Celebrating its 25th anniversary, The Beamish Cork Folk Festival begins today and runs until Sunday. This year’s event kicks off with a Flute Concert Presented By Karl Nesbitt in the Spailpín Fánach at 9pm tonight and culmintaes in a program of events on Sunday that begins with the Cork Ceili Mor in Bishop Lucey park at 2pm on Sunday.

Since its foundation in 1979, Cork’s annual folk festival has given lovers of folk and traditional Irish music a wonderful opportunity to enjoy a feast of the highest qualtity music, song and dance.
The 2008 folk festival will feature artists, musician, dancers and singers from around Ireland, Britain and far beyond. The programme will include a huge range of musical traditions and styles from Salsa to Slides, from old-timey bluegrass to sean nós singing. Some of the highlights will include a concert with the West Kerry group, Beal Tuinne featuring Seamus Begley, Rita Connolly, Jim Murray and Shaun Davey at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral and concerts with Salsa Celtica, a vibrant 11 piece world music fusion band from Edinburgh. Also appearing will be Michael McGoldrick, Ed Boys and John Joe Kelly, the ‘pride of the west’ with John Wynne & John McEvoy and the legendary Beara box player Finbarr Dwyer. Throughout the festival weekend, audiences can sample everything from the very best fiddle, accordion, pipes and flute players in Ireland to a giant open-air Céilí Mór with the Kilfenora Céilí Band. As usual the festival will feature concerts from the Cork Blues, Pipes’ and singers’ clubs, plus lectures, children’s events and a music trail featuring 40 free sessions.

Sponsors include Beamish, the Evening Echo, Failte Ireland and C103