A wide array of Irish, Scottish, Cape Breton, Appalachian and other Celtic-inspired music and dance is on tap during BCMFest, Boston, Massachusetts’ annual grassroots, musician-run, winter Celtic music festival, Jan. 9-10, 2009.

More than 30 acts, a mix of established artists and new or emerging ones, who are based in the Boston area or are active in its Celtic music community, will be featured.  Their styles and approach run the gamut from dyed-in-the-wool traditional to more contemporary-minded sounds. 

To mix things up and add a new dimension to the festival, fringe events are being added in 2009. “Since BCMFest’s inception, we have welcomed crazy collaborations,” says Shannon Heaton.  “One of the best things about being an independent festival is that we can do stupid things like ‘Celtic Music Makeover,’ or have Celtic-style sing-a-longs of Simon and Garfunkel songs.  As long as the musicianship is stellar, the stupider the better.”

Veteran artists returning to BCMFest in January include Annalivia, Blue Moose and the Unbuttoned Zippers, Amanda Cavanaugh and Friends, Matt Heaton and Flynn Cohen, Katie McNally and Jonathan Fagan, The New Tyme Sisters, Michael O’Leary and Friends, Lissa Schneckenburger, Janine Sirignano and Sean Smith, Mairin Ui Cheide, Highland Dance Boston, and the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society.  Festival newcomers include the Bridgebuilders, Fireside, the Folk Arts Quartet, Four at the Crossroads, the Free Range English Country Boogie Band, Gloucester Hornpipe and Clog Society, Dan Gurney and friends; Long Time Courting, Matching Orange, Noreaster, and Session Americana.

BCMFest kicks off with a customary Friday night concert at Club Passim in Harvard Square, Cambridge, and the Boston Urban Ceilidh at Springstep in Medford.  Besides playing host to the kick-off concert, Club Passim will be home to a Day Fest on Saturday, Jan. 10, for which doors open at 10 a.m.   Continuous concerts from the late morning through the early afternoon also will take place at First Parish Cambridge Church in Harvard Square.  The church also will host Saturday night’s finale concert – which will put the spotlight on dance from the Irish, Scottish, Cape Breton and Appalachian old-timey traditions, in both solo and ensemble settings, accompanied by a house band and special guests.

“Dance drives the format of Celtic music,” says Emerald Rae, a fiddler, vocalist and dancer with the bands Annalivia and The New Tyme Sisters.  “The rhythm, the pace, the structure… it all originates from the dance.” She notes that although dance has been a part of BCMFest since its inception, organizers have now opted to shed more light on it.  Citing Boston’s vibrant traditional music scene and its active dance community, Rae describes the finale concert as “a celebration of how music and dance come together here, involving different generations, backgrounds and interests.”

For more information, visit www.bcmfest.com.