Sidmouth sees the return of the week-long folk festival that is back to full strength for the first time in three years. SU CARROLL looks ahead…
The coastal town of Sidmouth has been welcoming visitors to the folk festival every year since 1955 and – after being impacted by covid restrictions – 2022 sees a packed programme of more than 700 events to choose from, including concerts, dance performances, workshops and ceilidhs.
It also means the return of performers from around the world who include Australia’s daring Bush Gothic and the The Spooky Men’s Chorale, Guinean balafon player N’famady Kouyate, Senagalese sabar dancer Batch Gueye and Bulgarian vocalist Eugenia Georgieva.
This year’s headline shows in the Ham marquee feature the best in contemporary folk music with Kate Rusby, Devon’s own Show of Hands, Eddi Reader, Spiers and Boden, the Yves Lambert Trio, Fara and Jez Lowe. There are also pre-festival concerts from Steeleye Span (July 28) and The Fisherman’s Friends (July 29).
Over the festival week, music rings out from every corner of the town, in venues large and small, as well as plenty of action out on the seafront.
In addition to headline roots shows by artists like Sheelanagig, Peatbog Faeries, Grace Petrie and Edward II, expect breathtaking ceilidhs and late night song and dance sessions. Folk Radio UK’s Cellar Full of Folkadelia afternoon sessions introduce a new world of music inspired by tradition.
Performers include Serious Sam Barrett, a hard touring, folk and country singer from Yorkshire and Olcay Bayir who delivers ancient folk poems and original songs in Turkish, Kurdish, and Armenian.
There’s a wealth of other treats to join in, from intimate song events, folk dance, children’s activities, youth workshops and sessions, dance displays, processions and much more. For anyone who loves to learn something new or hone their skills, this year’s workshops offer everything from the secrets of the hurdy gurdy with Steve Tyler to Bhangra with Avtar Indian Dance, beginners’ tin whistle to singing with Sandra Kerr or the Spooky Men’s Chorale.
For lovers of storytelling and spoken word, there are sessions with Rattlebox Theatre, Katy Cawkwell, Daisy Black, Louise Sherman and Janet Dowling. Racker Donnelly will be back with his unique comic verse and Ilse Pedler will offer poetry sessions.
The ever popular Children’s Festival moves to a new home this year in the beautiful Peacock Lawns where the marquees will host a mix of old favourite workshops and activities and popular family evening shows. The Shooting Roots programme also returns with workshops for 12 to 17-year-olds in dance, band, theatre, crafts, storytelling and spectacular singing with Stream of Sound.
Sidmouth Folk Festival is July 29 to August 5. For information click here.
Thank you for the music
This year’s event will also offer an opportunity to pay tribute to two stalwart friends of the Festival - folk matriarch Norma Waterson and Morris icon Mike Boston.
Norma, who died earlier this year aged 82, started her folk life in The Watersons, a group which included her brother, Mike, sister Lal and cousin John. Her warmth and her arms wide open performances profoundly touched all who were captured by her cask-aged voice. She first came to the festival more than 40 years ago as a busker.
A True-Hearted Girl in the Ham marquee on August 2 will celebrate her rich musical life and legacy, led by her husband and Sidmouth patron Martin Carthy, daughter Eliza Carthy and her many folk fans and admirers including Martin Simpson, John Kirkpatrick, Sandra Kerr and Jim Causley.
Mike Boston, the Devon Morris dance hero and Sidmouth legend who died in December, gets the send-off he would have loved with an energetic farewell party. For 45 years Exeter-born Mike played the “fool” with the Great Western Morris. From 3pm on August 1, festival goers are encouraged to put on their dancing shoes and party with his favourite band, Blowzabella, in the Blackmore Marquee.
