Music News - Mainland dominates folk Tui finalists
28 November 2011 - 0 Comments
South Island artists dominate the finalists for New Zealand’s Best Folk Album of 2011.
Solo artists Mel Parsons from Westland and Amiria Grenell from Canterbury join Otago quartet The Chaps in the finalists line-up announced today by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ).
“Red Grey Blue” is Mel Parson’s second folk finals berth after her debut album “Over My Shoulder” made the finalist list in 2009. Recorded in Auckland, “Red Grey Blue” was released in September 2011 and features a host of the artist’s friends.
The album draws on the folk tradition of telling stories and blends it with pop hooks and a wide sensibility to melody and harmony. In the week to 13 November 2011 “Red Grey Blue” had spent six weeks in the IMNZ Top 20 Albums chart.
Amiria Grenell is the youngest of Kiwi folk stalwart John Hore Grenell’s four children and “Three Feathers” is her second album and third recording. Family links run thick through the recording with brother Redford featuring on drums and guest appearances from partner Tola and Grenell’s father John.
Released in September, the album was mostly recorded on the Grenell family farm in Canterbury, home to the former Whitecliffs Family Music Festivals for 14 years. The title track to “Three Feathers” and “Wind Blows South” are dedicated to a friend of the artist who died from cancer at the age of 22.
The Chaps’ “Don’t Worry ‘Bout Your Age” is the band’s third album. Based in Dunedin, The Chaps first performed in 1989 and have a musical path influenced by jazz, swing, bluegrass, rock, calypso and a variety of folk music.
The band’s repertoire consists of equal doses of original compositions by band members and covers of classic and sometimes “obscure songs from their collective consciousness”.
RIANZ managing director Chris Caddick says he is highly impressed with this year’s line-up.
“I’m completely knocked out with the three finalists this year. These are fantastic examples in the broad folk genre of artists who have absorbed a myriad of influences and come up with their own undeniably Kiwi music. This must be one of the strongest finalist line-ups ever; I think any one of these great albums would be a worthy winner of this year’s Tui.”
The Tui for the Best Folk Album 2011 is being presented at the Auckland Folk Festival in Kumeu (West Auckland) following the ‘Tui Finalists Concert’ on the evening of Sunday 29 January 2012.
Online ticket sales for the 2012 festival are open now through to January 13, 2012. For more information visit the Auckland Folk Festival website: www.aucklandfolkfestival.co.nz
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