0 Comments Oxford Folk Festival March 20-22

The sixth annual Oxford Folk Festival will be held March 20-22 in Oxford, England. Musicians scheduled to perform represent a wide variety of folk music. I’ll mention just a few of them. Telling the Bees, composed of Andy Letcher, Colin Fletcher, Jane Griffiths and Josie Weber, plays music inspired by everything from modern protest to ancient stories. Jon Boden on fiddle, singing lead, and John Spiers on melodeon, with vocal harmony, form the duet Spiers & Borden.

Two-time BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winner Lau provides “modern traditional” music, with Kris Drever on vocals and guitar, Martin Green on piano accordion and Aidan O’Rourke on fiddle. Kris, a Radio 2 winner in his own right, will also be performing solo.

Kismet is a female trio whose members are all singers, songwriters, composers and arrangers. Melissa Holding plays the accordion and two Japanese instruments–one a three-stringed instrument, similar to a banjo, called a shamisen, and the other a 13-stringed harp called a koto. Melissa formed the group East Whistle and toured with it for several years. Katherine Lucas plays clarinet, whistles and percussion instruments and has sung with Amariah and Frabjous Day. Jackie Singer plays the violin and the mandola and is also a storyteller. She founded the medieval folk group Jabberwocky.

I could go on and on with this list, but just want to mention a couple more: sweet-voiced singer/songwriter Kate Rusby and blues balladeer Maeve Bayton. Whatever your folk music tastes, there is bound to be plenty of good music at this year’s festival.