The Port Fairy Folk Festival is an annual four-day music festival based in the historic fishing village of
Port Fairy
Port Fairy (historically known as Belfast) is a coastal town in south-western Victoria, Australia. It lies on the Princes Highway in the Shire of Moyne, west of Warrnambool and west of Melbourne, at the point where the Moyne River enters the ...
in
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
, Australia.
History
The festival began on 2 December 1977 under the theme of "Australian and Irish Traditional Music" exploring traditional music and culture. The festival was founded by Jamie McKew leading a small group of folk music performers and supporters from Geelong and Melbourne. It was with a sense of social justice, that led Jamie to create the festival. “Folk songs were socially significant, they had meaning to them. The songs were fun, but they also had a purpose. I wasn’t marching on the streets, but I’d always had a strong sense of social justice.”
The focus moved to "World Roots and Acoustic Music" in the early 1980s and has subsequently broadened to include a diverse range of genres, styles and influences. The 40th edition of the festival was held in March 2016 with McKew as festival director. The leadership transitioned to Caroline Moore as program director in 2017.
The festival now takes place annually over the Labour Day long weekend and has been produced by the Port Fairy Folk Festival Committee Incorporated which has been in Port Fairy since 1992.
The 2021 festival was cancelled for the year due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. The 2022 festival is due to be held from 11 to 14 March.
Artists and bands that have performed at the festival include
Eric Bogle
Eric Bogle (born 23 September 1944) is a Scottish-born Australian folk singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Scotland, he emigrated to Australia at the age of 25, to settle near Adelaide, South Australia. Bogle's songs have covered a variety of ...
,
[ John Williamson,][ ]Ted Egan
Edward Joseph Egan (born 6 July 1932) is an Australian folk musician and a former public servant who served as Administrator of the Northern Territory from 2003 to 2007.
Early life
Egan was born in Coburg, Victoria, moving to the Northern Ter ...
,[ Margret RoadKnight,][ ]Colin Hay
Colin James Hay (born 29 June 1953) is a Scottish-Australian musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and the sole continuous member of the band Men at Work, and later as a solo artist. Hay's music ha ...
,[ Kavisha Mazzella, Zulya Kamalova,][ ]Mike Rudd
Michael David Rudd (born 15 June 1945) is a New Zealand-born musician and composer who has been based in Australia since the late 1960s, and who was the leader of Australian progressive rock bands Spectrum and Ariel in the 1970s.
Biography
Mi ...
,[ ]Weddings Parties Anything
Weddings, Parties, Anything. was an Australian folk rock band formed in 1984 in Melbourne and continuing until 1999. Their name came from The Clash song "Revolution Rock". Musicologist Billy Pinnell described their first album as the best Austr ...
,[ Blue Grassy Knoll,][ Anam,][ Tiddas,]Lior
Lior Attar, better known simply as Lior, is an independent Australian singer-songwriter based in Melbourne. He is best known for his 2005 debut studio album ''Autumn Flow'' and for the song "Hoot's Lullaby".
Early life and education
Lior was bo ...
,[ Christine Anu,][ ]Eric Bibb
Eric Charles Bibb (born August 16, 1951) is a Grammy-nominated American-born blues singer and songwriter.
Biography
Bibb's father, Leon, was a musical theatre singer, who made a name for himself as part of the 1960s New York folk scene; his ...
,[ ]Luka Bloom
Luka Bloom (born Kevin Barry Moore; 23 May 1955) is an Irish folk singer-songwriter. He is the younger brother of folk singer Christy Moore.
Early life
Kevin Barry Moore was born on 23 May 1955 in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. His par ...
,[ ]Shane Howard
Shane Michael Howard (born 26 January 1955) is an Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist, he was the mainstay of folk rock group Goanna (1977–85, 1998) which had hit singles with " Solid Rock" (September 1982, No. 3) and " Let the ...
,[ Joe Camilleri,][ ]The Black Sorrows
The Black Sorrows are an Australian blues rock band formed in 1983 by mainstay vocalist Joe Camilleri (ex-Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons), who also plays saxophone and guitar. Camilleri has used various line-ups to record 17 albums, with five reachi ...
,John McCutcheon
John McCutcheon (born August 14, 1952) is an American folk music singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has produced 41 albums since the 1970s. He is regarded as a master of the hammered dulcimer, and is also proficient on many other i ...
, Mills Sisters,[ Clive Gregson,][ ]Christine Collister
Christine Collister (born 28 December 1961) is a Manx folk, blues and jazz singer-songwriter. She was born and grew up on the Isle of Man and first came to public attention in 1986 as the singer of the theme song for the BBC's television adapt ...
,[ ]Butch Hancock
Butch Hancock (born July 12, 1945 in Lubbock, Texas, United States), is an American country/folk music recording artist and songwriter. Hancock is a member of The Flatlanders along with Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, but he has principally perf ...
,[ Jimmie Dale Gilmore,][ Judy Small,][ Joe Dolce,][ and ]Roaring Jack
A roar is a type of animal vocalization that is deep and resonating. Many mammals have evolved to produce roars and other roar-like vocals for purposes such as long-distance communication and intimidation. These include various species of big cat ...
.
References
External links
Official website
Culture in Victoria (Australia)
Folk festivals in Australia
1977 establishments in Australia
Music festivals established in 1977
Warrnambool
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