Festival Musings from Bernadette #2

I was just watching a documentary on the weekend that was made about the Whare Flat [Folk] Festival and it made me think about what inspired me to become the coordinator of this event and what kept me doing it for so long. Whenever you talk to people about why they go to the festival and what takes them back there it sounds a bit like a broken record - it is the community. You can arrive there on the first day knowing no-one and you leave four days later having made a lot of friends. Even if you only see them once a year you always feel a connection with these people and often that inspires you to attend other folk festivals where you will often meet up with those same new friends. It is this aspect of the festival that I find is missing at festivals in other countries. - if you don't already know people, it is easy to feel left out and disconnected.

So what is it that does this for us? Most religions learnt long ago that singing together creates a connection - so does dancing and eating together. I met the same people at all the events at the overseas festival but there was never any connection, so sitting in concerts doesn't do it. At times I think I lost sight of this as I focused on trying to bring new styles of music and different artists to inspire our members. This is important to keep us learning and developing as artists but without the connection we lose people - there are many concerts you can go to but now that villages are rarer and fewer people attend church, it is not easy to feel that ongoing connection that humans seem to need for well-being. (Ha - there speaks the psychologist).

A late night session in the hall at Whare Flat Folk Festival (2006/7)

Festival Musings from Bernadette #1

I first attended the Whare Flat Festival in 1979/1980  having been asked by a friend to help him run a singing workshop. I had no idea what to expect and was astounded with the range of music I discovered, the instruments I didn't know existed and the quality of the performers. I didn't know I was a folkie but quickly discovered that I loved everything about this festival. I hadn't realised that I could spend four days immersing myself in music and dance and feel friends with people I'd never met before.

That was the beginning of my folk adventure and since that time I have been every year - 37 wonderful New Year celebrations - 20 of them as the director of the festival - and I'll keep going as long as I can.

In 1996 the Pioneer Pog 'n' Scroggin Bush Band were guests at the Australian National Folk Festival in Canberra and I went along as a supporter. Although I didn't get any feel of festival spirit that is a common ingredient of folk festivals in NZ, I was once again blown away by the quality and range of artists to be found there. I realised that as organisers of folk events we had been looking to the UK for most of our artists (Ireland, Scotland and Britain), yet right next door we had a wealth of talent that we could afford to bring across the sea. I came back to Dunedin inspired and put up my hand to take over coordinating our annual event and ended up with if for a lot longer than I'd expected. (See next installment).

The Pioneer Pog 'n' Scroggin Bush Band (1996)
(From left to right) Tony Wilson, Greg Waite, John Steel, John Dodd, Mark Laws, Laura Gartner, Tarek Bazley, Lindsey Shields, Mike Moroney.