The Schools Concert
Friday 29th April – 2:00pm
Girvan Academy
Girvan Academy pupils are treated to an exclusive performance by select Festival artists, Allan MacDonald & Cathal McConnell, Alasdair Roberts, Heather Yule and Guillaume Maupin on Friday afternoon.
Friday Festival Ceilidh
Friday 29th April – 7:30pm
The Catholic Hall
Somewhere between an old-school folk club and a Gaelic-style cèilidh our welcome event will feature an array of turns – expect music, song, step dance and poetry – as well, of course, as some West Highland ceilidh dance sets from Oban stalwarts Creel. Meet friends, have a dance, sit-in with the band (all welcome!) or ask to do a turn.
Please inform the MC at the beginning of the evening if you’d like to do a turn, we’ll do our best to accommodate everyone!
£16 / £14
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The Bobby Robb Memorial Concert
Saturday 30th Apr – 2:00pm
The Catholic Hall
Our annual tribute to Festival founder Bobby Robb will feature friends and musical companions of Bobby’s over the years: Bud Frazer, Martin Shane & George McCullough from Belfast, Brian McArthur & Alex Mackenzie of Fife’s Kinrick, Davie Hunter, Lorna McColm & Beatrice Clark some of whom performed with Bobby in Glib-gabbit, Pat Lappin of Ayr’s Phoenix Folk Club and members of Girvan Folk Club.
£8 / £5
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Josie Neill Songs
Saturday 30th April – 3:30pm
The Queens Hotel
Josie Neill and fellow Ayrshire poet and collaborator Stuart A Paterson introduce a showcase of new song settings of poems taken from Josie’s celebrated 2021 collection There’s Ma Mammy Wavin.
Josie has been writing beautiful, grounded Scots poetry for half a century. Her poetry evokes a rural Ayrshire childhood that has all but disappeared and while widely acclaimed it has never before (as far as we know!) been set to music. To rectify this, Girvan Festival has invited 4 of Scotland’s most inventive Scots singers to each present their interpretation of a poem of their choice. Featuring Maggie Macrae, Alasdair Roberts, Debbie Armour and Evie Waddell.
£5
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The Josie Neill Songs project has been made possible thanks to generous support from Tasgadh – Traditional Arts Small Grants with devolved funding from Creative Scotland and the Scottish Book Trust.
The Festival Folk Club
Saturday 30th April – 5:00pm
The Westcliffe Hotel
Introduced in 2019 the Festival Folk Club provides opportunities for you to take a floor spot on the Festival stage, guided by a host/MC Guillaume Maupin and likely to include appearences from among our main Festival guests. The venues and timing for the Festival Folk Clubs may vary subject to demand – check in at the Festival Office.
The Kist o Riches
Saturday 30th April – 7:30pm
The Catholic Hall
The Saturday evening concert features 3 singers united by a shared imaginative, forward-looking ethos that is, at the same time, grounded in tradition — Eithne Ní Catháin of Inni-K, Debbie Armour of Burd Ellen and Evie Waddell. The concert will also feature accomplished instrumental music from fiddler and viola player Emma Tomlinson accompanied by her husband Adam Sutherland himself a fiddler of no little renown!
The Concert is the Scottish launch for Iníon – Inni-K’s new record of sean nós song. Inspired in equal parts by the singing of Joe Heaney and Elizabeth Cronin, The Irish Times awarded the record ★★★★ describing it as “emblematic of a fidelity to the form but, equally, a fidelity to musical exploration”.
£16 / £14
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Inni-K appear at Girvan Festival thanks to generous support from Culture Ireland.
Between the Jigs & the Reels
Sunday 1st May – 3:30pm
The Catholic Hall
Scottish & Irish trad tunes and percussive dance from the Sound of Dance project, Airghiolla and All-Ireland champion piano box player Michael Dudgeon. We might also get a folktale from Heather Yule and a song from acclaimed singer & Girvan Festival regular Chris Miles.
£10 / £8
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The Farewell Concert
Sunday 1st May – 7:30pm
The Catholic Hall
The farewell concert will feature a very special duo performance from old friends Allan MacDonald & Cathal McConnell, renowned balladeer Alasdair Roberts presenting material from his forthcoming record of traditional song, and an instrumental set from Galloway-based tunesmiths Gavin Marwick & Ruth Morris.
£16 / £14
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