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          roughly monthly-ish, you'll get information updates, 
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Below:  a form   -- or --     just email sam@folklife.uk with the same details. 
        This is useful for you, with Updates for News, Directory, & Folklife Traditions (& deadline reminders). 
And useful for us, so we spend less time on admin/emails = more time for magazine & website.  
And know how many read this, & where, and so resource appropriately!  
Keep in touch with our free emailed occasional Newsletter

​​Updates: News, Directory, Folklife Traditions (... & Deadlines) 
 
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​        and/or for new Folklife members (£18 / year UK)
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Venues: Zoom   Session & Singaround Directory
        open sessions & singarounds;  + useful notes + articles
                         ---- for concerts (Facebook):  see Folklife members' news (on area webpages)
​
  • We can help - email your details and we'll draft new entries for you to approve or change, as listings below.
Each day is in the same order as our News & Directory area webpages, which are --------
      Cymru • Wales   then England​      Kernow • Cornwall  •  West Country  •  Glos  •  Midlands   •  Herefs & Worcs  •  South-East  •  North •  
      Alba•Scotland​ • International
and we note how you can join eg DIRECT LINK , or sing up via WEBSITE , EMAIL , FaceBook , etc.
  • Followed by:  International Zoom Calendars; Some Helpful Notes About Zoom;  Articles About Zoom
  • 🄵   Folklife Member  
  • 🄰   Associates those signed up to our Folklife Newsletter - email sam@folklife.uk Opt In + country, or Eng. region, or use form above
  • (!)    in italics, not signed up to Newsletter -- this may get out of date.    All future listings will only be from those signed up.​
  • Email addresses:  to avoid spam, we put <at> for @,   please revert to @​ 
Sunday   England
​🄰  North-East - LOCH DOWN FOLK CLUB - Weekly Sundays, 8pm.   Songs, tunes, poems or just come for the craic and have a listen. All nationalities. All languages. All welcome.  
DIRECT LINK  https://us04web.zoom.us/j/445376545?pwd=L1BiRlozc2NqYXJZQlQ4ZkVIaW45dz09
Meeting ID: 445 376 545         Password: 000338              (added 24/9/2020)

Sunday   Israel
(!)  Israel.  Jerusalem. LET'S SING TOGETHER (Virtually!) from Jerusalem, Sunday, twice-monthly, 8:15 to 10:30pm Jerusalem time  [6.15 to 8.30pm UK time].     EMAIL For the link please send an email to pgbacal <at> gmail.com [updated 17/5/2021 to twice-monthly]

Sunday   USA
🄰  Mass - Boston - LIVE FROM THE MERMAID'S TAVERN ONLINE EVENTS.  
1st, Online Ballad Sing;  2-4 EDT [= UK 7pm-9pm]. A  ballad is a song that tells a story. Bring us your ballads from renowned collections, local history, family tradition, or just ripping good yarns.
3rd, Online Chantey & Tavern Sing,  2-4 EDT [= UK 7pm-9pm]. Sadly, latency limits harmony, so we will gather in a song circle.
SIGN UP VIA WEBSITE For details see sites.google.com/view/lynnoel/music/mermaidstavern​       
​Join the mailing list at http://mailinglist.mermaidstavern.com

(!)   NY - New York City.     Virtual SOUTH STREET SEAPORT MUSEUM’s monthly SEA CHANTEYS AND MARITIME MUSIC.  1st Sundays, 2pm - 4pm EST, this is 7pm- 9pm UK time.  From our living rooms and kitchens, and even from the deck of Wavertree, join us for our round-robin of shared sea songs, featuring members of The New York Packet and friends. Listen in, lead or request a song, and belt out the choruses for your neighbors to hear. Hosted by singers from the New York Packet.  The event is FREE.
​SIGN UP VIA WEBSITE  Sign up on southstreetseaportmuseum.org/chanteysing to receive the Zoom link 24 hours prior.   The song-leader's list fills up in advance, but of course you are still welcome to register and enjoy singing along.   If you'd like to lead a song, be sure to register at least a week before the sing. [added 2 Aug 2020]​
Monday   England
​🄵 Glos - FOLK at the CLUB - 2nd & 4th on Zoom as 'FOLK in the CLOUD', open to all,
DIRECT LINK details published on GLOSFOLK FACEBOOK page, facebook.com/groups/32771298449  (now live 1st & 3rd Mon)

🄵     Worcs - WORCESTER DRAGON INN SESSION   - Weekly Mondays - a Zoom virtual Irish session.  Starts 8pm with slow tunes and "faster" tunes played slowly.  As the evening wears on, the idea is that faster jigs and reels will be played.  
EMAIL  You will need to contact Mike Walton, see worcesterfolk.org.uk
​
(!)  London.  HERGA, Harrow, weekly, Monday.  Opens 7.45pm for Singing 8pm to 10.30pm.   The Club is now live, there are also weekly singarounds using Zoom (same day, separate session).  Email or contact via website   To be added to the distribution list for log-in details each week send an e-mail to oldtimetim(*at*)gmail.com, or sign up using the form on our ‘contact’ page on https://herga.club/

🄰   Newcastle upon Tyne - PHOENIX FOLK TUNES SESSIONS - Weekly Mondays & Thursdays, 8pm-9.30pm. You'll hear the tune leaders playing live fiddle & guitar so that you can play along at home. Everyone joining in will be muted during the tunes (this is how Zoom works). This means you won't hear each other, and we won't hear you...but we'll still all be playing music together, and your microphone can be un-muted in between tunes!
DIRECT LINK Weblinks and other info on phoenixfolk.org.uk/online-sessions/4594895190   (added 22/7/2020)

🄰  Lancs - Newburgh - ROOM AT THE TOP.  ZOOM AT THE TOP  is on 1st Monday of the month, 8.15 for 8.30 start. Email or FaceBook  We’re on Facebook or e.mail me for the link, maggihuyton<at>yahoo.com. Meeting ID 174 901 873    Other Mondays now live in The Red Lion, Ash Brow, Newburgh, Lancs.

Monday  Scotland
​🄰   BORDERS ONLINE MUSIC SESSIONS, weekly.  Opens from 7.30pm (GMT), music starts at 8pm, till 10pm. 
Weekly, also every Wednesday, plus monthly 2nd Fridays.
DIRECT LINK https://us02web.zoom.us/j/72019462970?pwd=music  Meeting ID: 720 1946 2970 Passcode: music
Singers and musicians of all abilities welcome.          Ray.          Code revised 16/02/2022

X  Now closed, Wales  🄵 NEWPORT FOLK CLUB  - now live instead
Tuesday / Nos Fawth   Cymru / Wales            Zoom / Zŵm
🄵 Rhondda Cynon Taf  -  LLANTRISANT FOLK CLUB (Pontyclun) - 1st Tuesdays.    Yes, we’re making virtual music via Zoom!
DIRECT LINK  See Facebook www.facebook.com/Llantrisant-Folk-Club-226706954032491/
The doors open 1st Tuesday at 8:20pm, music starts 8.30pm – just go to Zoom link on the Facebook page  [update Aug 2021] Live club on Wed

🄲  Castell-nedd Port Talbot / Neath Port Talbot - SESH SŴN Ddigidol - Ni'n cwrdd ar Zoom ail nos Fawth bob mis (second Tuesday of every month) 7-9pm.  
EMAIL   Contact details to have the zoom link is cymuned<at>micnpt.cymru
Whether you’re fluent or learning Welsh, this is a chance to join in a traditional Welsh Folk Session. So grab your instruments and come along to enjoy in a friendly, supportive environment. A slower, slightly more formal session for folk beginners and Welsh learners, with popular Welsh-language sing-a-longs as well as traditional repertoire, although the sessions vary a lot from month to month.   [update Aug 2021]

🄵   Newport -  THE LYCEUM FOLK & ACOUSTIC CLUB - 3rd Tuesday.    We are holding virtual club nights every 3rd Tuesday via Zoom.  
DIRECT LINK        Join Zoom Meeting   https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2802265304   Meeting ID: 280 226 5304 
For more details about our Zoom evenings, see "Lyceum Folk Club of Newport" on Facebook, 
​hfacebook.com/Lyceum-Folk-Club-of-Newport-213395425376402/  and on lyceumfolknewport.org.uk/  [update Aug 2021]  Live Club on Thur

Tuesday   England
🄰   Newcastle upon Tyne - PHOENIX FOLK SINGAROUND - Weekly Tuesdays, 7.30pm - 9.30pm. 
         You can perform a song (or tune) to the rest of the group, just as you would in a regular folk club.  
         DIRECT LINK  Weblinks and other info on phoenixfolk.org.uk/online-sessions/4594895190  (added 22/7/2020)

(!)    Cumbria - Alston - ALSTON HOUSE FOLK SESSION, First Tuesdays, 8pm until at least 11pm.   
       EMAIL   For Zoom invitation, please email Phil, harley.science <at> btinternet.com  (added 1/8/2020)

Tuesday   Australia
🄰  Victorian Folk Music Club, Melbourne, Australia
Zoom session, hybrid with live event (tunes and songs, with an emphasis on Australian repertoire, but not exclusive)
Every Tuesday, 7.30-9.15pm Australian Eastern Summer Time (11 hours ahead of UK until 3 April 2022)
Concert (hybrid) every 2nd Tuesday.  Website: www.vfmc.org.au 
SIGN UP VIA WEBSITE , Contact: www.vfmc.org.au

Tuesday - USA
🄰   CA - San Francisco.   SAN FRANCISCO FOLK MUSIC CLUB'S SINGS, 1st and 3rd Tuesdays, 1pm - 3 pm PDT = 9pm - 11pm UK time.
Whether you sing traditional songs or newer songs, a cappella or with your guitar, whether you play Old-Time, Irish, or other instrumental tunes, whether you dance contra, Irish, or swing, we’re always thrilled to meet new musicians!  
SIGN UP VIA WEBSITE , to receive an invitation to the meeting: subscribe to our Harmony email list, via the website https://www.sffmc.org   [added 19 Jun 2021]​

TUESDAY NOW CLOSED - ENGLAND - 🄰  MINER QUAY FOLK CLUB, Cornwall.  
NOW CLOSED - ENGLAND - now live instead:   🄰  BRAMPTON FOLK SESSIONS, Cumbria;  🄰  SHARP'S FOLK CLUB, London;  🄵  WINCHCOMBE FOLK CLUB, Glos;  
🄵  STUMBLE INN FOLK & ACOUSTIC AFTERNOON, Sunderland.
 We have Folklife members from Skye to Brussels!, but no significant circulation outside our main area (Wales; England West Country & W.Mids). 
 . . . but it might be worth joining Folklife (just £18 a year for 3 issues) in some circumstances:  
    -- for venues near to our area
    -- for venues in popular holiday areas
    -- for venues with something else to publicise eg a folk act, or a folk festival - we can publicise all your folk activities if you are a Folklife member
    -- or if interested in our general articles on our "Folklife Traditions" pages, and in reading the whole magazine
    --  . . . or  to support us !     Contact sam@folkife.uk
Wednesday   England
🄵  Wilts:  Highworth - WHITE HORSE FOLK CLUB.   We meet 4th Wednesdays about 7.45pm for 8pm, and the contact is Geoff Davies 01793 706753. (revised 30/8/2020)  EMAIL  Any queries or for invites use whfczoom<at>gmail.com  
​
🄵  Midlands - TRADITIONAL ARTS TEAM – various Zoom sessions.  
​EMAIL  For security, we are only sending out links by email.  You can sign up to our monthly newsletter from our website tradartsteam.co.uk – enter your email address in the box at the bottom on the left (you may get a message asking you to click on a link to confirm that you want to join).  The newsletter goes out just before the beginning of the month.
All our events are listed in the left hand column of our website tradartsteam.co.uk and include:  
* 1st Wednesdays - Zoom into Tales and Ales - tradartsteam.co.uk/tales-and-ales.html
* 2nd Wednesdays - Zoom into Sing Political! and Sing Political Extra! tradartsteam.co.uk/sing-political.html

🄵  Hampshire - SOUTHAMPTON:  Virtual FOCSLE MUSIC, weekly, Wednesdays, 8pm.  
EMAIL  For Zoom link, pls. e-mail virtual<at>focsle.org.  Website http://www.focsle.org   FOCSLE Music now meets virtually, via Zoom.  Join us and our international music friends (incl. some professionals) each Wednesday 8pm (UK). (revised 6/11/2021)

Wednesday Scotland
​🄰   BORDERS ONLINE MUSIC SESSIONS, weekly.  Opens from 7.30pm (GMT), music starts at 8pm, till 10pm. 
Weekly, also every Monday, plus monthly on 2nd Fridays.
DIRECT LINK  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/72019462970?pwd=music  Meeting ID: 720 1946 2970   Passcode: music
Singers and musicians of all abilities welcome.           Ray.          Code revised 16/02/2022
Thursday    England  
​(!)     Gateshead.  VIRTUAL THURSDAY ZOOM SESSION at CENTRAL BAR, GATESHEAD, Weekly Thursdays, 1pm.  
        DIRECT LINK   Meeting number is  895 8997 2620 and pass number id 015239.  Ged Moore.     - now sometimes live, sometimes Zoom

🄰    Newcastle upon Tyne - PHOENIX FOLK TUNES SESSIONS - Weekly Mondays & Thursdays, 8pm-9.30pm. You'll hear the tune leaders playing live fiddle & guitar so that you can play along at home. Everyone joining in will be muted during the tunes (this is how Zoom works). This means you won't hear each other, and we won't hear you...but we'll still all be playing music together, and your microphone can be un-muted in between tunes!
DIRECT LINK  Weblinks and other info on phoenixfolk.org.uk/online-sessions/4594895190   (added 22/7/2020)

Thursday   USA
🄰  Mass - Boston - LIVE FROM THE MERMAID'S TAVERN ONLINE EVENTS - CONCERTS   3rd THURSDAYS concerts.
      SIGN UP VIA WEBSITE   For details see sites.google.com/view/lynnoel/music/mermaidstavern   
Join the mailing list at http://mailinglist.mermaidstavern.com

X NOW CLOSED LIST.    X  WALES   🄵   RUTHIN ALLSTYLES FOLK & ACOUSTIC MUSIC CLUB, Denbs, now live instead
X  ENGLAND, now live instead:   🄵   BIDEFORD FOLK CLUB, Devon;  🄵 ROVING FOLK CLUB, Glos;  🄵 ​MITCHELDEAN FOLK CLUB, Glos;   🄰  FOLK AT THE DRUM, Kent
X   🄵   TRADITIONAL ARTS TEAM, Traditional song session Zoom (other live & Zoom activities from the Team - Midlands news webpage )
X   🄵   FOLK @ LAMORNA’S, Cornwall has now closed.
Friday   Cymru / Wales

(!)  Denbs - RHYL FOLK CLUB - Mostly live, but monthly Zoom (week varies) Fridays.   The Club will be live on Zoom: see
  DIRECT LINK  rhylfolkclub.com/category/club-news-and-forthcoming-events, followed by recordings of the proceedings on YouTube (search for Rhyl Folk Club) each week. Check on our website www.rhylfolkclub.com and / or to join our Facebook supporters’ group “Friends of Rhyl Folk Club”
​
🄵   Swansea  GLAIS, Nr CLYDACH THE VALLEY FOLK CLUB - now live but plus Zoom usually on 4th Friday,
  DIRECT LINK ​details see website www.pontardawefolkclub.co.uk
     VFC: the Pearshaped Sessions began on July 24,  Heather will be there from 8.15pm to let you in ready for an 8.30pm start. Please come early (you will not be let in before 8.15pm.) If you are going to perform:  please be ready and tuned up so we can fit in as many as possible.​
We also welcome people to just come and listen.   For the Zoom link, go to the club website  www.pontardawefolkclub.co.uk  [added 16 Aug 2020]​


Friday   England
(!)    New fortnightly Friday session starting Friday 18 Feb at 7-30pm uk time. Pete Grassby.
  DIRECT LINK ​link is 87338821694 password 115009
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87338821694?pwd=UGJDMW1VcnhuOEtjdTV0RUE5ZGZTUT09
​
🄵 ​   Staffs  PAUL WALKER & KAREN PFEIFFER.   Join us once a month on a Friday at 4pm UK time for our "Afternoon Tea SPECIAL with Paul & Karen"!  streaming live from our living room in Staffordshire to our   [ FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE ]  Facebook page & our YouTube Channel   Get yourself a cup of tea & a scone & join in the music & fun!   (change from weekly to monthly, Nov 2021)

​🄰  Staffs MOORLANDS FOLK (Twinned with Room at The Top) -  Held on 3rd Fridays of the month, 8pm-10pm.
Audience and Artists all welcome.  8:00 PM London until 10 pm 
  DIRECT LINK  Meeting ID: 850 4962 3676  Passcode: 350160   Join Zoom Meeting   Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting    [added 6/11/2021]

🄰  Kent  FRIDAY FOLK ZOOM -  Weekly, 7.30-10pm.
PHONE  If you are on our email circulation list you will receive an invite every week with a link to click.  Otherwise ring Sue on 01-304-360877  if you wish to take part. [name change from Deal FC Zoom, 7/2022]

Friday   Scotland
🄵 1st or 2nd Fri  Edinburgh  ® SRÙBAG! Cèilidh Seinn na Gàidhlig – Gaelic Song Cèilidh Zoom   www.facebook.com/seiseansrubag Linn Phipps .....
→  On Zoom, usually 2nd Fridays, sometimes 1st Fridays, 7.30pm.
⇒ FACEBOOK OR EMAIL  See www.facebook.com/seiseansrubag or contact https://linnphippsfolk.co.uk/contac for the Zoom link and/or more information
⊕    Gaelic songs live online. Scottish and Irish Gaelic songs are welcome, as are songs from the wider Celtic family such as Breton and Welsh songs. Monthly Guest singer and additionally the song turn goes round the virtual “Room”.  

​🄰   BORDERS ONLINE MUSIC SESSIONS, 2nd Friday of each month.  Opens from 7.30pm (GMT), music starts at 8pm, till 10pm. 
The 2nd Friday of each month, it will now be on every Monday and Wednesday too. 
  DIRECT LINK https://us02web.zoom.us/j/72019462970?pwd=music   Meeting ID: 720 1946 2970    Passcode: music
Singers and musicians of all abilities welcome.        Ray.          Code revised 16/02/2022

X  ENGLAND - NOW CLOSED, NOW LIVE INSTEAD   🄵  BODMIN FOLK CLUB Virtual Open House, Cornwall; 🄰   DEAL FOLK CLUB, Kent 
Occasional  🄰  Mass. LIVE FROM THE MERMAID'S TAVERN ONLINE EVENTS - SPECIAL EVENTS (sign up)
Monthly        (!)  CA.  SF MARITIME ASSOCIATION CHANTEY SING, San Francisco (direct link)
X  ZOOM NOW CLOSED   WALES  🄵 GWAUN VALLEY BREWERY SESSION,  Pembs    ENGLAND  🄵 RUSHWICK FOLK CLUB. -- now live instead
Saturday   England
🄵  4th Sat    Cornwall  CORNWALL ZOOM FOLK CLUB      www.dreamersfolk.co.uk  Nigel Morson
⇒    EMAIL   Email Nigel Morson, ntmorson<at>aol.com. https://en-gb.facebook.com/MistOverFourLanes/
⊕    Join our regular singers & musicians & guests from around the world!       New - starts Feb 2022

 🄵  1st Sat Cornwall  CORNISH STORY LIVE   (email)
Cornish Story Live is held monthly online via Zoom and includes a 30 minute ‘story’ followed by a Q&A session.  The project aims to bring together people from all over the world who have in interest in Cornwall.  The stories cover a wide variety of Cornish culture in the past and present and have included Cornish Witchcraft,  Band Music, John Wesley’s Travel Diaries, Cornish Carols and Mary Broad who was the famous convict sent to Australia.  Some of the presenters are happy for us to record the talk and so you can catch up on these by visiting https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHPt2YI7bakC08zoWIFomeg   
Alternating between 10am and 7pm to allow Australian and US audiences to participate.  
    EMAIL To find out more on upcoming events, please email editor<At>cornishstory.com.
        
​🄰  London - SHANTIES AND SEA SONGS with London Sea Shanty Collective, weekly except last Saturday of the month , 7pm - 9pm
      TWITTER OR EMAIL   see https://twitter.com/LondonShanty   Contact via Twitter or email shantycollective<at>gmail.com to join.​   [was every week, now except last Sat.; revised  16 Apr 2021]​​

Saturday    Scotland
🄵 ​3rd Sat     ® LEARN (SCOTTISH) GAELIC SONG SESSION  Zoom  VIA WEBSITE  Contact https://linnphippsfolk.co.uk/contact/   Linn Phipps
→  6pm UK/Ireland time
⊕   Free, with all materials provided, no prior knowledge of Gaelic required, pls contact Linn if interested!            [2/3/2022]

Saturday     USA
(!)  CA - San Francisco.  Virtual SF MARITIME ASSOCIATION CHANTEY SING.
Monthly on a Saturday Noon to 1:30pm, Pacific time; 8pm- 9.30pm UK time. Event information at https://maritime.org/evernts-home/chantey-sing/   If not leading a chantey, no registration needed. Day of event link to enter for live streaming: https://GikveButter.com/ChanteySing
VIA WEBSITE To pre-register to lead a chantey (fills up fast!): https://maritime.org/sea-chantey-sign-up/     Donations to the Association will be accepted during the event, which will be used to buy virtual technologies to broadcast more events from the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.   [added 23 Aug 2020]

🄰  Mass - Boston - LIVE FROM THE MERMAID'S TAVERN ONLINE EVENTS - SPECIAL EVENTS   Occasional special events (usually on Saturdays)
For details see sites.google.com/view/lynnoel/music/mermaidstavern     
VIA WEBSITE ​ Join the mailing list at http://mailinglist.mermaidstavern.com

​(!)  NH - PMFF CHANTEY SING.  2nd Saturdays, 8-10 PM London time
An open chantey & maritime zoom-based sing with organizers and regulars of the Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival.
DIRECT LINK  Shortly before each sing, we'll post zoom info on our website (http://www.pmffest.org/) and in the corresponding calendar entry at https://www.bostonsongsessions.org/virtual-sessions   [added 8 Aug 2020]​

X  ZOOM NOW CLOSED   WALES  🄵 GWAUN VALLEY BREWERY SESSION,  Pembs    ENGLAND  🄵 RUSHWICK FOLK CLUB. -- now live instead

​SOME USEFUL EXTRAS -- click on the line to open
----  INTERNATIONAL  ZOOM  CALENDARS   ------ ​
BELOW is the same as on our 'INTERNATIONAL' WEBPAGE on our folklife folk news website. 

(!)   CALENDAR of VIRTUAL SONG SESSIONS   An invaluable resource for USA, UK, & more bostonsongsessions.org​/virtual-sessions  (as pictured on rlght) 
​    A calendar of online (mostly zoom-based) pub sings, chantey sings, & ballad sessions that have started up under the Coronavirus lockdown. 
    Unless your browser is confused, times should display in your timezone. Note that some of the sessions require registering in advance. 
    Some of them also have an associated tip jar of some sort. The location listed for an entry is a rough indication of where the founders are based. It's maintained jointly by Clara Jordan (Sheffield, UK) & Jeff Keller (Somerville, MA, USA). For individual session queries, contact  that session.
        Please send corrections, additions, and suggestions to:  virtualtradsession <at> gmail.com

🄰   COUNTRY DANCE & SONG SOCIETY'S ONLINE EVENTS CALENDAR CDSS,
​       mainly USA and Canada 
Check out the Country Dance and Song Society’s online events calendar There are dozens of virtual events posted every week for traditional singers, musicians, and also dancers. Most of the events are hosted by Americans & Canadians but anyone can join and there are some events hosted by enthusiasts from other parts of the world as well. 
Country Dance and Song Society’s online events calendar (https://www.cdss.org/community/events-calendar)

🄰 ​  SOME ALTERNATIVE ROOTS: DIARY, LISTINGS, AND MORE   Resources: USA and world   www.somealternativeroots.com
      Resources website, with webpages ‘Listen’, ‘Watch’. ‘Support’, ‘Participate’, ‘Learn’.
The ‘Participate’ webpage includes virtual events: www.somealternativeroots.com/participate
and is a gateway to more pages, including virtual ‘Dance’, ‘Play’, ‘Sing’, “Festivals’, ‘Concert Calendar’.

🄰    AMERICELTIC    www.AmeriCeltic.net / www.facebook.com/AmeriCeltic 
                 West Coast of U.S. and more.
AmeriCeltic is a user supported, non-profit service organization. Our Mission is to restore awareness, celebrate and preserve the culture and history of Celtic Americans by promoting live Celtic music, festivals, history & ancestry as well as report and comment on related current events. 
       We maintain a public Calendar of related events here: AmeriCeltic Calendar, and a weekly newsletter here: AmeriCeltic Newsletter
       A weekly newsletter needs NEWS!  Please submit your relevant news to us at americeltic<at>gmail.com.
       Read more about all our work on our About page here: www.AmeriCeltic.net/about

🄰    AMERICELTIC CALENDAR  AmeriCeltic Calendar  
                 West Coast of U.S. and more.  Live and Zoom listings 
AmeriCeltic is a user supported, non-profit service organization. Our Mission is to restore awareness, celebrate and preserve the culture and history of Celtic Americans by promoting live Celtic music, festivals, history & ancestry as well as report and comment on related current events.  As well as this public Calendar, we have a weekly newsletter: AmeriCeltic Newsletter   Read more about all our work on our About page here: www.AmeriCeltic.net/about​
***   NEW TO ZOOM ?     some helpful notes about ZOOM     ***
MORE ABOUT ZOOM  FOLK SESSIONS
For security, & for new options, keep checking for updates  -- on iPad, you can just download the app, you don't have to sign up, unlike YouTwitterFaceGram (anybody wanting your date of birth & other info to track your every electronic second to sell you something is up to no good).  
      In UK rural areas, mostly existing clubs, typically the majority are regulars; they welcome visitors.  Many are smaller, & tend to go round twice.  They tend to be general sessions, rather than the specialised sessions ('chanties', 'ballads', 'pub sings') common in the USA. 
      Chat-etiquette : please be aware that some sessions prefer chats only when people are not singing; - and some don't use them at all.  Many tend to send "chats" less & talk more than you might find in eg London & US.     

HOW TO JOIN ZOOM SESSIONS VARIES
     Several --- DIRECT ZOOM LINK on their website or facebook - click & go!  Noted as (direct link).
      Mostly --- you need to EMAIL or phone TO JOIN a mailing list. Only after that, Zoom link is emailed to you.  Noted as (email).    A few -- additional security processes, so do allow time to find out.

Publicity for your virtual session ?
  • We can draft a listing for you based on your website etc details, whether via a signup or giving a direct link, as you wish​
  • ​To be be added to our list --- ​simply sign up for our free emailed Newsletter, above;   then email sam@folklife.uk

​Updates are added to this page,  plus:
ARTICLES  1. -- # FUTURE OF FOLK:  
                        LYNN NOEL OF DIGITAL HERITAGE CONSULTING (BOSTON, USA) LOOKS AHEAD
FW printed pages: download from Folklife Traditions, FT65, 2020 Sept
Copyright © Lynn Noel, 2020.   Please ask us if you wish to reproduce this.
Eleanor & Sam Simmons, Editors, Folklife West magazine, 30 July 2020.
​Lynn/ DHC is based in Boston, Mass, USA.  Other US news on International webpage.

#FutureOfFolk:  Lynn Noel of Digital Heritage Consulting Looks Ahead

Lynn runs The Mermaid's Tavern Online Folk Club, with ballad sings, chantey sings, houseconcerts, and special events - 32 live events in the first 3 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as providing DIY coaching for artists and venues making the pivot to digital.
  
Lynn performs solo, duo, trio, and in ensembles ranging from colonial and Celtic to music hall and mumming. She is a professional heritage interpreter and independent scholar in geography, history, and folklore, as well as being a career IT professional and consultant. 

​So, we thought, the ideal person to ask where we go from here.  We're very grateful for her timely response. - Sam & Eleanor Simmons, Editors, Folklife West,

​
Q: Lynn, what has been your involvement in traditional music and song, prior to the pandemic? 

I’ve been a singer all my life, from childhood chorus and guitar lessons to a ten-year touring career, half a dozen bands, and twenty years leading song sessions from Boston to Sidmouth. I was a morris dancer (Cotswold, border, and longsword) from the late 1970s until about 10 years ago, and have three joint replacements to prove it. The Mermaid’s Tavern grew out of local sessions I founded about 15 years ago, so its roots are pretty deep in pre-pandemic folk.
While I play mountain dulcimer, guitar, string bass, percussion, and beginning concertina, I’m best known as an a cappella and close harmony singer with deep repertoires in ballads, sea music, and pub traditions as well as a taste for multilingual song in French, Gaelic, and beyond. I do write and compose in the tradition, and take delight in those of my songs that have escaped into the wild over the years.

The Country Dance and Song Society was kind enough to recognize me as one of their Local Heroes for founding the Boston pub and chantey sings, the Greater Boston Community Burns Supper, www.nechanteysings.com, online singers’ groups from Yahoo to Facebook, and the Mermaid’s Tavern.
I’ve released four albums, one of which is still in print and available on Bandcamp, and have another one in the mastering stage. The Mermaid’s Tavern was originally conceived as a home recording studio, and I’m surprised and delighted to see it take shape as a digital community space.

I did spend ten years or more on the road, and had many international musical adventures. However, I was never what one thinks of as a national/international touring artist, and never really wanted to be. I’m drawn to grassroots music, cultural heritage communities, and the people who make music happen wherever they are. These days, that’s online, and there’s more of them than ever.


Q. Whilst many of us in the UK were wondering what this "Zoom" thing was, on the day Massachusetts declared an emergency, you launched The Mermaid's Tavern Online Folk - how was that possible?

On March 10, I was in the car with a load of sound gear when the Board of Health shut down the senior center and cancelled our band’s St. Pat’s gig. Matthew Byrne was in town from Newfoundland to play the Folk Song Society of Greater Boston the following night, but none of the local hosts was willing to risk a large gathering. Driving sadly home, I got a call from FSSGB President Lynn Feingold asking if I could livestream Matthew from my new digital studio, which at the time was a couple of old Macs and an HP laptop with a webcam.  Insanely, I said “Sure!” At 6:45pm, we didn’t have sound in, but Matthew is unflappable, and we went live at 7:30 to an audience of over 300. A week later we hosted Alex Cumming live in the studio, but the following week we were in full lockdown, so we hosted Debra Cowan remotely over Zoom on April 2. By then it was clear that live-streaming folk music was A Thing. 

On April 4 we hosted Elizabeth LaPrelle for a ballad workshop and session, which went so well that we decided to try a full-on ballad sing. Now at the end of July, we’re running two ballad sings a month plus a chantey sing, a tavern sing, and a Thursday concert series. Our song circles draw 35-40 singers from five time zones, and we have gone four and a half hours to make sure everyone gets a chance to sing. 

I’ve been working remotely since the days of the fax machine, and since I used to direct a collaboration services team in a global IT firm, I’m handy with the tech. Probably the most important thing I’ve learned during the pandemic is how important it is to get leaders and singers *as a community* over the initial hurdles of computer, network, microphone, camera, and lighting setup and comfortable with basic use of the app platform (in our case, Zoom). When you’re stuck on the tech, it’s easy to think it’s all about the tech. Once the group, as a whole, is communicating comfortably on a common platform, you can begin the real work of building a participatory community that has real-world as well as digital impact.

Q. During this pandemic, what resources are available on your website, for venues/clubs and for paid performers, to help those struggling with Zoom and similar?
My website www.lynnoel.com is an example of how one “solopreneur” can put together a wide range of passions, skills, and talents as a digital business. Digital Heritage Consulting (DHC) is an umbrella for my corporate contract work in information and data management (the day job that funds my arts and education work); my own performance and recording label Crosscurrents Music; the Mermaid’s Tavern as a working example of a digital heritage community;DIY Digital life coaching as assisted self-service for artists and venues on this journey; and my blog, which includes a Mermaid’s Tavern How-To series highlighted on the Tavern home page. Since information design is my field, I build all my own websites on Google Sites, which is free and easy to use, and coach DIY no-code web design. I’ve led one masterclass and one panel discussion on The Future of Folk: Making the Pivot to Digital, both available on video from the DHC Facebook Videos page. 
​
The Mermaid’s Tavern site is new this month, and there is an explosion of new resources coming out of lockdown creativity. I collaborate closely with the keepers of the Virtual Sessions calendar and the CDSS Resource Portal, especially the emerging Resources for Organizers: Engaging Participants from a Distance. Since I’m a solo act, I’m using my CDSS membership as an opportunity to contribute to and support a national organization with a well-developed COVID-19 strategy. I have been enjoying the conversation among local organizers as we each shape our community strategy toward a fast-emerging digital future.


Q. What's the digital future, for performers and venues, when we can safely sing together again as a community?  Will we need to continue digitally?

​We are singing together today more than every before, in ways made possible by technology (latency notwithstanding). Mermaid’s Tavern audiences adore mingling with fellow ballad geeks from Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, New York, Newfoundland, Devon, Cornwall, Dublin, Edinburgh, and Brittany in the same session. Once you’ve tasted that richness, you come back for more. Digital sessions are scoped by genre much more than region.

Smaller clubs and artists face the same challenges in growing and keeping an audience that we’ve always faced. Reexamination of one’s mission statement is a great exercise for folk organizations already wrestling with transgenerational appeal. One age-old question is “how welcoming are you to new members?” Some virtual sessions are intentionally (semi)-private, keeping to their real-world footprint of local community for continuity during the pandemic. That’s entirely legitimate, and some clubs may make an intentional decision to eschew digital for awhile and await events. I think we’ll also see more digital-first or digital-forward venues, as well as self-produced artists mounting their own digital studios and productions.

Performers and audiences can come together at lower travel cost in virtual festivals and concert series. I certainly see those continuing as a low-carbon-footprint alternative to the grueling life on the road that I lived for ten years (in the days before cell phones and GPS).  Personally, I’m ruminating on how best to approach organizers of virtual festivals as a studio-ready artist performing from home, especially while I’m recovering from knee replacement. I did my first virtual festival in June, and I think there’s enormous opportunity for increasing the range and diversity of programming as well as the reach of individual artists without needing to mount a national/international tour.

Nothing can or will replace live music as participatory community. If anything, this brief pause in life-as-usual has given us the chance to reaffirm the essential importance of making music together, not just passively consuming it on screen or stream. Harmony is not a metaphor. It is a tangible and essential element of peace in a just world where everyone’s voice is heard. We will sing together again. We will value our time together, in place and in person, more than ever before. 
It’s that quality of connection and that love of the music that binds us around the world. When singers meet, even for the first time, we will hug for certain. Between hugs, we stay connected in digital community. We even have a hashtag for it: #futureoffolk. 


Copyright © Lynn Noel, 2020.   Please ask us if you wish to reproduce this.
ARTICLES  2. -- ​USING ZOOM FOR A FOLK CLUB:  
                         MARK DOWDING OF "ROOM AT THE TOP" FOLK CLUB (LANCS)
FROM ​FW PRINTED PAGES.  ​YOU CAN DOWNLOAD IT FREE:  FOLKLIFE TRADITIONS JOURNAL,  FTJ 69, 2022 JAN
ARTICLES  3. -- USING ZOOM FOR A FOLK CLUB - A SINGER'S PERSPECTIVE: 
                   DAVE MASON (SCOTLAND)
FROM ​FW PRINTED PAGES.  ​YOU CAN DOWNLOAD IT FREE:  FOLKLIFE TRADITIONS,  FTJ 70, 2022 MAY
  • See @ Updates webpage for  latest Updates: for Zoom, & folk news, & folk directory ---  ​​​
  • We include only Zooms we've asked - and  they've agreed.  
  • Some Zoom sessions are private ones or don't want publicity.
  • Please do tell us of other Zoom sessions (open-to-public), we'll email them to ask if we can list.
  • Some will stop, others continue, others hybrid (eg live & zoom), we'll update when we're told.



ZOOM:
   "Hugely enjoyable ... very reassuring to see one's friends in good heart and good health" - ​Crabbe
                               In fond memory of Crabbe (Bryan Neville-Lee), Somers Trad. Folk Club, centre of picture (Spring 2020)