Christchurch Folk Music Club

12 April 2026

• Members $15
• Non Members $20
• Students (with ID) $5

THE LARKS, COPPER & STEEL, ENTRADA

The Larks are a vocal group bringing traditional English folk songs to life through beautiful, unaccompanied harmony.

The Larks are a Brisbane-based group formed in mid-2022 that sing mostly unaccompanied traditional English folk songs in glorious harmony. The members are Sam Chittenden, Nonie Malone, Janet O’Brien and John Stafford.

They have been inspired by the singing of the truly unique Copper Family of Rottingdean, Sussex, who have traced their singing tradition back seven generations and of these, the last five generations have sung in harmony, which is unequalled by any English-speaking singers.

They have further been inspired by the two most prominent English revival groups of the 1960s – the Watersons and The Young Tradition – who had a tremendous impact on the Christchurch folk scene of the 1970s and beyond. They also follow other major harmony groups like Swan Arcade, Blue Murder, Coope, Boyes and Simpson, and The Devil’s Interval, other groups like Steeleye Span and Pyewacket who occasionally sing unaccompanied, and next generation groups like The Longest Johns, The Norfolk Broads, and The Teacups.

Not content to merely copy from recordings, The Larks carefully select their versions from a selection of sources often moulding them from several versions while maintaining the traditional folk sensibility.

They believe in putting their songs in their social/historical/cultural context and help keep their songs relevant to the 21st Century. Audiences get to understand why their songs are still relevant and get an understanding of the relevant social history, both in concert performances and in workshops.

The Larks members have previous experience in shanty singing, bush bands, folk choir, and solo work. Since uniting, they have performed at all the Brisbane folk clubs as a blackboard act and have subsequently been booked for longer guest spots at each venue, and have performed at most of the clubs in the greater South East Queensland area.

They have expanded their performances past folk clubs to more general music clubs where their enthusiasm, professionalism, and performing skills have drawn praise from organisers and audiences, many of them never having heard traditional folk songs before.

They have also performed at the local Neurum Creek and Maleny Music Festivals. In addition to concert performances, they have sung at formal Gospel, shanty, and Gentle Song sessions.

Best of all, they love singing these old songs, and their enthusiasm is catching. They welcome audiences to join in their choruses and refrains. They are also used to singing in sessions and look forward to singing in informal sessions at the festival.

Copper & Steel

Martin Kraakman and Rosie Laing have enjoyed a musical collaboration of voice and finger-style guitar for the last eight years and were asked to give their duo a name for a concert in Hanmer Springs. So ‘Copper and Steel’ have a few familiar and less well-known folk and popular covers to share.

Entrada

Entrada are Scout White (violin and mandolin) and Jonathan Le Cocq (guitar). Based in Canterbury, New Zealand and spanning styles and generations, they play a unique blend of music rooted in the Celtic tradition, but finding its own pathway through it. Intricate fingerstyle and fast-strummed guitar, new arrangements of traditional tunes, early music, rapid-fire mandolin, elegant violin solos, unclassifiable originals and cool collaborations come together in their concerts at clubs, festivals, dances and concert venues. Their first, self-titled, CD came out last year.