Cygnet Folk Festival 2017: Best yet

The 35th Cygnet Folk Festival from Fri 6 – Sun 8 January 2017 in beautiful southern Tasmania is shaping up to be the best on record.

Sales have been breaking records, with tickets expected to sell out online before the Box Office opens, so patrons are advised to book now.

The Festival has long been known for attracting world class acts both internationally and throughout Australia; and the small Tasmanian town of Cygnet hums palpably with Festival fever over the second weekend of January each year.

The 2017 line-up includes over 100 artists and some of the best names in Folk and traditional music including American Grammy award winning country and bluegrass instrumentalist Tim O’Brien, young traditional Irish band Four Winds, Hothouse Flowers’ ex lead singer and instrumentalist Liam O’Maonlai, Irish/Canadian five piece band The Outside Track, the legendary Andy Irvine with mandolinist extraordinaire Luke Plumb and the irrepressible Jaron Freeman-Fox and the Opposite of Everything. Also from Ireland but now based in Berlin, the Festival will feature Wallis Bird and closer to home, but no less accomplished, the songs of Hailey Calvert, dynamic bluesy duo Hat Fitz and Cara, the emotional range of songstress Áine Tyrrell, the extraordinary Mongolian throat singing of Bhuku Ganburged and John Robinson’s featured playing of the traditional stringed oud in Horse and Wood.

Artistic Director Erin Collins says “I’m thrilled at the extraordinary quality of acts for the 2017 Festival. The calibre of applicants speaks volumes to the reputation that the Cygnet Folk Festival has developed in its 35 years. I also love that we attract performers who are just as willing to share their talents through workshops and masterclasses and engage in wonderful, spontaneous collaborations true to the real traditions of folk and world music”

Whilst celebrating ethno-folk music from around the world, the Festival has something for everyone with dances programmed throughout the weekend, circus workshops and performances, children’s acts and activities, the Festival Choir and the People’s Orchestra. There will also be a series of masterclasses, gourmet food featuring Huon Valley produce and international flavours, screenings of the film Wide Open Sky, poetry reading, arts and crafts market, instrument maker’s display and more.

View the complete list of over 100 acts and buy tickets at www.cygnetfolkfestival.org

Event statistics Cygnet Folk Festival 2017

• Cygnet is 45 minutes’ drive south of Hobart
• Cygnet population around 1500, more than quadruples over the 3 day Festival
• Performers – 440
• Acts – 115
• Concerts – 241
• Masterclasses & workshops -38
• Dance events – 22
• Volunteers – 187
• Billet beds needed – 105
• Campers at Festival camp site – over 800
• Sales in the first two months doubled those of the first two months last year
Cherie Stewart, Festival Manager