Afro Celt Sound System, Martin Simpson & Dom Flemons, & Sweet Liberties, for Folk by the Oak

Folk by the Oak 2016

Sunday 24th July 2016
Hatfield House, Great North Road, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL9 5NQ, England MAP
£39

Daily capacity: 5,000

Afro Celt Sound System, Martin Simpson & Dom Flemons, and Sweet Liberties (featuring Martyn Joseph, Nancy Kerr, Sam Carter, Maz O'Connor, Patsy Reid, & Nick Cooke) are the first acts announced for this summer's one day Folk by the Oak festival for 5,000, now in its eighth year, and set in the grounds of Hatfield House in Hertfordshire happening on Sunday 24th July 2016.

The UK will mark two constitutional anniversaries next year - 800 years since the sealing of Magna Carta and 750 years since the Simon de Montfort parliament, and so Nancy Kerr, Martyn Joseph, Sam Carter, and Maz O’Connor have been invited to celebrate our pursuit of democracy composing new music in response to the rights and liberties that people have fought to achieve and protect over the past eight centuries. Sweet Liberties will consider milestone moments that mark the passage of key pieces of legislation, and also review moments when the aspiration for rights or liberties were articulated.

To support the creative process, the artists will have access to the Parliamentary Archives and historians, together with folk material from the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.

The four songwriters will be joined by musicians Patsy Reid and Nick Cooke for the culmination of the project - a UK tour in November 2015. The group will also perform at the Folk by the Oak festival in Hatfield in July 2016. The project has been commissioned by the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) and Folk by the Oak in partnership with the Houses of Parliament’s 2015 anniversaries programme, Parliament in the Making. It is partly funded by the PRS for Music Foundation.

There are still three more acts to be announced for the main stage, as well as up and coming acts for the Folk Rising Acorn Stage.

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A super early bird adult ticket is priced at £33, a child (aged 5 to 15 years) ticket is priced at £18, and children aged 4 and under are free, and do not require a ticket, with a family ticket (two adults and two children) priced at £94. Advance group bookings of 10 or more qualify for a £2 reduction per ticket.

In addition to the musical programme of contemporary folk and acoustic artists the family friendly event offers a craft fair, workshops, children's activities, storytelling, circus skills, real ale bar, music stalls, recycled gifts and a selection of tasty produce and a real ale bar on site.

Festival goers are invited to bring a picnic, but for safety reasons no fires or barbecues are allowed. Refreshments and bar will be available. Seating and cover is not provided so chairs, tables, picnic blankets and umbrellas are all allowed. No dogs, other than guide dogs, can be admitted. This is a non-camping event.

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