"There's a sound of many voices in the camp and on the track": a descriptive analysis of folk music collecting in New Zealand, 1955-1975

Abstract

During the period from 1955 to 1975 a group of individuals began the task of collecting folk music in New Zealand. This collecting was different from the earlier collecting of Maori music - it focussed mainly on English-language material felt lo be the folk heritage of New Zealanders of European descent. The collectors gathered a valuable body of songs, verse and music, which was used in a variety of ways. Many individuals promoted the material to a wider public by performing music, recording albums and publishing song anthologies. Other collectors commenced the scholarly study of folk traditions in New Zealand. This thesis is a descriptive analysis of the work of seven individuals involved in the overall effort: Angela Annabell, Rona Bailey, Les Cleveland, Neil Colquhoun, Frank Fyfe, Phil Garland and Herbert Roth. It seeks to understand the enterprise from their point of view: how they conceived of 'folk music'; their collecting methods; and the ways in which they promoted or studied what they had collected. To help situate and compare the achievement of each individual, their work is placed within the wider contexts of overseas folkloristic research, related study in New Zealand and the folk revival movement. The collecting in New Zealand was relatively short-lived but brought together a recognised canon of folk music.