7 f

Banbury Folk Festival (9th – 11th October) features Roving Crows, Bob Fox, TradArrr, Fiddler & The Fool, Martyn Oram & Keith Donnelly, The Rachel Hamer Band, FolkLaw, Hector Gilchrist and more. banburyfolkfestival.co.uk

Lewes Folk Festival (9th – 11th Oct) runs as a scaled down event this year with a Day Of Dance plus guests including Shirley Collins, The Copper Family, Mike Tristram & Laura Hockenhull, Vic & Tina Smith, Jim Ward, Will Duke, Bob Lewis and more. lewesfolkfest.org

Blazin’ In Beauly – The Blazin’ Fiddles Experience runs from 11th – 16th October with Bruce MacGregor, Jenna Reid, Rua Macmillan, Kristan Harvey, Anna Massie, Angus Lyon, Paul Anderson & Shona Donaldson, Alastair Savage and more. blazininbeauly.com/

Lowender Peran, Newquay celebrates Cornish and Celtic culture from 14th – 18th Oct with The Changing Room, Kemysk, Celtic Fiddlers, Aggie Boys Choir, Kescana, Oll an Gwella, Splann, An Tri Dipop, Dawnswyr Gwerin Pen-Y-Fai, Iolo Whelan, Jamie Smith’s Mabon and more. lowenderperan.co.uk

Homegrown (15th – 17th Oct)

is The Met’s annual festival of English folk music, held at venues across Bury in parallel with the English Folk Expo. This year it showcases Eliza Carthy & The Wayward Band, The Unthanks, Sam Lee, Oysters3, Seth Lakeman, Bella Hardy, Sam Carter, Emily Portman Trio, Stick In The Wheel, False Lights, Kings Of The South Seas, Basco, Habadekuk, Moore Moss Rutter, Fay Hield & The Hurricane Party, Maz O’Connor, Rannok, Belshazzar’s Feast, Keston Cobblers, Jess Morgan, Andy May Trio, Gren Bartley and David Gibb. themet.biz/homegrown

Fira Mediterrània Manresa,

Catalonia (15th – 18th October) sees appearances from Tomatito, Asian Dub Foundation Sound System, Ester Rada, Cheikh Lô, Roger Mas, Dakha Brakha, Carles Dènia, Carmen París & Nabyla Maan, Kamylia Jubran, Joan Garriga & Carles Belda, Oques Grasses, Germán Díaz,

Altan – Return To Camden Town

La Yegros and more. firamediterrania.cat

This year’s Liverpool Irish

Festival (15th – 25th Oct) explores counter-culture and independent artists experimenting with folk and traditional sounds, including Christy Moore with Declan Sinnott, Dallahan, More Power To Your Elbow and more. Tel: 0151 709 3789;

liverpoolirishfestival.com Musicport Festival takes

place at Whitby Pavilion from 16th – 18th October with Eliza Carthy & The Wayward Band, Fanfara Tirana meets Trans- Global Underground, Dub Colossus, Världens Band, Terry Hall, Afrikan Boy, Emily Portman Trio, Demon Barbers XL, Frigg, Najma Akhtar, Maalstroom, The Kora Band, The Hut People with Jess Morgan, Naomi Bedford & Paul Simmonds, The Cajun Roosters, African Roots Fusion Band, Two Man Ting, Yussef Ahmed, The Gentle Good and DJ Fflyffilyfbybl.

musicportfestival.com The 12th Bristol Cajun &

Zydeco Festival takes place at the Folk House from 16th –18th October with The Cajun Roosters, Joe Le Taxi, The Po’ Boys, Zydeco Boogaloo, The Flatville Aces and more. bristolcajunfestival.com

The all new Hartlepool Folk

Festival runs from 16th – 18th October with Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick, Vin Garbutt, Chris Wood, Dick Gaughan, Alistair Anderson, Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker, Talisk, Debs Newbold & Laurel Swift and many more. Sea:Coal, a songwriters’ project taking inspiration from the new Durham Coastal Path featues Jackie Oates, Ed Pickford, Kate Young and Boff Whalley and Teesside harmony singers The Wilsons will give several performances in their role as the festival’s Patrons. hartlepoolfolkfest.co.uk

A festival of French and Breton traditional music and dance will take place at Mytholmroyd Community Centre and Salem Resource Centre in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, on 16th – 18th October, featuring C’hiwanez, Deux Sans Frontieres, Metheglin, Steve Turner & Yannick Minvielle-

Emily Portman Trio –Musicport

Debat and Les Panards. 01943 461684, snozz@snozz.com or frenchdanceleeds.co.uk

Equator Festival: Women Of

The World takes place at London’s Kings Place (17th – 24th Oct) with guest appearances from London Bulgarian Choir, Olcay Bayir, Shiva Nova, London Tango Trio and more. Tel: 0207 520 1490; kingsplace.co.uk

The 17th Return To Camden

Town Festival runs from 20th – 26th October with Altan, Leitrim Equation, Breaking Trad plus Gino Lupari, Caitlín Nic Gabhann & Ciarán Ó Maoinaigh, Peter Carberry & Padraig McGovern, Danny Meehan & Le Chéile, Cran, Abbey Céilí Band, Rita Gallagher, The London Lasses & Chris O’Malley, CrossHarbour, Noreen Cullen & Adrian Burns, Edwina Guckian, Conor Healy and friends, Artisan Row, Seven Glens and more. returntocamden.org

Baring Gould Folk Festival takes place at various locations in Okehampton over the weekend of 23rd – 25th October with Lady Maisery, Janet Russell, Chris Foster, Geoff Lakeman and folk dance troupe Dandari visiting from Latvia.baring-gould.co.uk

The next Soundpost Weekend runs from 23rd – 25th October in community buildings around Dungworth and Bradfield, north Sheffield. It will be focused around The Full English archive, in association with the English Folk Dance and Song Society. Curated

False Lights – Homegrown / EFExpo

by Fay Hield, The Soundpost Full English Weekend features a weekend of practical workshops and talks on how the archive can be used by performers and educators alike, with sessions led by Gavin Davenport, Rob Harbron & Sam Sweeney, Martin Carthy, Jon Boden, Frances Watt, Pete Coe & Alice Jones, Laura Smyth, Nancy Kerr, Bryony Griffith and more. soundpost.org.uk

Live Magic will be held at the Ebisu Garden Hall, Tokyo, Japan from 24th – 25th Oct with appearances from I’m With Her (Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz & Aoife O’Donovan), Boukou Groove, Dayme Arocena, Gurrumul, Eire Japan (featuring Paddy Keenan, Frankie Gavin and Junji Shirota), Delehei, Oki Dub Ainu Band, Marewrew, Rankin Taxi, Hamaguchi Yuji, Rei, David Ralston and more. livemagic.jp/

The Dulcimer World Congress

runs from 26th – 30th October 2015, Great Malvern, Worcestershire, preceded by Nonsuch Annual Weekend (23rd – 25th October) featuring performers and participants from about 20 countries including UK, Hungary, Iran, Mexico, USA, Australia, Japan, China, Taiwan and Switzerland. A special showcase of UK dulcimer talent, with musicians including Geoff Smith, Setanta and Celtarabia, Dizzi Dulcimer, Elsa Bradley and Colin Huehns from the Royal Academy of Music, international mountain dulcimer performer

Photo: Elly Lucas

Photo: Rob Bridge

Photo: © Judith Burrows