A storyteller: The Eketāhuna Kid and his four-decade folk career
Mike Harding is a storyteller but, rather than pen and paper, his tools of the trade are his voice and guitar.
Harding has been a folk musician for the last 40 years and is celebrating his career with his new show The Eketāhuna Kid, which he will launch in New Plymouth on May 4.
“I intend to tell my story through the songs, but it’s the story of a lot of New Zealanders too who grew up in small towns and had farming backgrounds,” he said.
“There’s a lot there that people relate to.”
Harding was born in Eketāhuna, in the Manawatū-Whanganui district, and lived there until he left for Massey University to become a high school teacher, a career which led him to Hāwera High School.
He was always into rock music but eventually found the folk genre.
During his time in Taranaki, he met others that were into folk music which led him to Auckland where he was able to make a living as a musician by busking and playing festivals.
“Along the way, I learned New Zealand songs, which are part of the repertoire.
“In the 1980s I met up with Steve ‘Taranaki’ Sol and we went touring around the country and while I was doing that I made my first record Time on the Road.”
In the early 1990s he settled in New Plymouth, where his mother was from originally and where he would come for school holidays as a kid, and began teaching guitar.
The Eketāhuna Kid tour documents Harding’s four decades of music.
He trialled the idea of the show with family and friends for his 70th birthday and its success led him to decide to tour it for New Zealand Music Month in May.
“I’ll play it[in New Plymouth] , Katikati, Raglan, Plimmerton, Upper Hutt and Greytown.
“With folk music,there’s a lot of telling the story behind the song which you can’t always do in a pub.”