Northern Roots

Traditional Music Festival

Saturday & Sunday, January 30-31, 2021

Now a cornerstone of the traditional music calendar in New England, the Northern Roots Traditional Music Festival returns on Jan. 30-31, in virtual form!

This popular event will continue to offer a unique showcase of a variety of northern musical traditions including Irish, Scottish, English, French Canadian and Shetland. Featured performers Dylan  Foley (fiddle) (Pascal Gemme (fiddle), Nicholas Williams (flute, piano, accordion), Kevin Henderson (fiddle)  and members of the Gawler Family Band (singers) will be offering workshops as well as performing in the annual concert.

The festival begins Saturday, Jan. 30, at 11 am with a series of five hour long workshops (instrumental and vocal).  We will wrap up the day with an evening virtual concert.  For those of you who miss the traditional Northern Roots Festival fare – we will provide recipes for some of your favorites, so you can replicate the full festival food experience!

On Sunday, Jan. 31, we will host three sessions in the afternoon for “all who will” – and while we will miss the ambience of McNeill’s Brewery, we won’t have to worry about not having enough space!

Learn more about our performers here.

The schedule:

• Saturday Workshops: (tentative order)
  • Shetland tunes with Kevin Henderson
  • Work songs with Bennett Kosesni
  • French Canadian tunes with Pascal Gemme
  • Swedish tunes with Nicholas Williams
  • Sligo tunes with Dylan Foley
• Saturday evening concert
• Sunday sessions
  • 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm  Gawler Family sing-along
  • 2:30 pm – 3:45 pm  French Canadian tunes with Pascal Gemme and Nicholas Williams
  • 4:00 pm – 5:15 pm  Irish Session with Benedict Gagliardi and Armand Aromin

All events are by donation.  Links to all events will be posted later.