Kiwifolk.com
Folk and Acoustic Music in New Zealand
Folk and Acoustic Music in New Zealand
Don't let anyone kid you that we have full-speed broadband internet access in New Zealand. Broadband is so standard in Denmark that everyone has forgotten what dial-up is. I don't know who the providers are but every house we've been in has broadband; fast broadband. New Zealand broadband that I've used is about half the speed at its best.
We're privileged as a touring band to be living in people's houses, connecting with ordinary people in their day-to-day lives and sharing common experiences with them. The average tourist would probably never get to use half-a-dozen Danish washing machines, shop in supermarkets, eat seven kinds of home-made brot and cheeses and experience the warmth of Danish hospitality as they open their homes to us in a matter-of-fact way.
Denmark is, admittedly through our limited experience, predominantly middle class. There is a lot to be said for the high taxes they pay, for this is indeed a land of plenty. The roads, even the rural ones, are well maintained, there are cycle tracks through the entire country and the people exude a sense of health and wellbeing, despite the incessant smoking (it's nothing for a guest to light up even in the house of a non-smoker). The fields and pastures appear almost manicured and are fecund.
Twenty percent of Denmark's electricity is produced by wind turbine (the rest by oil and gas). We see wind generators everywhere and our consensus is that they are graceful and non-imposing. We can discern no noise from them whatsoever and they have almost no footprint on the environment. There are no transmission lines above ground associated with them and farming or cropping goes on around them as if they weren't there. And at the end of their lifespan they can be taken away and you would never know it had been there (try doing that with a hydro dam!). Contrary to misinformed reports, there are not piles of bird carcasses at the base of them. We kiwis would do well to dispel some of the NIMBY myths and embrace this technology.
But then, this is Denmark and people don't get too fired up about things. Faster internet clearly makes for a much more contented population.
The Chaps are Hyram Ballard, John Dodd, Marcus Turner and Mike Moroney (the author of these pages), an acoustic string band featuring original songs and odd material from last century. Find out more about The Chaps here and listen to some of their music on their MySpace site here
