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 was held on Jan. 30-31, in virtual form! It was an epic weekend – with fine music, record attendance – and a few things that could only be part of an online festival, including the cat who disconnected the internet, and the performer who found that the best wifi signal was in the chicken coop…

This popular event offers a unique showcase of a variety of northern musical traditions including Irish, Scottish, English, French Canadian and Shetland. NRF 2021 featured performers Dylan Foley (fiddle), Pascal Gemme (fiddle), Nicholas Williams (flute, piano, accordion), Kevin Henderson (fiddle) and members of the Gawler Family Band (singers) offering workshops as well as performing in the annual concert. Armand Aromin and Benedict Gagliardi also led the annual closing Irish Session.

The festival began with a series of Saturday workshops (see below). The day wrapped up with the evening online concert.  On Sunday hosted three sessions in the afternoon: A singalong (replacing the usual Pub Sing), a French Canadian Session, and an Irish Session

Learn more about our performers here.

The schedule:

• Saturday Workshops:
  • Shetland tunes with Kevin Henderson (11 am – 12 pm)
  • Work songs with Bennett Konesni (12:15 pm – 1:15 pm)
  • French Canadian tunes with Pascal Gemme (1:30 pm – 2:30 pm)
  • Swedish tunes with Nicholas Williams (2:45 pm – 3:45 pm)
  • Sligo tunes with Dylan Foley (4:00 pm – 5:00 pm)
• Saturday evening concert – 7:30 pm
  • Featuring performances by Kevin Henderson, Pascal Gemme and Nicholas Williams, Dylan Foley, the Gawler Family, and Traddleboro 2021. (Additional links will be available soon)
    • Watch on youtube
    • Watch on BCTV
• 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 were by donation this year and we are grateful to all those who were able to support us in this rather different year!

Missing our traditional Northern Roots Festival Fare? Visit the Northern Roots Cafe for the full Festival Experience!

In lieu of our usual “Performer Table” full of merchandise you can peruse their online offerings here!