There has been a

folk festival A folk festival celebrates traditional folk crafts and folk music. This list includes folk festivals worldwide, except those with only a partial focus on folk music or arts. Folk festivals may also feature folk dance or ethnic foods. Handicra ...

in the coastal town of

Sidmouth Sidmouth () is a town on the English Channel in Devon, South West England, southeast of Exeter. With a population of 12,569 in 2011, it is a tourist resort and a gateway to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. A large part of the town h ...

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities ...

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 session A pub session (seisiún in Irish; seisean in Scottish Gaelic; seshoon in Manx Gaelic) is performing music in the setting of a local pub, in which the music-making is intermingled with the consumption of ale, stout, and beer and conversation. ...

s, 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 on the edge of Sidmouth next to the main campsite. The festival patron is Martin Carthy MBE.

History

Sidmouth Festival was founded as a folk dance festival in 1955 by the

English Folk Dance and Song Society The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS, or pronounced 'EFF-diss') is an organisation that promotes English folk music and folk dance. EFDSS was formed in 1932 when two organisations merged: the Folk-Song Society and the English Folk Dan ...

(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 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 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 identifie ...

. The festival returned in 2021 although there were no no official dance displays.

Some festival performers

The 2022 Folk Festival featured

Spiers and Boden Spiers and Boden are an English folk duo. John Spiers plays melodeon and concertina, while Jon Boden sings and plays fiddle and guitar while stamping the rhythm on a stomp box. Spiers and Boden were founding members of the folk band Bellow ...

Eddi Reader Sadenia "Eddi" Reader MBE (born 29 August 1959) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, known for her work as frontwoman of Fairground Attraction and for an enduring solo career. She is the recipient of three BRIT Awards. In 2003, she showcased the w ...

Fisherman's Friends The Fisherman's Friends are a folk music group from Port Isaac, Cornwall, who sing sea shanties. They have been performing locally since 1995, and signed a record deal with Universal Music in March 2010. Whilst essentially an a cappella group, ...

, among others. The 2018 Folk Week featured Fairport Convention, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain,

Roger McGough Roger Joseph McGough (; born 9 November 1937) is an English poet, performance poet, broadcaster, children's author and playwright. He presents the BBC Radio 4 programme '' Poetry Please'', as well as performing his own poetry. McGough was one ...

Show of Hands Show of Hands is an English acoustic roots/ folk duo formed in 1986 by singer-songwriter Steve Knightley (guitars, mandolin, mandocello, cuatro) and composer and multi-instrumentalist Phil Beer (vocals, guitars, violin, viola, mandolin, mando ...

, and

Jackie Oates Jackie Oates is an English folk singer and fiddle player. Life Oates was born in Congleton in Cheshire in 1983 but grew up in Staffordshire. At the age of 18, she moved to Devon to study English literature at Exeter University and was based in ...

, among others. The 2014 festival included performances by

Ralph McTell Ralph McTell (born Ralph May, 3 December 1944) is an English singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s. McTell is best known for his song " Streets of London" (19 ...

, Steve Knightley,

Jim Causley Jim Causley is an English folk singer, songwriter, and musician from Devon who specializes in the traditional songs and music of the West Country. Journalist Colin Irwin has called him "the finest singer of his generation". Biography Causley ...

, Jackie Oates, India Electric Co., Phillip Henry & Hannah Martin,

Martin Simpson Martin Stewart Simpson (born 5 May 1953) is an English folk singer, guitarist and songwriter. His music reflects a wide variety of influences and styles, rooted in Britain, Ireland, America and beyond. He builds a purposeful, often upbeat voi ...

, Alex Kumar, Matt Gordon & Leonard Podolak, festival patron Martin Carthy, and others throughout the week. The 2013 Sidmouth Folk Week included concerts by Show of Hands with Miranda Sykes, Blowzabella, Colum Sands, the a capella singers Coope, Boyes and Simpson,

Tim Eriksen Tim Eriksen is an American musician, musicologist, and professor. He is the leader of the band Cordelia's Dad, a solo artist, and was a performer and consultant for the award-winning soundtrack of the film '' Cold Mountain''. Cordelia's Dad C ...

, John Kirkpatrick,

, Maddy Prior with Hannah James and Giles Lewin, The Spooky Men's Chorale from Australia, and Jeff Warner from New England in the USA. The 2007 event featured concerts by

, Altan, Liz Ryder, The Spooky Men's Chorale,

Eliza Carthy Eliza Amy Forbes Carthy, MBE (born 23 August 1975) is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing the fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson. Life and ca ...

, Nancy Kerr and

Vin Garbutt Vincent Paul Garbutt (20 November 1947 – 6 June 2017) was an English folk singer and songwriter. A significant part of his repertoire consisted of protest songs covering topics such as "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland (''Welcome Home How ...

. The 2006 Sidmouth Folk Week included Blue Murder,

Seth Lakeman Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. Ac ...

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. Side invited to the 2022 festival included Boss Morris, Campden Morris Dancers, First Class Stamp, Fool’s Gambit Morris, Lancashire Wallopers, Leominster Morris, Mortimer’s Morris, Newcastle Kingsmen, Rumworth Morris, Seven Champions Molly Dancers, Sheffield Steel Rapper and Sidmouth Mummers. The sides performed in a range of Dance Spectaculars in Connaught Gardens and the Blackmore Gardens Marquee, and also around the town centre and on the Esplanade.

History

Some festival performers

Dance displays

References

External links

Further reading