Mike Harding is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

musician born on 16 July 1952, now living in

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

Biography

Musician

Growing up in

Eketāhuna Eketāhuna is a small rural settlement, in the south of the Tararua (district), New Zealand, Tararua District and the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. The town is located at eastern foot of the Tararua Ranges, 35 kilome ...

, Harding practised his music in "the streets, markets and clubs of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

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 ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and c ...

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.

Music historian

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.

References

External links

Mike Harding
(official website) {{DEFAULTSORT:Harding, Mike 1952 births Living people Folk music historians New Zealand folk musicians New Zealand music historians People from Eketāhuna 20th-century New Zealand folk musicians 21st-century New Zealand folk musicians