dead link]
  6. ^ "Mike Harding". Festival of Lights website, New Plymouth District Council. 2008. Archived from the original on 29 January 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
  7. ^ "Gumboot Tango's Kiwi sound". Taranaki Daily News. 27 July 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
  8. ^ Les Cleveland (1998). Les Cleveland: six decades : message from the exterior. p. 20. ISBN 9780958355490. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
  9. ^ "In Search of Native Song - Traditional Folksong Collecting in New Zealand (Article MT133 of Musical Traditions Internet Magazine)". Retrieved 14 October 2009.
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