Northern Roots Festival: Sunday Pub Sing

The 18th annual Northern Roots Traditional Music Festival, directed by Keith Murphy, returns the weekend of January 24-26 to the Brattleboro Music Center.

The Festival opens Friday, January 24, with a special Friday Evening French Canadian Soirée, sponsored in part by Délégation du Québec à Boston. This concert, set for 7:30 p.m., will feature some of the best-known names in the French-Canadian music world, including accordionist Sabin Jacques, pianist Rachel Aucoin, fiddler Pascal Gemme, guitarist and singer Yann Falquet, and Brattleboro’s own Keith Murphy.

The rest of the weekend unfolds with the familiar Saturday festival schedule of workshops and evening concert.  The Saturday workshop schedule includes a range of topics – from work songs of Northern New England to Bal Folk dance, from ergonomics for fiddlers to Irish tunes from County Mayo.  While most workshops are designed to be participatory, all are welcome to attend.  A complete list of events and workshop leaders can be found here.

The Northern Roots Saturday Evening Concert, set for Saturday, January 25, at 7:30 p.m. at the BMC, will revisit the French-Canadian repertoire, but will also feature Paul McDonnell, Irish accordion; Bennett Konesni, guitar and voice; Benjamin Foss, New England fiddle; Deirdre and Sean Murtha, traditional song; and Traddleboro 2025.  This year’s Traddleboro, which highlights a different local ensemble each year, will consist of members of the young musician group Fiddleheads Brattleboro, a program of Vermont Folklife, led by Laurel Swift and currently hosted at the BMC.

The Festival wraps up on Sunday, January 26, with a 1 p.m. Pub Sing, a 2:30 p.m. Irish tune session, and a French-Canadian session from 4 to 5:30 p.m.  These will be held at the American Legion Hall, 32 Linden Street, Brattleboro – musicians and audience are all welcome.

First held in 2007, the Northern Roots Traditional Music Festival explores the traditions that have contributed to this region’s rich musical heritage: Irish, English, Scottish, French Canadian, Scandinavian, and New England roots share the spotlight at this annual gathering, a cornerstone of the region’s traditional music calendar.