POSTPONED: Third annual Bates Folk Music Festival
Alba’s Edge. From left, Doug Berns, bassist; Neil Pearlman, pianist; Lilly Pearlman, fiddler; Jacob Cole, percussionist. At Bates, Katie McNally will fill in for Lilly Pearlman.
NOTE TO READERS: Because of heavy snow predicted for Feb. 8, the Bates College Folk Music Festival has been postponed until spring. Watch bates.edu/news for an announcement of the new date.
Contradancing, workshops and performances by musicians from as far away as Scotland are on tap for the third annual Bates College Folk Music Festival, a two-day event beginning at 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, in the Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave., and Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Ave.
The event is open to the public. Admission fees vary according to ability to pay — from $5 to $20 for one day, and $10 to $30 for both days. No one will be turned away for inability to pay. Tickets are available at the door. For more information, please visit batesfolkfest.weebly.com/.
The event is sponsored by the Freewill Folk Society, a student organization at Bates. For more information, please contact mpickof2@bates.edu.
The event opens Friday with music by the Bates ensemble Chase the Fiddlers, led by Greg Boardman of the applied music faculty, and by the Scottish trio Cantrip.
Friday’s performers also include Bates College students; the Press Gang, an Irish-music trio from Portland; and the Scottish-Latin fusion band Alba’s Edge. Kim Roberts of Farmington calls a 6:30 p.m. contradance with the Maine duo Velocipede and a 9 p.m. contradance with the Scottish band Alba’s Edge.
The Scottish trio Cantrip — from left, Eric McDonald, Jon Bews and Dan Houghton.
On Saturday, a yoga and stretching session starts the day’s activities at 9 a.m., followed by a 9:30 a.m. contradance with music by Greg and Jessie Boardman. Velocipede offers a concert at 3:30 p.m. The Portland band Tumbling Bones performs at the Ronj, Bates’ student-run coffeehouse at 32 Frye St., at 9 p.m.
About the performers
Chase the Fiddlers is a folk band composed of Bates students and faculty including Greg Boardman, of Auburn, a longtime presence in the Maine folk music scene.
Cantrip is composed of fiddler Jon Bews, bagpiper Dan Houghton and multi-instrumentalist Eric McDonald. Performing on both sides of the Atlantic for more than a decade, the band weaves together music both traditional and contemporary to take audiences on a unique cultural journey.
Velocipede, featuring fiddle tunes from around the world, consists of Julia Plumb, a member of the Bates class of 2005 who plays fiddle, viola and foot percussion; and Baron Collins-Hill, playing mandolin and tenor guitar.
Alba’s Edge draws on jazz, funk and the music of Cuba and Brazil, infusing traditional Scottish melodies with new ideas. Based in New York City and Boston, Alba’s Edge is led by pianist Neil Pearlman.
The Press Gang, composed of squeezebox player Christian “Junior” Stevens, fiddler Alden Robinson and guitarist Owen Marshall, performs all over the Northeast and into Atlantic Canada.
Greg and Jessie Boardman play fiddle and cello.
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