Airing time: 12pm Sunday, Replays 7:30pm Thursday
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Almost all music has a folk origin: blues, jazz, rock and even some classical. As Big Bill Broonzy famously said: all songs are folk songs - never heard a horse sing!
Arguably the first Kiwi to make a living with a mandolin, David spent some of his musical life playing bluegrass, but was performing in the folk boom as early as 1964.
He performed in Europe and the UK in the 70s, and recorded original music for NZ film and television. He dabbled in folk rock and pop in California in the 80s while teaching kids to sing. In London in the 90s he learned to help special needs children to read.
Now retired and no longer performing, he is free to pursue any of the musical paths he loves: song-writing, tuition - guitar, piano, banjo, mandolin, autoharp, dulcimer, even bass - and he works to record his original songs, such as https://youtu.be/P2iClmUZAZk
A long-standing enthusiast for NZ’s own folk music, David also still loves US old-time music, nurtured since Doc Watson LPs first made it to these shores, and explores the folk tradition of the British and Irish isles. He is a fan of World Music and fiercely proud of WOMAD Taranaki. A natural entertainer since his debut on radio aged six, David thinks radio is the perfect performance medium and now has an extensive archive of programmes.
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To download the latest episode: Click on the kiwifruit to go to The Folk Music Hour page on the accessmedia.nz site:
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Mixtape 17
A new world tour sharing folk music that includes tracks sent in by listeners
Duration: 58:46 | Date: 20 October, 2024
Our Celtic Roots
So many of us have bloodlines that go back to the ancient Celtic peoples of Eurasia. That’s why we love Celtic music.
Duration: 58:04 | Date: 13 October, 2024
Pick
Humans soon learn to hold something hard but flexible to get the best out of their stringed instruments. The 6th in our series Instruments of Folk.
Duration: 00:58:57 | Date: 6 October, 2024
Bow
Our Instruments of Folk series resumes. After plucking strings to make folk music, some clever person invented a bow to draw across the strings.
Duration: 54:11 | Date: 29 September, 2024
Māori Folk
For te wiki o te reo Māori 2024, we try to unravel the mystery: what is Māori folk music?
Duration: 00:59:15 | Date: 22 September, 2024
WomenFolk
To mark 131 years of women’s suffrage in NZ, an all-female programme of folk and related music.
Duration: 0:59:5 | Date: 15 September, 2024
Harmony Folk
Perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of folk song, for the performer and the audience alike, is singing in harmony.
Duration: 0:59:19 | Date: 8 February, 2024
Kids Stuff
Songs and rhymes for children have folk origins and tell some wonderful stories.
Duration: 00:58:00 | Date: 1 September, 2024
Protest, Revisited
We pick up the theme of Protest November, four podcasts from 2018, with new issues and songs.
Duration: 00:58:09 | Date: 25 August, 2024
Mixtape 16
Some more songs and tunes too good to miss make up a sampler from over 60 years of folk.
Duration: 0:58:12 | Date: 18 August, 2024
Lisa Hannigan
The Irish composer, instrumentalist and songstress influences modern folk with her interesting music.
Duration: 58:25 | Date: 11 August, 2024
Young Tradition
Young musicians are very talented; some are keeping traditional folk going while others are adding to it.
Duration: 0:58:12 | Date: 4 August, 2024
Cover Versions
We can’t seem to help finding versions of songs we think you will love.
Duration: 00:57:42 | Date: 28 July, 2024
More Screen Folk
It's amazing how many filmmakers illustrate their themes with folk music.
Duration: 00:58:16 | Date: 21 July, 2024
Woody Guthrie Day
July 14th is the National Day of France, and the birthdate of Woody Guthrie, whose lyrics spoke of freedom and human rights
Duration: 00:58:06 | Date: 14 July, 2024
Pop Goes Folk
In which we see the folk artist sounding pop, and the pop artist going folk.
Duration: 00:58:20 | Date: 7 July, 2024
Runs in the Family
We often think of a talent as ‘running in the family’. A playlist of folk parents and children making music.
Duration: 00:57:11 | Date: 30 June, 2024
Joan Baez
The veteran folk artist and activist, so influential in NZ too, has announced her retirement.
Duration: 0:58:27 | Date: 23 June, 2024
Juneteenth (2023)
Our first programme observing President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863.
Duration: 00:58:25 | Date: 16 June, 2024
Dave Jordan
The NZ musician Dave Jordan was constantly inventive, and perhaps the first Kiwi to make a living writing songs.
Duration: 00:58:09 | Date: 9 June, 2024
Kiwi Playlist 4
Yet more folk in our fourth playlist of the season
Duration: 00:58:30 | Date: 2 June, 2024
Kiwi Playlist 3
During May every year, NZ Music Month, we play only NZ songs and artists. Send us your songs to share.
Duration: 00:58:19 | Date: 26 May, 2024
Kiwi Playlist 2
More NZ folk and Kiwiana for NZ Music Month, 2024.
Duration: 00:58:23 | Date: 19 May, 2024
Adam McGrath
The South Island folk singer and storyteller is becoming something of a NZ legend, and a FMH feature for NZM Month
Duration: 0:58:14 | Date: 12 May, 2024
Kiwi Playlist 1
We get behind NZ Music Month in May every year, sharing Kiwi folk artists and the NZ folk heritage.
Duration: 00:57:54 | Date: 4 May, 2024
Taranaki Folk
NZ folk and Kiwiana specialist Mike Harding has made a career singing our own folk songs and launches our NZ Music Month in Taranaki.
Duration: 00:58:10 | Date: 28 April, 2024