The 2020 Auckland Folk Festival bags a stellar line up of International & NZ artists, providing the perfect weekend of music to round out summer!
A stellar range of overseas and New Zealand performers are set to make the 2020 Auckland Folk Festival the biggest and most exciting in its 47-year history. Held every Auckland anniversary over the last weekend in January (Jan 24th-27th 2020), the festival attracts thousands of music lovers from all over New Zealand, many of them musicians themselves. It is New Zealand’s biggest folk festival with up to 3000 campers and day visitors expected over the weekend.
The festival has become something of an institution in Auckland but a growth spurt in recent years is seeing a new generation of fans discover the natural sounds of acoustic instruments and the diverse roots and contrasting styles of modern folk music.
The 2020 Auckland Folk Festival offers a huge range of music and dance, from modern & traditional folk, celtic, americana and bluegrass, along with ethnic and cultural events, kids programmes, blackboard concerts, food stalls and pop-up performances on a village green stage.
All told, over 150 performers will arrive at the Kumeu showgrounds from USA, Canada, Ireland, UK, and across New Zealand, joining a showcase of Auckland’s best & diverse multicultural music and dance performers.
Headlining the bill for the overseas acts is the two-time Grammy Award winner Tim O’Brien, a folk legend in America, who comes to the festival with partner Jan Fabricius (USA).
Other international highlights include Quebecois five-piece folk band Rosier (Canada), lively Celtic band Keeva (Ireland/NZ), the unique Pauline Scanlon Band (Ireland), and powerhouse English folk band Faustus (UK). Twenty years after his last appearance at the Auckland festival, one of the great Irish folk singers, Andy Irvine, will also be back.
In keeping with its family approach, the 2020 festival features an expanded kids programme, with several of the most accomplished kids’ acts in New Zealand today, and workshops and activities that will include things like instrument making and music performance.
