A brief history of The Sheffield Folk Guide
If you enjoy folk music or dance you're probably already aware that Sheffield is a brilliant place to live for a thriving folk scene. Many folk musicians from around the UK have settled in Sheffield over the last 20 years and Sheffield is well known by folk music enthusiasts as being the folk music capital of the UK. We have a great range of venues putting on folk gigs from the intimate such as cafe #9, Bishop's House, Samuel Worth Chapel at the General Cemetery to larger famous venues like The Greytones, The Leadmill, Sheffield City Hall. There are always plenty of sessions happening including singing and tunes. And for me the best of all is the Sheffield local carol sings in the pubs in the 6 weeks up to Christmas.
If you've not had much experience of folk music I'd love to introduce you to this world- there's a wide range of music with the opportunities to listen, sing, play an instrument or dance. Many events are free or cheap to attend. I started Sheffield Folk Guide 18 months ago to make it easier to find out what events are happening in Sheffield. I should start by saying that although I'm keen to include folk and traditional music from all cultures in the guide, I have experience of the English traditional music scene and the folk guide so far has much more about English/ Celtic/ American heritage music. I would love to share information about music and dance events from other traditions that are happening in our richly culturally diverse city. So a bit of an introduction to English folk music to get you started: English Folk music includes songs and tunes that have been passed down through generations, including dance tunes and songs that people sang in the home, workplace or pub. (Think sea shanties, songs like Scarborough Fair, Morris Dance tunes.) The folk music genre now includes a lot of new music and songs written in the style of the old songs and tunes. English folk music ranges from loud, lively multi instrumental arrangements of to beautiful harmony singing groups to electronic folk drone. The folk guide tries to include traditional music from all cultures so the range of music listed is very broad. Gigs vary from acoustic and semi acoustic performances for a few dozen people to loud lively standing gigs for several hundred. I think there is a good chance that you can find something new that you like. If you are interested in broadening your musical tastes why not have a look at the description in the what's on guide, listen to a few tracks online and if you like it give it a go! Sheffield Folk Guide sheffieldfolkguide.org.uk is a free to use non-commercial online information sharing service. It lists all folk gigs and dances in Sheffield that I can find. It also has links to websites listing music sessions in pubs (of which there are very many) and the Sheffield local carols. Kathy Barnes November 2023