New season for Wemsfest with an international line-up

The new season of WemsFest concerts starts on Friday 16 January and is yet again a truly international celebration of music with folk, blues, afrobeat, and Malian cultures represented.

Musicians from England, USA, Jamaica, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Scotland, Nigeria, and Mali are all heading to the Emsworth area.

WemsFest Director Mark Ringwood said, We're delighted to present such a diverse range of music within our community and also include a couple of venues in Chichester and Portsmouth in order to increase our audience database in future we hope to extend north to Petersfield.

From the multi-national 4th Emsworth Blues Festival with 2 ticketed shows and 5 free performances on Friday 16 Saturday 17 January through to award-winning Malian musician Bassekou Kouyate on Saturday 23 May there are 18 separate performers in 12 different venues.

The Blues Festival's ticketed shows include rising star Lucca Mae & Her Band with US musician Michael Roach and his daughter Sadie (16 th ), and Jamaican-born Harmonica player Errol Linton with his band (17 th ).

Folk fans will be pleased to see the return of Feast of Fiddles on their 31 st anniversary tour but this time including former Show of Hands musician Phil Beer in their 10-strong line-up. 

The Maritime area of East Canada is represented by Rum Ragged from Newfoundland, and The East Pointers from Prince Edward Island. Rising folk stars Salt House, Scottish stalwarts The Tannahill Weavers, and The Gigspanner Big Band also feature . 

Outside of the immediate area we're delighted to bring the creative keyboard player Dele Sosimi who played with Nigerian icons Fela Kuti, and Femi Kuti to The Lens in Portsmouth, and US world renowned harmonica player Mark Hummel with all-star accompaniment to the Havana in Chichester.

Tickets are available online through wegottickets.com, and locally through Bookends, and Harbour Records in Emsworth, and The Westbourne Café.