Port Fairy Folk Festival glides into its naughty 40’s in style, unveiling the 41st festival program set to sway Port Fairy’s picturesque shores from 10 – 13 March 2017.
The dedicated masses new and old who make the annual pilgrimage to the festival’s folk-winged gates are known to snap up the first offering of tickets via the subscriber-only release, with tickets selling at a growing pace each year.
The iconic Australian gathering of musicians and artists from across the globe is renowned for its great line ups and its seemingly endless array of concerts and workshops that have the festival arena and the entire township of Port Fairy abuzz with music moments and cultural connections. The faith is so strong in the event that the subscriber allocation is commonly sold out within 24 hours, often without even a whisper on the wind of an artist on the bill.
This year subscriber tickets went on sale at 12:01 Monday 12 September and are already selling fast. To coincide with the subscriber ticket release, the festival is announcing a huge first line up of sixteen acts to get things off to a festive start.
Patty Griffin (USA) is a Grammy-Award winning artist who has achieved great acclaim for her songwriting as well as her powerful voice, and her latest album ‘Servant of Love’ takes on big ideas in the vernacular of folk tales, blues cants and jazz gestures.
Don Walker, one of Australia’s finest songwriters and performers, comes to Port Fairy Folk Festival for the first time ever in his huge career. Walker’s songs have been mapping Australia, from Kings Cross to regional towns and the spaces between, for more than 30 years spanning back to his youth as a member of Cold Chisel, penning songs that are ingrained in the Australian music psyche such as “Saturday Night” and “Cheap Wine”.
Manu Delago (Austria), renowned for his performances with Bjork, The Cinematic Orchestra and Anoushka Shankar, is a prodigious Hang player and percussionist. His Hang solo work ‘Mono Desire’ has become the most popular Hang video on the internet and made the Top30 music videos list on Youtube. (Hang is an enchanting sound sculpture manufactured in Switzerland by PanArt.)
Joining Patti Griffin, Don Walker and Manu Delago to round out an announcement of acts that is brimming with talent from across Australia and the globe are:
Deborah Conway & Willy Zygier
Dori Freeman (USA)
Eddi Reader (Scotland)
Folk Uke (USA)
Gawurra
Manu Delago (Austria)
Mundy (Ireland)
Natty Man & Gara
The Pinks play the Blues
Sarah Carroll & the Left Wing
Tash Sultana
Vika & Linda
The Waifs
The first announcement also coincides with a unveiling of the festival poster image designed by none other than the wonderful Reg Mombassa. The 2017 Port Fairy Folk Festival will include a strong visual arts and culture program to be revealed closer to the festival, however with the unveiling of the artwork the festival has announced the program will include a visual arts collaborative exhibition by Reg Mombassa and brother Pete O’Doherty. PFFF Program Director Caroline Moore says of her first year in the hot seat:
“I’m excited by the potential of the artistic collaborations that will happen only at Port Fairy this year. There will be some very special one off events that won’t be repeated ever again so watch this space!”
Punters are encouraged to subscribe to the Port Fairy Folk Festival via the e-news sign up at www.portfairyfolkfestival.
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