The World Folk Music Association’s 23rd annual benefit concert is slated for Jan. 19, 2008 at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center on Northern Virginia Community College’s Alexandria campus. Benefit tickets are priced at $40-$90.  Performers  will include Liam Clancy, Danny Doyle, Hot Soup!, The Makem & Spain Brothers, Modern Man, Schooner Fare, The Shaw Brothers, Side by Side, Jack Williams, Bethany Yarrow & Rufus Cappadocia, among others.   

Special tribute will be paid to Tommy Makem, the singer-songwriter widely regarded as the godfather of Irish folk music, who passed away earlier this year.  Makem, 74, who died in August, had regaled audiences for more than half a century with traditional Irish songs and stories, as well as his own ballads like “Four Green Fields” and “Gentle Annie,” sung in his rich baritone, while ably accompanying himself on the banjo and tin whistle.

Since its inception in 1983, the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit World Folk Music Association has sought to help traditional and contemporary folk artists and their fans keep the light of folk music burning brightly.  For more information, visit www.wfma.net

Editor’s Note: In March of this year, during its 22nd annual benefit concert, the association honored living legend Odetta, one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, whose voice helped spark the flames of social justice and freedom during the height of the civil rights movement.  A short article appears in AcousticMusicScene.com’s Archives section for March 2007.