Vancouver Folk Music Festival unveils summer 2024 lineup, spanning Iris DeMent, Barney Bentall, Jeremy Dutcher, and Dobet Gnahoré
Artists set to come in from Ukraine, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, South Africa, New Zealand, South Korea, and beyond at Jericho Beach, July 19 to 21
Dobet Gnahoré (photo by Jean-Goun); Iris DeMent (photo by Dasha Brown).
VANCOUVER FOLK MUSIC Festival has just unveiled a program with more than 40 music acts with roots in over 15 countries for its event at Jericho Beach Park from July 19 to 21.
The roster is as broad and eclectic as ever, spanning folk-country icon Iris DeMent, Canadian singer-songwriter Barney Bentall, Maliseet-operatic fusionist Jeremy Dutcher, Mississippi country-blues master Alvin Youngblood Hart, and Irish singer-songwriters Mick Flannery and James Vincent McMorrow (see the latter’s haunting beautiful video for “Never Gone”, at bottom).
Etran de L’Aïr. Photo by Larry Hirshowitz
Acts from around the globe include Côte d'Ivoire’s Dobet Gnahoré, Morocco-France’s Zar Electrik, Korea’s Second Moon, New Zealand’s Māmā Mihirangi & The Māreikura, Palestine-Jordan musicians 47Soul, Mexico’s BuenRostro, and Swede-Estonian outfit Fränder. Ukraine’s KRUTb bring their songs of resistance, while Niger’s Etran de L’Aïr perform their Sahara Desert blues.
The strong B.C. contingent of artists includes Gordon Grdina’s The Marrow, Kym Gouchie Trio, Big Lazy with Paul Pigat, Moontricks, Dawn Pemberton, The Wood Brothers, and Ndidi O, with PIQSIQ bringing back its Inuit throat singing and electronic mashup. Another draw will be the return of Highway 61 Reimagined, the popular B.C.-American collab that resurrects Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited.
There’s much more, with the entire lineup here.
Early Bird weekend passes are on sale now at www.thefestival.bc.ca.
The festival’s gates open at 2 pm on July 19, with music running from 3 to 11 pm. On July 20 and 21, gates open at 9 am, with music going from 10 am to 11 pm. As usual, the outdoor celebration will include a range of food vendors in Pete’s Eats, licensed beverage services, an artisan market, the Community Village featuring local groups and organizations, and the Little Folks Village for family-friendly offerings.
The fest is continuing to build after a close call last year. In January 2023, it announced that it would have to cancel the four-decades-old event and dissolve its organization, due to a postpandemic financial crunch. But the event went ahead after new provincial emergency funding came through, drawing out crowds to a lineup of 40-plus acts on Jericho Beach last July. 
Related Articles
