The Linlithgow Folk Festival will make a welcome return this weekend.
The first of a whole series of events will take place tonight (Thursday) in the Black Bitch Tavern.
First held in 1999, the annual celebration of traditional music, dance and song in the Royal Burgh is now firmly established on the traditional music scene throughout the UK and it attracts visitors from far and wide.
Pre-pandemic, the festival had built a fearsome reputation for attracting some of the biggest names on the traditional music scene and had also become well-known as a place where emerging talent was given the opportunity to perform.
The festival was cancelled in 2020, although online events took place, including the wonderful ‘Linlithgow Folk Festival in miniature’ which, through wooden figures, toys, and sound recordings, managed to capture the spirit of the event in a brilliantly imaginative way.
Last year, a highly successful mini festival took place in the wonderful setting of the Burgh Halls garden. This year’s event will build on that success and re-introduce concerts and sessions.
Most of the sessions will take place inside the Black Bitch Tavern and, weather permitting, outside in the impressive beer garden.
The pub has always been the spiritual home of the festival and the organisers are delighted that, once again, Linlithgow’s most famous watering hole – and its iconic name -will be centre stage during this year’s proceedings. Twice-monthly sessions are organised in the pub throughout the year.
The festival gets underway on Thursday with a ‘Stramash’ at the Black Bitch Tavern and sessions will take place there throughout the weekend.
Concert events will be back this year, and these will take place at Linlithgow Rose Social Club.
Friday will see a welcome return to the town for The Sorries, fresh from another record-breaking run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
On Saturday, there will be a performance by popular Falkirk group, The Tonkerers, who are an experienced six-piece band, playing a wide range of music, including their own energetic arrangements of folk and country songs.
They deliver music and fun to audiences of all ages and are very popular throughout central Scotland.
This year will also see the re-establishment of the Nora Devine Stage, which allows performers the opportunity to appear at the very heart of the festival. Traditionally held at the Cross on the Saturday and Sunday, the stage will take place in the Burgh Halls Garden in 2022 and the organisers are promising a wide array of music from performers of all ages.
Other events in the programme include a ceilidh in the Burgh Halls and a ‘Singaround’ in the Masonic Hall.
Full details of the Linlithgow Folk Festival are available on the website www.linlithgowfolk.com and on Facebook and other social media platforms.
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