FAIRBRIDGE Festival returns for its 25th year boasting a line-up of 15 international acts, 20 leading Australian contemporary bands, a huge contingent of top local artists and a raft of new programming initiatives.
The special anniversary, four-day program runs from Friday April 21 to Monday, April 24.
The first eight international acts announced include Jarlath Henderson, Flats and Sharps and the Chipolatas from the UK, also celebrating their 25th anniversary, Phil Wiggans and Dom Turner, Harpeth Rising and Christina Olsen from the USA, Les Poules a Colin from Canada and Oi Dipnoi from Italy.
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READ NOWArtistic director Rod Vervest spent part of last year in Europe attending festivals to source talent.
He attended WOMEX and the English Folk Expo, which he described as “a real eye opener, with a fantastic array of traditional music”.
“It’s wonderful what young artists are doing with revitalising trad music and making it fresh and exciting,’’ he said.
“It took me less than 10 seconds listening to Les Poules a Colin to book this band for Fairbridge.
“Theirs is a gift that comes from being totally immersed in a tradition of music-making handed down and around as a part of life.”
Fairbridge Festival’s 2017 program is very different from its humble beginnings in 1993.
However, what has remained is the desire to present the best of traditional and contemporary folk and world music, and the myriad genres from across Australia and around the world.