It's the beginning of a new era for folk music and dance traditions, as women musicians and dancers begin to find their voice and feet with New Zealand's first online folk traditions profile site, Noblewoman. Placing traditions-based contemporary folk culture on a digital platform, the site celebrates the folk community and the women within it. The Noblewoman site is where female folkies can obtain a profile, and receive promotion for their performances, workshops and events.It's the beginning of a new era for folk music and dance traditions, as women musicians and dancers begin to find their voice and feet with New Zealand's first online folk traditions profile site, Noblewoman. Placing traditions-based contemporary folk culture on a digital platform, the site celebrates the folk community and the women within it. The Noblewoman site is where female folkies can obtain a profile, and receive promotion for their performances, workshops and events.In development for over a year, Noblewoman was seeded from the recognition that the NZ folk community needed some new energy and initiatives to be noticed and up-skill itself into the digital age. This combined with a burgeoning and exciting folk scene, for Noblewoman founder and fiddle player Louise Evans it seemed timely to launch the site. 'Folk traditions are undergoing a massive revival worldwide. With music and resources so readily available through the internet, folkies in New Zealand are keeping up with music and dance trends, and more importantly, creating new sounds and combinations that are on par with overseas acts.'

Noblewoman aims to provide connections, develop ongoing contacts, and let fellow folk practitioners know of each others existence beyond the realms of sporadic festivals and events. For though the community thrives, the reality is that geographically being a folkie in New Zealand can often be quite isolating. Diversifying the support networks and promoting musicians and dancers throughout the nation is the essential next step for both growth and preservation. Noblewoman from its small beginnings will be expanded further to include regional gatherings, concerts, education and events where fellow Noblewomen can meet and exchange ideas.

The idea is to get folk out of the closet and give it a good old shake-up. According to Ms Evans there is often a skewed perception of 'folkies'. 'Contemporary presentation of folk is hardly as hokey and simple as people might perceive it to be. These are highly competent and intelligent instrumentalists, vocalists, and dancers for whom what they do is an integral part of their identity and livelihood. Indeed they bear an important cultural and historical legacy upon their shoulders. For Noblewoman to recognise their achievements and determination is only the beginning.'

Louise hopes that the site will promote discussion on the future of folk music within NZ, and that Noblewomen will contribute wholeheartedly to creating something that works for them. "There has to be evolution, like all things. It's a matter of making this evolution a positive thing that provides valuable, nourishing opportunities for the community it serves."

The Noblewoman launch concert takes place on Friday 27th June, at the Dogs Bollix, Auckland. The line-up demonstrates the diversity within the Noblewoman ranks - Beverley Young is one of the folk scenes' veteran vocalists. Feak are a young duo playing a vibrant blend of Scandinavian, Celtic, Quebecois and self penned tunes and songs on fiddle and guitar. Banjo extraordinaire Catherine 'BB' Bowness, at the age of only 17 is finding tremendous success here and in the States, and will be joined by Auckland bluegrass band Reintarnayshun. Anna Dunwoodie is Auckland's most sought-after Celtic harpist and is joined by young harp duo Clarsach. Finally, Sonja Arabajieva is a young award winning Bulgarian choreographer of folk dance group 'The Bulgarian Roses' - last years' winners of the Viva Eclectica Aotearoa dance competition.

18/06/08