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The Orkney Folk Festival will return in 2024 to celebrate winning Event of the Year at the Scottish Trad Awards.
Acts from around the world will appear at the 2024 Orkney Folk Festival, with leading artists from Canada, USA, Australia, Ireland, Norway, England and throughout Scotland joining home-grown Orcadian musicians at the festival in its 41st year.
Contemporary Canadian folk/pop band The East Pointers will appear as part of their tenth anniversary celebrations, their first appearance at a Scottish festival in recent years.
They’ll be joined by no less than four other Canadian acts: Quebecois trio Genticorum, and three diverse acts from Newfoundland, Rum Ragged, Quote the Raven, and Mallory Johnson, as the province celebrates its Year of the Arts in 2024.
Transatlantic connections will also be celebrated with the appearances of banjo prodigy Nora Brown with Stephanie Coleman, country artist Brennen Leigh, and quartet Corner House, featuring Orphir’s own Louise Bichan heading home for the festival.
Long-time musical collaborators Michael McGoldrick and John McCusker will be joined for one weekend only by Orcadian Kris Drever, combining the talents of three heavyweights in the UK folk scene.
The festival will also be joined by legendary Irish musicians, Mairtín O’Connor, Cathal Hayden, and Seamie O’Dowd, as well as the rarely seen live Dòchas, featuring Julie Fowlis, Jenna Reid, Kathleen Boyle, Carol-Anne MacKay, Eilidh MacLeod and Martin O’Neill.
One of Orkney’s most famed musicians, Ivan Drever, will head home to the festival from his base in Norway. The isles’ Nordic links will also be celebrated with master Hardanger fiddle player, Alexander Aga Røystrand, making his first appearance at the event.
The title of furthest traveled act next year will go to Australia’s sister duo, Charm of Finches, who bring their intricate and bewitching folk-pop to the islands, while Jack Rutter takes folk, roots and acoustic music from Yorkshire following the recent release of his new album.
From Scotland, audiences can look forward to seeing multi-award winners, RURA, chamber-folk quartet RANT and Californian-based Scottish fiddle master, Alasdair Fraser in his partnership with acclaimed cellist, Natalie Haas.
Folk singer and songwriter Claire Hastings will return for the second year in a row, while BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award finalist, Ryan Young, adds his distinctive sound on the fiddle to the line up.
Award-winning singer Hannah Rarity offers a mix of traditional, contemporary and self-penned material, while Rachel Hair & Ron Jappy create a fiery duo combining the Scottish harp and guitar with electrifying results.
MG ALBA Scots Trads Awards nominees for Folk Band of the Year, Assynt, will combine tight-knit fiddle and pipe playing with intricate guitar grooves, while The Glencraig Scottish Dance Band will invite dancers to take the floor at ceilidhs in the county.
More artists performing at the 2024 festival will be announced in the new year.
The full festival programme will be available online once the official line-up is confirmed.
The Orkney Folk Festival has become one of the most popular events on the Orkney calendar, bringing four days of the finest folk music to the islands.
In a typical year, the festival will incorporate around 35 ticketed events across its four days, as well as countless pub sessions and free events in its hometown of Stromness. Around two thirds of the festival’s programme takes place in its west mainland base, with other events dotted around other Orcadian parishes and a few outer islands.
Since its inception in 1982, one of the festival’s most important characteristics is the balance of visiting and local artistes. Whilst the festival has become a sought-after stage amongst artists worldwide – and has been a four-day home for many, over the years – it is equally, if not more so, the local, Orcadian acts that make the festival what it is and keep the crowds coming.
Many folk enjoy the festival, and the atmosphere it creates, so much that they return year after year to experience the fine mixture of music and hospitality - with accommodation booked long before the line-up has been announced.
You can keep up to date with the Orkney Folk Festival on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.