Cairde

Unique Celtic & Contemporary Acoustic Music Group

The Evolution of Cairde

In 1988, a year after arriving in Nelson, Evey McAuliffe and husband Bob Bickerton ran a weekly evening class to teach Irish music, song and dance at the Nelson School of Music. It was there that Evey met Maxine Roberts and Katie Hindle and together they began to sing some Irish songs in harmony. Not long afterwards, Shena Bird (nee Wallis) who was raised in Dunedin by her Scots Gaelic speaking grandmother, joined them.

Later, Maxine invited Sarah Gay (later to become Sarah Lewis) to join the group. It was at this point that they were offered their first folk club gig. When asked by the organisers what they should be billed as, Evey said 'Cairde', which means 'friends' in Irish Gaelic and is pronounced 'Car-jeh'. The others looked amazed, as this was the first time they'd heard the name! She apologised and said she thought it had been talked about but it turned out that she had dreamt it all!

Once, when Sarah was overseas and unavailable for a gig, Anna Heinz was asked to step into her place. When Sarah returned, Anna was prevailed upon to remain in the group and thus Cairde, the six woman band was complete.

In the early nineties, Cairde performed several gigs at The Travellers Rest, a popular hostelry in Appleby, the folk club, in a lunchtime concert at the Nelson School of Music and as part of the Summer Arts Festival.

Evey reports: 'In 1993, Cairde were guests at the Canterbury Folk Festival. Later that year, we also had the privilege of singing at the centennial celebration of Women's Suffrage for a packed auditorium at Nelson College for Girls. In the audience was MP Sonja Davies who had worked so hard all her life to elevate the status of women. A movie of her life had been made which had Bread and Roses as the theme song so it was with great pride that we sang that song for her and to commemorate all those women who campaign for women's rights.'

1994 was a busy year for Cairde! Highlights included; Playing support for Martin Carthy (ex Steeleye Span) and Dave Swarbrick (ex Fairport Convention) in February.

Performing in the Nelson School of Music Centennial Festival in July.

Taking part in a play, Hard Labour by Nelsonian Carol Markwell. The story tells of Alice Parkinson who was the first New Zealand woman to be sentenced to hard labour for life. Nelson Mail reviewer Dan Dungan remarked 'Music and mood were supplied by the best a capella performance I have heard... a quintet of women's voices acted as chorus, reflecting moods and sometimes anticipating action in aptly chosen period songs. They opened the show and punctuated it to perfection.'

Recording their first album, The Call and the Answer, on tape. The recording engineer was David Bowater and the technology at the time was reel to reel. The album contained several Irish and Scottish songs as well as songs relating women's experience.

Early in 1995, one of the two lead vocalists at the time, Maxine, left the group. This was a great loss to Cairde as Maxine's distinctive voice and the heartfelt passion she portrayed in her singing were simply irreplaceable.

In March 1995, Cairde had its first overseas gig! They flew to New Plymouth to take part in the Taranaki Arts Festival on 16 March and then returned home to perform in what was to be the first annual St. Patrick's Day concert at The Nelson School of Music on 18 March.

April 1995 saw Cairde on tour of the South Island, beginning with the 20th Canterbury Folk Festival and continuing on to give concerts in Oamaru, Wanaka, Dunedin, Temuka and Christchurch. Cairde were supported at each concert by singer and multi-instrumentalist, Bob Bickerton who was also the sound engineer and tour manager.

Sometime in 1995, Cairde were delighted to play support for Judy Small, singer/songwriter/activist from Australia, in a fundraiser for The Women's House.

In June 1995 Cairde were guests of the National Folk Festival in Wellington and a week later celebrated the official launch in Nelson of their album, The Call And The Answer. In August 1995, Cairde produced concerts in Motueka and Blenheim and in November, performed in an Amnesty International fundraising concert.

In 1996, as well as performing in the Nelson School of Music Winter Festival and the epic fundraising concert to bring the Dalai Lama to Nelson, which was held in the Theatre Royal, Cairde recorded their second album, Dúlamán, this time with Bob Bickerton.

The plan to launch the CD in December with a concert had to be modified due to Anna suffering from a back injury. Instead of a concert, a public CD launch party was held in Faces Cafe with Anna resplendent on a hospital bed!

Thankfully by year's end, Anna was well enough to travel to Dunedin where Cairde were guests at the Whare Flat Folk Festival Dec'96/Jan'97

In February 1997 Cairde were able to truly celebrate their newly released album with a concert at Nelson School of Music proudly sponsored by Nelson Pine Industries.

April 1997 saw Cairde embark on another tour of the South Island, this time beginning with a concert in the lovely Great Hall of Christchurch Arts Centre. Other venues included Timaru's Playhouse Theatre, Marama Hall in Dunedin and the Forrester Gallery in Oamaru. As on the previous tour, Bob Bickerton played support and never failed to warm up the audience.

12 June 1997 - the Nelson Arts guide book, Art In Its Own Place was launched at The Beehive (the New Zealand parliament building). Cairde, along with many Nelson artists, travelled especially to Wellington for this event and were honoured to perform for the government ministers and have our CD presented as a gift from Nelson to the Prime Minister, Mr. Jim Bolger.

In July 1997 we received another honour when we were asked to play support to the magnificent Soweto String Quartet who were visiting New Zealand.

In August 1997 Cairde produced their own concert in Wellington at the Illot Centre with Bob Bickerton playing support and the following month they were the headline act in the Scottish Extravaganza concert held at Christchurch Town hall.

In October 1997 Cairde farewelled Katie Hindle and Shena Bird and were subsequently joined by Jo Lynch, a music teacher at Waimea College.

In 1998, performance highlights were the Christchurch Festival of Romance in February and the Wanganui Arts Festival in April.

In December 1998 Jo left Nelson to live in Auckland and Cairde was joined by Carol Palmer (who later became Carol Rose). Carol was already a seasoned performer who had recently moved to Nelson from the North Island. Besides being a competent multi-instrumentalist , she provided the group with another lead vocalist! She also brought the voluptuous Ms. Guinness, her double bass, so-called because she is 'a little stout'!

Several months later, in 1999, cellist, Kate Sherwood joined Cairde. Not only did her 'cello provide another 'voice' but we were delighted to discover that Kate also had a beautiful pure voice to add to our harmonies.

The first gig, featuring the new line up, was in November 1998 at the Nelson School of Music when they performed alongside Irish harpist Celia Briar as part of the Spring Concert Series. The following month they were guests at the Nelson Acoustic Routes folk club.

Most of 2000 was spent learning new material and building up Cairde's repertoire. In March 2001 Cairde were proud to perform at the sell-out St. Patrick's Day concert to launch Bob Bickerton's new CD, Island Mist.

2002 was a busier year with participation in the annual St. Patrick's Day concert, having a track included on the Nelson Regional Guide, Art In Its Own Place CD and street gigs for the Arts and Summer festivals.

Cairde Calendar Girls

Cairde bared all when they became "Calendar Girls" in the Nelson Women's Support fundraising 2003 calendar, Everyday Goddesses! The caption accompanying the photo read "We have been friends for many years and shared a lot of music and fine times - this is another!"

Years later, they returned to Grant Stirling's studio to have another photo taken of themselves in the exact same arrangement, this time with clothes on! This photo is on the actual Changing Tides CD.

In December 2002, Cairde launched their third album, Heart to Heart at a special gala celebration concert, kindly sponsored by Nelson Pine Industries, to rave reviews!

Reviewer, Patrick Stowe, wrote in the Nelson Mail 'I was amazed time and again at the clarity and unity of the five voices singing as one, as well as the ringing overtones reverberating throughout the hall when they split into harmony. The women of Cairde... have voices that were made to sing together, as well as a connection on stage that provided a park to their performance.'

2003 began with another performance in the annual St. Patrick's Day concert, followed by the group's third South Island tour in April. Cairde performed four concerts in Christchurch, Timaru, Dunedin and Invercargill.

In July 2003, Cairde had their own sell-out concert in the Nelson School of Music's Winter Music Festival which the Nelson Mail reviewer described as a 'magical night'.

In November 2003 the group travelled to Tauranga for the Arts Festival to perform in Bob Bickerton's epic production 'Cruisich - The Standing Stone' which told the history of Ireland through music, song, dance, art prose and poetry.

The same show was performed the following year in March 2004 at the Theatre Royal in Nelson.

In July 2004, Cairde took to the road again, performing at well known performance venue, The Harbourlight in Lyttleton, just outside of Christchurch to a packed house.

In December 2004 Cairde performed at a sell out concert at the Tui Farm Folk Festival just out of Nelson.

In 2005, because Carol Rose and her husband Steve re-located to Greymouth on the west coast of the South Island, some four hours drive from Nelson, Carol decided to leave the group.

Some time later, Lou Hayes joined Cairde, She was an experienced performer who had recently shifted back to Nelson from the North Island where she performed as a member of the three woman Celtic band, Brazen. Lou provided another lead voice with a soft smoky quality as well as her wonderful musicianship and passion for Celtic music.

Lou's first performance with Cairde was when they played support to the visiting Australian women's band Akasa in the Nelson School of Music's Winter Music Festival 2006.

In May 2007, Cairde performed at the The Boathouse in a benefit gig for The Nelson Women's Centre which had been damaged in a fire earlier that year.

At the end of 2007, Lou left and Carol Rose re-joined the group in time for the biggest gig in their career!

On Saturday 16 February 2008, Cairde played support at the Sealord Opera in the Park, to a crowd of 12,000 people, prior to the star-studded show, which included New Zealand diva, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa! What an honour that was and definitely a high point in the history of Cairde!

In October 2008, Cairde were guest performers in the Nelson Arts festival, performing in the atmospheric little church at Founders Park.

Throughout 2008 and 2009, Cairde performed several concerts at the very popular Playhouse Cafe and Theatre Restaurant near Mapua, just outside Nelson, to full houses.

For most of 2009, Cairde focused on preparing material and recording their fourth album, Changing Tides, which was recorded by Bob Bickerton and released in December of that year.