Waikino music festival - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Waikino Music Festival was a 1977 music and alternatives event held on Bicknell’s farm in the picturesque Waitawheta Valley between Waikino

Waikino

Waikino is a small town situated in the North Island of New Zealand nestled in the Southern end of a gorge alongside the Ohinemuri River, between Waihi and the Karangahake Gorge. The Waikino district lies at the base of the ecologically sensitive Coromandel Peninsula with its vast tracts of lush...

and Waihi

Waihi

Waihi is a town in Hauraki District in the North Island of New Zealand, especially notable for its history as a gold mine town. It had a population of 4,503 at the 2006 census....

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. The event was staged as a forerunner to the Nambassa

Nambassa

Nambassa was a series of hippie-conceived festivals held between 1976 and 1981 on large farms around Waihi and Waikino in New Zealand. They were music, arts and alternatives festivals that focused on peace, love, and an environmentally friendly lifestyle...

festivals and was a community project run by Peter Terry. The Waikino festival was originally intended as an eight hour all day music and cultural event, however, a steady flow of bands, buskers and poets from around Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

and the Waikato

Waikato

The Waikato Region is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato, Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the northern King Country, much of the Taupo District, and parts of Rotorua District...

spontaneously rocked up to perform. Consequently the event ran non stop for 24 hours and attracted 5000 patrons.

The Waikino festival broke new ground for the presentation format of open air concerts, by combining popular rock music

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

and entertainment with cultural based demonstrations. Between band set ups; solo artists, poets and storytellers

Storytelling

Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...

, comedian

Comedian

A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...

s, yoga

Yoga

Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...

demonstrations and ravers would entertain, enabling the show to continue without breaks. These ideas were even further developed at the subsequent Nambassa

Nambassa

festivals.

Proceeds from the Waikino festival went towards the purchase of a winters supply of fuel for the predominantly pensioner community of the sleepy Waikino

Waikino

village. Nambassa

Nambassa

later contributed towards the construction of a new Waikino

Waikino

community post office, which was washed away into the Karangahake Gorge

Karangahake Gorge

The Karangahake Gorge lies between the Coromandel and Kaimai ranges, at the southern end of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island. A sharply winding canyon, it was formed by the Ohinemuri River. State Highway 2 passes through this gorge between the towns of Paeroa, Waikino and Waihi...

during the great 1981 Ohinemuri River

Ohinemuri River

The Ohinemuri River is located in the north of New Zealand's North Island.The river source is north-east of the town of Waihi, close to the shore of the Bay of Plenty, but flows west rather than into the bay. It runs through the steep-sided Karangahake Gorge, forming a break between the Coromandel...

floods.

Entertainment

Th'Dudes

Th' Dudes were a late 1970s / early 1980s pop/rock band from Auckland, New Zealand. Hits include "Walking in Light", "Right First Time", " Be Mine Tonight" and "Bliss".-Members:*Dave Dobbyn*Ian Morris *Peter Urlich...

,Living Force, Hello Sailor (band)

Hello Sailor (band)

Hello Sailor was a New Zealand pop/rock band originally formed in 1975.- History :The band's history is long and complicated, with guitarist/vocalists Dave McArtney and Harry Lyon having first played together in the mid 1960s. After several lineup changes, the band released its first album, Hello...

, Dallas Four, Mommba, Norma Leaf, Steve Tulloch. A one-day festival at Waikino. Many of the bands who played Waikino as their first major gig, went onto become national New Zealand music stars. Headlining acts also included spontaneous appearances by the Midge Marsden

Midge Marsden

Keith Douglas "Midge" Marsden MNZM is a New Zealand blues and R&B guitarist, harmonica-player, and singer with a musical career spanning four decades.-Biography:...

and the Country Flyers, Rockinghorse, Ragnarok, and Larry Killip's band Starbow.

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