We-e-ell, my first recollection of anything folkie is being in the audience at the Art Museum in Wanganui around 1970, listening to my dad playing his trusty yellow Yamaha guitar and singing "Lassie Wi A Yellow Coatie". I think I must have been about 8 years old. I then started singing with my dad and Ron Craig in Hawera, a few years later doing traditional songs in 3 part harmony. It was at the, now defunct, Chastity Belt Folk Club in Hamilton that I used to belt out such songs as "Me Husbands Got No Courage in Him" and "Maids When You're Young" at the age of 14 with absolutely no idea of what the lyrical content insinuated. They were just songs that I had heard from dads collection and I liked the tunes! Those were the days. Until I was about 23 I really had no idea that there was any other type of music other than unacompanied British traditional songs apart of course from the Bay City Rollers and Fleetwood Mac. A move to Wellington introduced me to the art of singing with a guitarist, and a lesson in timing and arrangements. A bit of a challenge when you have had years of free flow singing under your belt. The folkies of Wellington around 1981-1986 were still in Holland Street and we had a fantastic time - come all ye on Friday and concerts on Sundays and quite a lot of parties!!! Yay Hay Street. It was after this time that an opportunity to move to Dunedin was placed in front of me and I shot off to learn all about Bush Bands and the like. Quite a different feel in Dunners. Lots of things called Celtic musicians and Chaps. I guess for me, my time in Dunedin served as a real appreciation of the need to preserve, replicate, archive and perform the songs of our heritage, whether it be British, American, European, Asian, Antipodean etc.....The songs and tunes of our forebears hold wonderful insights into what it is that shapes us as contemporary beings. I am truly grateful that my dad loved/loves the folk music of this world and that I was brought up going to folk festivals and clubs and that he passed it on to us kids. My children are now experiencing the same and they love all the live music and space to create their own. It is not so much a dynasty as a way of life. My musical life has taken me to all sorts of varied and interesting places and introduced me to incredible musicians and singers but I know that without the amazingly diverse and accepting FOLK WORLD of New Zealand, I wouldn't have seen any of it. Long live Folk. Chris Penman Other folk beginnings Songlist- Home Page made 17th August, 2004