There has been a
folk festival in the coastal town of
Sidmouth in
South West England in the first week of August every year since 1955, attracting tens of thousands of visitors to over 700 diverse events.
Sidmouth Folk Festival offers a wide range of activities including major folk concerts,
pub sessions, workshops and
master classes, social dances and colourful dance displays, family entertainment and many children's musical and craft activities. The town's streets and venues come alive with festive atmosphere as holidaymakers and festival goers join together in a music-based holiday to remember, The popular Late Night Extra feature is also run at
Bulverton
Bulverton is a small hamlet on the outskirts of Sidmouth, Devon, England.
Area Information
Bulverton comprises low-density residential housing, areas of farmland and a wooded plantation and is connected by road to Sidmouth by the B3176.
Durin ...
on the edge of Sidmouth next to the main campsite.
The festival patron is
Martin Carthy
Martin Carthy MBE (born 21 May 1941) is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, and later artists such as ...
MBE.
History
Sidmouth Festival was founded as a
folk dance festival in 1955 by the
English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), but gradually expanded to cover
ceilidh dancing, music and song, as well as related folk crafts.
Over time, the scope also broadened to include performers from abroad, and the festival was renamed the Sidmouth International Folklore Festival.
From 1986, the festival was managed by Mrs Casey Music, who retitled it Sidmouth International Festival. The festival grew to over 65,000 visitors a year.
[ In 1995 it became the birthplace of Shooting Roots, which provided a variety of workshops for young people and has played a key role in nurturing a network of young performers.
In 2004 the festival celebrated its 50th year. Derek Schofield's book, ''The First Week in August – Fifty Years of the Sidmouth Festival'', describing the history of the festival was published.
2004 was also the year in which Mrs Casey Music announced that they would no longer be running the festival. This was due to funding issues brought on in part by the 'rainy year' of 1997 which depleted much of the festival's financial reserves and in part by ]East Devon District Council
East Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council has been based in Honiton since February 2019, and the largest town is Exmouth (with a population of 34,432 at the time of the 2011 census).
The district was form ...
withdrawing funding.
For several months, the future of the festival was uncertain, but the grass-roots folkie festival-goers wanted their Sidmouth festival to continue. Various groups of people, individuals and organisations began planning events for 2005 for their own particular aspect of the folk scene, and by November 2004 a steering group had been set up to co-ordinate and publicise these events under the new name of Sidmouth Folk Week.
The 2005 event was much smaller than Sidmouth International Festival, it did not use the Arena Showground owing to financial risk involved, had fewer international performers and no season tickets. Nevertheless, it proved a resounding success, and so Sidmouth Folkweek was reborn.
In 2005, Sidmouth FolkWeek Limited was registered as a charity with the object of promoting "... an annual festival of folk arts and other associated events."
The festival's name was changed back to Sidmouth Folk Festival in December 2018.
In 2020 the festival was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic. The festival returned in 2021 although there were no no official dance displays.
Some festival performers
The 2022 Folk Festival featured Spiers and Boden, Eddi Reader, Fisherman's Friends, among others.
The 2018 Folk Week featured Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...
, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, Roger McGough, Show of Hands, and Jackie Oates, among others.
The 2014 festival included performances by Ralph McTell, Steve Knightley
Steve Knightley (born 1954) is an English singer, songwriter and acoustic musician. Since 1992 he has been one half of folk/roots duo Show of Hands along with Phil Beer. Knightley was named "Songwriter of the Nineties" by BBC Radio 6 Music in ...
, Jim Causley, Jackie Oates, India Electric Co., Phillip Henry & Hannah Martin, Martin Simpson, Alex Kumar, Matt Gordon & Leonard Podolak, festival patron Martin Carthy
Martin Carthy MBE (born 21 May 1941) is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, and later artists such as ...
, and others throughout the week.
The 2013 Sidmouth Folk Week included concerts by Show of Hands with Miranda Sykes, Blowzabella
Blowzabella is an English folk band formed in London in 1978. The band currently consists of Andy Cutting, Jo Freya, Paul James, David Shepherd, Barn Stradling, and Jon Swayne; members of the band have changed multiple times since their incepti ...
, Colum Sands
Colum Sands (born 1951) is an Irish singer songwriter who made his first performances and recordings with The Sands Family of County Down. Between his extensive solo appearances he continues to record and perform with his brothers Tommy and Be ...
, the a capella singers Coope, Boyes and Simpson
Coope Boyes and Simpson was an English vocal folk trio, formed around 1990. Their sound was rich and often had unusual vocal harmonies.
The group comprised singers Barry Coope, Jim Boyes (formerly of Swan Arcade) and Lester Simpson, and almost al ...
, Tim Eriksen, John Kirkpatrick, Jim Causley, Maddy Prior with Hannah James and Giles Lewin, The Spooky Men's Chorale
The Spooky Men's Chorale is a group of Australian male singers. Most reside in the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales, but some are from Western Australia. Their repertoire consists largely of songs either written or arranged by their dire ...
from Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, and Jeff Warner from New England in the USA.
The 2007 event featured concerts by Show of Hands, Altan, Liz Ryder, The Spooky Men's Chorale
The Spooky Men's Chorale is a group of Australian male singers. Most reside in the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales, but some are from Western Australia. Their repertoire consists largely of songs either written or arranged by their dire ...
, Eliza Carthy, Nancy Kerr and Vin Garbutt.
The 2006 Sidmouth Folk Week included Blue Murder, Seth Lakeman and Roy Bailey.
Dance displays
The festival includes a programme of dance displays with many morris, sword and other traditional dance teams performing throughout the week.
References
External links
*
Further reading
Schofield, Derek (2004) ''The First Week In August - Fifty Years Of The Sidmouth Festival.'' Sidmouth International Festival Ltd. {{ISBN, 0-9547502-0-9
Folk festivals in the United Kingdom
Music festivals in Devon
Sidmouth