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BCMFest Celebrates Celtic Music and Dance in Boston

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. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

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January is Festival Time in Oregon

Although summertime is the traditional festival season, a couple of music festivals of note take place in Oregon during January. The Fifth Annual River City Bluegrass Festival is slated for Jan. 9-11 in Portland, while the Florence Winter Folk Festival is set for Jan. 17-19. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

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Odetta, 1930-2008, The Spark Goes Out

OdettaOdetta, a singer of folk, blues, jazz and spirituals whose powerful, deep voice helped spark the flames of social justice and freedom during the height of the civil rights movement, has died. The artist, who helped keep the light of folk music burning brightly for more than half a century, succumbed to heart disease on Dec. 2, less than a month short of her 78th birthday and less than 50 days shy of the inauguration of President Barack Obama at which she had hoped to sing.

[To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

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Celtic Music Nights Launched in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Celtic Cultural Alliance (CCA), the folks behind the annual Celtic Classic that draws throngs of people to historic Bethlehem, Pennsylvania each fall, have partnered with Bethlehem BrewWorks to present a new monthly Celtic Music Nights series. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

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Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition Open for Entries

Entries are now being sought for the 2009 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters to be held on Saturday and Sunday, May 23 and 24, during the 38th Annual Kerrville Folk Festival. The first 800 entries received prior to March 15, 2009 will be accepted and 32 finalists will be named in April. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

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Long Island AcoustiCalendar for December 2008

Detailed listings for more than 80 concerts, open mics and jam sessions slated for December in Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk appear in this installment of the Long Island AcoustiCalendar. In addition to a lot of homegrown talent, touring artists of note visiting Long Island during the last days of 2008 include Aztec Two-Step, Anthony da Costa and Abbie Gardner, Joe Jencks, Chris Smither, Amy Speace, Loudon Wainwright III, Sloan Wainwright and Peter Yarrow. [To see the Long Island AcoustiCalendar, click on the headline.]

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Multimedia Celebration of Acoustic Music Comes to Babylon

The Folk Music Society of Huntington (New York) joins with Clearview Cinemas and Folksinger Michael Johnathon’s WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour to present WoodSongs at the Movies at Clearview’s Babylon Cinemas (34 Main Street, west of Deer Park Avenue, in Babylon Village), on Wednesday evenings, beginning Dec. 3. This follows an initial three-week run in Manhasset. Live, 45-minute performances by featured local artists will precede a one-hour screening each week. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $12. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

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NERFA Board Re-elects its President and Elects New Officers

The board of directors of the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) elected a new slate of officers while meeting during the organization's annual conference at the Hudson Valley Resort in Kerhonkson, New York earlier this month. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

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Roots Music Association Presents Awards

Anne McCue was named Folk Artist of the Year, while Carrie Rodriguez took Folk Songwriter of the Year honors in the inaugural Roots Music Association Awards. Others recognized during an awards ceremony that took place on the closing day of the World United Music Festival and Radio Conference in San Marcos, Texas, Nov. 14-16, included Emmylou Harris (Roots/Americana Artist of the Year), Chris Knight (Roots/Americana Country Songwriter of the Year), The Dixie Bee-Liners (Bluegrass Artist of the Year), Pinetop Perkins (Blues Artist of the Year), Tom Gray (Blues Songwriter of the Year), Asleep at the Wheel (Cowboy/Western Swing Artist of the Year), and Jo-el Sonnier (Zydeco Artist of the Year). [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

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XM Satellite Radio Puts The Village on “Vacation”

In this guest commentary, Ron Olesko, host of WFDU-FM's long-running folk music radio programs "Traditions" and "The Session" and president of the Hurdy Gurdy Folk Music Club in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, expresses dismay over the recent decision by the management of XM/Sirius Radio to give its folk music channel a "vacation" for the holiday season. "I'm hoping that this is just a simple error in judgment," writes Olesko, and "that satellite radio can set itself on the right track once again and live up to the promise that created the need." Maintains Olesko, "Should the merger [of XM and Sirius] turn their offerings into a mirror of the commercial mess that has passed for terrestrial radio in recent years, we will have missed what may be our best opportunity to showcase creativity." [To read Ron Olesko's commentary in its entirety, click on the headline.]

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