In conversation with: Orkney Folk Festival
EventScotland
As part of VisitScotland, we work to make Scotland the Perfect Stage for events.
Orkney Folk Festival is set to celebrate its 40th edition next week (25 to 28 May 2023). We caught up with Festival Producer Craig Corse to find out more about the plans to mark this special occasion and the key to the event's longevity and success.
The Orkney Folk Festival is celebrating its 40th year in 2023. What special plans have you got to celebrate?
It probably sounds a bit cliched, but my aim is that the whole festival is a celebration of the last 40 years; familiar, but with new additions, one eye on celebrating the last four decades whilst the other firmly on what’s coming down the tracks keeping the genre and festival exciting 40 years later.
Our two largest capacity events this year are prime examples of both. On Friday evening we’re welcoming back Scottish folk icons Capercaillie (having played at the fourth Orkney Folk Festival, in 1986), who will reprise their new orchestral suite, that debuted at Celtic Connections 2022, with a local orchestra led by the Orkney Schools Instrumental Service. This is the first time the band will have performed it with an amateur orchestra, let alone one comprised 50% of high school students - which says a huge amount about the quality and value of music education in Orkney, and that has always been featured throughout the festival programme. On Saturday, we’ve introduced an event dubbed "Future Folk", with a large capacity standing audience - aimed at introducing the genre to new audiences, with artists who fuse folk with funk, dance, and contemporary genres.
We have a number of Orcadian artists heading home for the festival, including Kris Drever, Fara and Gnoss, who will appear alongside Orkney-based favourites such as The Chair and Saltfishforty. Orcadian music is very much the backbone of the festival, as has been the case since the ‘80s, and it’s our local artists who give a world-class visiting line-up (this year from USA, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Wales, England, Ireland and Scotland) such a warm welcome, which undoubtedly comes across in their performances over the weekend.
Folk music is often rooted in a time and a place. What makes Orkney the perfect stage for a folk festival in 2023?
It seems almost impossible to believe now, but when the festival started, in 1983, it was to give both tourism and folk music in the islands a boost. Fast forward a few decades and the festival is amongst the islands’ busiest weekends of the year - a literal homecoming for many expats, and a spiritual one for many more who have found themselves visiting once, and then returning year on year (accommodation goes fast!). After two years of no live festival during the pandemic, we returned in 2022 to our strongest sales ever - which we’ve already surpassed this year, with four weeks yet to run - proving that the lure of an island festival is stronger than ever. Orkney itself is a draw, for sure, but it’s that combined with the rich Orcadian music scene that proves such a strong calling for audiences. With a number of well known, homegrown musicians heading home to join the line-up this year, there’s never been a better time to give it a try. Whilst a number of shows are sold out, with an increased capacity we do still have good availability in some places - ‘mon up!
What can visitors expect from a visit to Orkney?
Big skies, big hearts, and the biggest of welcomes. Orkney seriously punches above its weight when it comes to selling itself, and welcoming visitors. From the long, spring nights (don’t expect darkness before 11pm over the festival), to the vast, expansive larder of island food and drink, visitors are often taken aback by just how much there is to discover. Fortunately, with the festival being based and ticketed around shows running all day, rather than stages running on a site from opening to closing, visitors can create their own itinerary to allow time for discovering the landscape, archaeology, wildlife, crafts, produce, and people that make the county so special. We’re very proud of home, and are rarely happier than when we get to show the islands and all they have to offer to folk that have taken the time to come and see us.
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We know that Orkney isn’t the easiest place to get to, though (even from Central Scotland it’s pretty much a full day’s travel by road and sea), and so, thanks to EventScotland, we are very happy to be offering a taster of the live festival online through streaming once again - ensuring everyone can join us from around the world, and hopefully whetting the appetite for an in-person visit in years to come.
What would you say to someone looking to dip their toes into folk music for the first time?
Do it. We often say that folk means a lot of different things to different, well, folk; one person’s interpretation of the genre will be totally different to someone else’s, but that gives plenty scope for a lot of varying tastes and sensibilities. Certainly within our festival, we aim to cover as broad a spectrum of the genre as we can - from quiet, contemplative song, to high energy gigs, probably more immediately thought of as a pop/rock show. Folk music has always been of a place and time, and adapts and melds to suit the tastes of that time - whilst carrying a reverence for those that have blazed a trail previously. The folk music being created today isn’t afraid to fuse with pretty much any other genre, and likewise audiences are generally very receptive to new ideas and movements, seeing it all as part of a living tradition, rather than antiquated museum piece. There’s space for everyone, making it, I think, one of the most accessible, diverse and welcoming genres for newcomers - both off and on stage.
Established in 1983, what is the key to your longevity?
I think festivals that stand the test of time have to have a sense of identity, whether that’s of place, people, community, tradition, or in our case all of the above. Orkney is very proud of its local music scene, and that has always been a strong fixture amongst our programming, alongside world-class artists. We aim to bring the world to Orkney, both in bringing leading folk talent to the isles for local and visiting audiences, but also in staging the largest celebration of Orkney’s own famed musical talent which is equally enjoyed by crowds from home and away. Within the visiting line-up, there’s quite a breadth of styles and tastes on offer - but it’s impossible to cater to all every year, so that constant change keeps things fresh and exciting.
Orkney itself is a huge part of our longevity, though. We tend not to get single-day attendees, either locally or from outside the county, as with such a celebration on folks’ doorsteps our Orkney audiences often try to savour as much as they can - and given the travel for others, visiting audiences likewise tend to take in the full weekend. By the time Sunday night comes round, there’s an investment and emotional attachment to the festival that immediately draws many back 52 weeks down the line - and it’s no exaggeration that a lot of our attendees immediately rebook their accommodation for the next year. I feel if we were even on the Scottish mainland, with much easier driving access, there might not be that same connection - but by the time folk have got to us, they’re most often determined to take in as much as they can, and we’re only too happy to oblige, time and time again.?
Orkney Folk Festival 2023 runs from 25 to 28 May.