Cork Folk Festival has announced its programme for the 2021 edition. The festival, now in its 42nd year, is taking place from 29 September to 3 October and will present a series of live and online concerts, sessions, workshops and a walking tour. 

Four headline concerts at Triskel Arts Centre will take place as part of the festival including Freddie White (30 September), Steve Cooney and Dermot Byrne (1 October), Tara Breen, Pádraig Rynne and Jim Murray (2 October), and Gals at Play, the trio of Mary Greene, Anna Mitchell and Fiona Kennedy (3 October). 

On Sunday 3 October, there will also be a concert celebrating singer and banjo player Margaret Barry and her grandfather, piper Robert Thompson, in St Peter’s Church with Eoin Ó Riabhaigh, Johnny McCarthy and Tim O’Riordan, and Marty Barry and Cathal Ó Curráin. There will also be a film screening of Ceol na bhFánaithe, which features Barry. Also taking place on 3 October is Folk Fest in the Park – a free outdoor concert at Fitzgerald Park featuring Seán Ó Sé, Máire Ní Chéileachair and the Abbey Céilí Band. 

Workshops, walking tour, online events
The festival will present a series of online workshops on Saturday 2 October featuring Máire Ní Chéileachair, who will host a session on traditional song; Karl Nesbitt, who will host a session on flute and whistle; fiddle-player Matt Cranitch will host a session on Sliabh Luachra tunes; and piper Leonard Barry will give a workshop on uilleann pipes. The workshops will take place on Zoom and are free to attend but must be booked in advance. 

The festival will also feature the launch of Cork 1920 – A City In Flames, an album by John Murphy (30 September); the ‘Rebels of Cork’ Walking Tour (2 October); and the Hedge School Sessions – a series of secret sessions.

Commenting on this year’s festival, organiser William Hammond said:

The festival will celebrate the music of Cork with a strong emphasis on live music… Throughout the year, myself and Festival Chairman Jim Walsh have gone through different variations of how the festival could happen in 2021 and scrubbed plans many times as the Covid situation deteriorated. But with the health concerns improving we have settled on a programme that will entice Cork lovers of live acoustic music. 

For further information and tickets, visit: www.corkfolkfestival.com/