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The Orkney Folk Festival will return in 2023 to celebrate its 40th anniversary.
48 acts from around the world will appear at the 2023 Orkney Folk Festival to help celebrate its fortieth anniversary.
Leading artists from the USA, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, England, Wales and throughout Scotland will join home-grown Orcadian musicians - including a number heading home for the festival’s birthday celebrations - over the May 25-28 long weekend.
A total of 47 events in 18 venues across the county form the landmark anniversary programme - including concerts, ceilidhs, clubs, workshops and family events.
The line up is topped by Scottish folk icons Capercaillie, with other acts including Hot Club of Cowtown, Eric Wright, Mairi Rankin, Mo Kenney, Breabach, Spiers & Boden and the Nordic Fiddlers Bloc.
The full festival programme can be viewed on the official website with tickets on sale at 7pm on Tuesday 28 March.
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.
