The audience at this year’s Kimpton Folk Festival will be blown away by Fara. They are undoubtedly among the most talented, dynamic and entertaining acts on the folk scene today.
We’ve been wanting to book this Scottish quartet for a long time now. We saw them perform a showcase set at a music industry conference way back in 2015 and knew that Kimpton would love them.
The intervening years have seen them go from strength to strength, with their stunning blend of traditional and self-penned tunes and songs earning them international acclaim.
But all our attempts to sign them have been blighted by bad timing on our part, and they’ve never been available on our date. So we are delighted to have finally snapped them up as headliners for this year’s Kimpton Folk Festival on Saturday, July 4.
The line-up of Fara is built around the energetic fiddle playing and close-harmony singing of Orkney-born friends Kirstan Harvey, Jeana Leslie and Catriona Price. They’ve recently been joined by Rory Matheson who has replaced Jennifer Austin on keyboards.
Kirstan, Jeana and Catriona had begun their musical careers as part of the eight-piece Orcadian band The Chair, before breaking away to form Fara. Their music is deeply rooted in the traditions of their Orkney upbringing, though their most recent CD, the stunning From The Times Falls, is comprised entirely of self-penned material.
Their new songs incorporate words by Orcadian poets George Mackay Brown, Edwin Muir and Christina Costie and the rich imagery or Orkney is woven around new and enchanting melodies.
The success of their earlier debut album Cross The Line led to a nomination for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards’ Horizon Award and a performance at the Folk Awards prestigious awards ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall in 2017.
See the programme to check out all our 2020 artists, and book your tickets today.
Brian King
Kimpton Folk Events
