Illawarra Folk Festival 2020
Perennial favourite Eric Bogle heads a great lineup of around 150 international, national and local acts as the Illawarra Folk Festival celebrates its 35th anniversary later this month.
The annual four-day event, which is the State’s largest folk festival, will be held at Bulli Showground and begins next week.
The Illawarra Folk Festival is just a few weeks after the iconic Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland, and international acts that appeared at Woodford including Brighde Chaimbeul, Elephant Sessions and Siobhan Miller (Scotland), The Brother Brothers (US), Teatro Matita (Slovenia) and The Barleyshakes Trio (Ireland) will be playing at Bulli.
International acts exclusive to the Illawarra Folk Festival include the Dirty Stay Out Skifflers, Grayscale ContraBand. SONiA disappear fear and Ken Field’s Hoot Band (US), Mo Kenney and the Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra (Canada) and English singer Christine Collister, teaming with Australian guitar maestro Michael Fix.
Artistic Director David De Santi said the lineup was particularly strong, with top international, national and local acts and one of the largest contingents of young performers in the event’s history.
Scottish-born singer-songwriter Bogle, whose anti-war song And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda is an international classic, first played at the festival in 1988, and returned in 2012, 2014 and 2018.
He and the visiting Scottish acts will feature in the festival’s contribution to the Year of Scotland in Australia 2020 – a nationwide celebration of Scottish music, culture, food and drink.
Jan 16-19. Bulli Showground, Grevillea Park Rd, Bulli. $10-$220+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.illawarrafolkfestival.com.au
