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Genticorum

Popular and award-winning Montréal-based trio who have been one of the leading lights in Québecois music for more than 20 years. If you enjoy Le Vent du Nord then you’ll love Genticorum!

Genticorum
Saturday 28th November
The Old Malthouse AKA Chidham Village Hall, PO18 8TP
Doors open 7.30 for an 8pm show, unreserved seating
Licensed bar serving Langham Brewery

Tickets on sale now at Bookends and Harbour Records in Emsworth village, at The Westbourne Cafe in Westbourne Village, & online at www.WeGotTickets.com/WemsFest

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In French, to describe the chemistry between people, you say they have atomes crochus — literally, that their atoms are interlaced. There’s no better way to talk about Genticorum.

The trio’s connection is magnetic. In the filigree of their arrangements, seamlessly melding fiddle, flute, accordion, guitar, foot percussion, and voices, there’s always an organic spark: At its root, this is social music, and audiences can’t help but feel the pleasure these three musicians get from playing together.

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As always, we’ll have our licensed bar serving delicious beers from Langham Brewery as well as wines, local cider, nonalcoholic beers, & soft drinks

All profits from bar and ticket sales are reinvested into our local community, delivering musical workshops in local schools each October in celebration of Black History Month

This year our charity bucket on the bar is supporting relationships & sex education in local schools, delivered by Options Chichester – please do help us support this important work

If you require special assistance or have mobility difficulties, please contact us in advance at adwemsfest@gmail.com or 07802 500 050 and we will do our very best to accommodate you so that you are comfortable.

El Pony Pisador

Crazy Catalonian musicians who deliver an infectious set of tunes that you simply cannot fail to be moved by ! Mainly standing (you’ll want to dance!) with limited seating. We were delighted to host them for two consecutive sold-out nights last November in Chidham and Chichester! (PLEASE NOTE VENUE CHANGE FROM CHICHESTER TO WESTBOURNE)

🎶 El Pony Pisador 🎵
🗓️ Wednesday 4th November
📍 Westbourne Community Hall (AKA Westbourne Club), River Street, Westbourne (near Emsworth), West Sussex, PO10 8TG
🕗 Doors open 7.30 for an 8pm show, limited unreserved seating
🍷 Licensed bar 🍻

🎫 Tickets on sale now at Bookends and Harbour Records in Emsworth village, at The Westbourne Cafe in Westbourne Village, & online at www.WeGotTickets.com/WemsFest

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El Pony Pisador is a lively and unique band from Barcelona, known for an eclectic blend of musical styles and humorous, adventurous spirit. Their mix of folk sounds from all over the world results in a fun and energetic sound that’s unpredictable and full of personality.

From their native Catalan songs and dances to Celtic and Mediterranean tunes, yodelling, Tuvan throat singing, to even Georgian polyphony or Balkan polyrhythms. El Pony Pisador is well-regarded for their ability to engage audiences with their high-energy performances, witty lyrics, and a mix of both traditional and modern influences.

Their live shows have been shaped by the experience of playing at festes majors (Catalan patronal festivities), which are not just a concert, but a cultural celebration where the whole town participates. This gives their concerts a festive and inclusive atmosphere, making them a great fit for festivals and international events for all ages.

As they bring the spirit of their cultural heritage abroad, El Pony Pisador offer spontaneity and make the crowd participation a central part of the show, making the audience feel more than just spectators. (DANCING GUARANTEED!)

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As always, we’ll have a licensed bar serving Langham Brewery 🍻 as well as wine, local cider, and a range of non alcoholic drinks

All profits from bar and ticket sales are reinvested into our local community, delivering musical workshops in local schools each October in celebration of Black History Month

This year our charity bucket on the bar is supporting relationships & sex education in local schools, delivered by Options Chichester – please do help us support this important work

Habib Koite, and Sura Susso

WemsFest & African Night Fever proudly present Senegal’s iconic musician, singer, songwriter (now based in Mali) Habib Koite, with members of his band Bamada and other West African musicians, and Gambian kora player Sura Susso.

Habib Koite, with Sura Susso
Saturday 31st October
The Old Malthouse AKA Chidham Village Hall, PO18 8TP
Doors open 7.30 for an 8pm show, unreserved seating with room for dancing
Licensed bar serving Langham Brewery

Tickets on sale now at Bookends and Harbour Records in Emsworth village, at The Westbourne Cafe in Westbourne Village, & online at www.WeGotTickets.com/WemsFest

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The dance floor will be full as the musicians celebrate the music release of ‘Manding Melodies’ which showcases the evolving role of the modern griot and highlights it’s continued relevance both within the Manding community and globally.

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As always, we’ll have our licensed bar serving delicious beers from Langham Brewery as well as wines, local cider, nonalcoholic beers, & soft drinks

All profits from bar and ticket sales are reinvested into our local community, delivering musical workshops in local schools each October in celebration of Black History Month

This year our charity bucket on the bar is supporting relationships & sex education in local schools, delivered by Options Chichester – please do help us support this important work

Quimantu – The Tree Sings

Quimantu will return to WemsFest in October! (PLEASE NOTE DATE CHANGE FROM 14/11 TO 24/10)

Quimantu
Saturday 24th October
The Old Malthouse AKA Chidham Village Hall, PO18 8TP
Doors open 7.30 for an 8pm show, unreserved seating
Licensed bar serving Langham Brewery

Tickets on sale now at Bookends and Harbour Records in Emsworth village, at The Westbourne Cafe in Westbourne Village, & online at www.WeGotTickets.com/WemsFest

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Reflecting the spirit of the natural world alive within their music – with many instruments made from wood – this special concert celebrates the passing of the generational baton from Chilean musician Mauricio Venegas-Astorga to his daughter Laura as Quimantu’s lead singer.

A repertoire encompassing songwriters and composers across Latin American and English traditions where Victor Jara, Maria Elena Walsh, Mauricio Venegas-Astorga, and Steve Knightley compliment the band’s unique arrangements of western classical music and English traditional songs and tunes.

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As always, we’ll have our licensed bar serving delicious beers from Langham Brewery as well as wines, local cider, nonalcoholic beers, & soft drinks

All profits from bar and ticket sales are reinvested into our local community, delivering musical workshops in local schools each October in celebration of Black History Month

This year our charity bucket on the bar is supporting relationships & sex education in local schools, delivered by Options Chichester – please do help us support this important work

An Dannsa Dub

Future dub from Ancient Scotland! Fusing the mystical energy and instruments of traditional Scottish music and Gaelic song to create heavy, meditative driving bass lines of dub music to fill the dance floor. Limited unreserved seating with lots of room for dancing. (PLEASE NOTE VENUE CHANGE FROM CHICHESTER TO WESTBOURNE)

An Dannsa Dub
Friday 11th September
Westbourne Community Hall (AKA Westbourne Club), River Street, Westbourne (near Emsworth), West Sussex, PO10 8TG
Doors open 7.30 for an 8pm show, limited unreserved seating with room for dancing
Licensed bar

Tickets on sale now at Bookends and Harbour Records in Emsworth village, at The Westbourne Cafe in Westbourne Village, & online at www.WeGotTickets.com/WemsFest

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Formed in 2020, An Dannsa Dub (led by Tom Spirals and Euan McLaughlin) have been making waves. Twice nominated for Live Act of the Year at the Scots Trad Awards as well as the ’23 SAMAs, the band has garnered critical acclaim for their ability to seamlessly blend the mystical sounds of Gaelic song and traditional Scottish instruments with the pulsating rhythms and deep basslines of digital dub.

An Dannsa Dub have electrified crowds across the UK festival circuit and beyond, including Glastonbury Festival, Celtic Connections, Dubcamp (France), and Goa Sunsplash (India). Their distinctive sound, fueled by top-tier musicians, continues to captivate audiences worldwide.

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As always, we’ll have a licensed bar serving Langham Brewery 🍻 as well as wine, local cider, and a range of non alcoholic drinks

All profits from bar and ticket sales are reinvested into our local community, delivering musical workshops in local schools each October in celebration of Black History Month

This year our charity bucket on the bar is supporting relationships & sex education in local schools, delivered by Options Chichester – please do help us support this important work

Singing workshop with Windborne

An all-day (10am-4pm) singing workshop in-person with Windborne!

What: Singing workshop with Windborne (acclaimed singing quartet from the USA)
When: Saturday 1st August 10am-4pm (including a lunch break)
Where: Chichester New Park Centre (Old Dojo Room), PO19 7XY
Cost: £50
Bring: Packed lunch/snacks or money for lunch in Chichester, a water bottle, and a mug (if you’d like to make a cuppa)
Requirements: A love of singing and willingness to make musical fun!

Tickets for this event are available online only here, or via bank transfer (pay in full or 2 x £25 installments) – please email hellowemsfest@gmail.com for bank details

Windborne offer Old Songs, Bold Harmony, and a Profound Vocal Experience. We are delighted that they’ll be spending a day with WemsFest to get us singing together!

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About the workshop:
This all-day workshop will take place in the heart of Chichester, at the New Park Community Centre (Old Dojo Room). Self-serve tea and coffee will be available throughout the day in the small kitchen next to the Old Dojo Room. There will be a lunch break where singers can eat a packed lunch in the Old Dojo Room, walk across the street to the park for some fresh air, or take a short (5-10 minutes) wander to one of Chichester’s many shops or cafes to purchase lunch.

There will be chairs for everyone in the Old Dojo Room, but we expect Windborne will get you up and moving at points! Please let us know at adwemsfest@gmail.com if you have any accessibility requirements.

About the singing:
“The most exciting vocal group in a generation,” Windborne draw on deep roots in vocal harmony traditions while bringing old songs vividly into the present. Known for innovative arrangements, their harmonies are bold, surprising, and richly expressive.

Specializing in close harmony singing, the ensemble moves effortlessly between dramatically different styles of traditional music. Their musical knowledge spans many continents and cultures, while remaining firmly grounded in American folk singing traditions.

In this workshop, they will teach songs from their American roots, including songs of protest and freedom from their albums To Warm the Winter Hearth and Song on the Times, alongside folk songs gathered during their travels. Open to everyone, the workshop is taught entirely by ear by Jeremy Carter-Gordon, Lynn Rowan, Will Rowan, and Lauren Breunig.

About the band:
With more than 20 years spent studying polyphonic music around the world, Lauren Breunig, Jeremy Carter-Gordon, Lynn Rowan, and Will Rowan bring vibrant energy to the stage and a blend of voices shaped by decades of friendship and dedicated practice.

Their performances guide audiences across continents and centuries, illuminating the remarkable power and variety of the human voice. Alongside the music, the singers share stories behind the songs and offer insight into the traditions and styles they perform, creating an experience that is both entertaining and deeply engaging.

TARRAN

TARRAN are an exhilarating contemporary folk group from Glasgow, with roots in both Ireland and New Zealand. We saw them perform at Celtic Connections and we are so excited to be bringing them to WemsFest!

TARRAN
Saturday 13th June
The Old Malthouse AKA Chidham Village Hall, PO18 8TP
Doors open 7.30 for an 8pm show, unreserved seating
Licensed bar serving Langham Brewery

Tickets on sale now at Bookends and Harbour Records in Emsworth village, at The Westbourne Cafe in Westbourne Village, & online at www.WeGotTickets.com/WemsFest

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TARRAN are: Sophie Joint (keys), Breanna Wilson (fiddle), Malachy Arnold (harp) and Rory Stark (whistle/bodhran). Using elements of funk, blues and contemporary rhythm, the band create a lively and innovative twist on traditional music. Award-winners and title holders, they’re very much on a rapid rise to the top !

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As always, we’ll have our licensed bar serving delicious beers from Langham Brewery as well as wines, local cider, nonalcoholic beers, & soft drinks

All profits from bar and ticket sales are reinvested into our local community, delivering musical workshops in local schools each October in celebration of Black History Month

This year our charity bucket on the bar is supporting relationships & sex education in local schools, delivered by Options Chichester – please do help us support this important work

Bassekou Kouyate & Amy Sacko

“Ngoni virtuoso Bassekou Kouyate can make notes bend like light rays in the desert heat.” – Time Out magazine

Bassekou Kouyate is one of the true masters of the ngoni, an ancient traditional lute found throughout West Africa. He is a virtuoso, innovator, stronghold of tradition all at the same time. This is a rare opportunity to see and hear one of Africa’s most celebrated musicians in a very intimate environment. This WemsFest show is presented in association with our friends African Night Fever.

From Mali, legendary musician and ngoni master Bassekou Kouyate tours the UK for the first time as a duo with his wife, the revered griot singer and exceptional vocalist Amy Sacko, whose “voice of spearing urgency, improbable range” has “a power that jolts like electric shocks” (The Sydney Morning Herald). After the release of Djudjon, L’Oiseau de Garana (2024) their first chart-topping album together as a duo which connects past and present, this will be a unique, intimate and extraordinary opportunity to experience a performance that reaches to the very heart of Mali – deeply personal, expressive, chamber-style that promises a rare closeness between artists and audience, a space where each note and lyric resonates deeply.

“a genius and living proof that the blues comes from Mali” – Taj Mahal on Bassekou Kouyate

“the Tina Turner of Mali” – MOJO on Amy Sacko

Bassekou has collaborated with many musicians in and outside of Mali: He has shared the stages with the likes of Youssou N‘Dour, Ali Farka Toure, Bela Fleck, The Kronos Quartet, Taj Mahal, Eliades Ochoa, Damon Albarn, Michael League… He was one of the key musicians on Ali Farka Toure’s posthumous album ‘Savane’ which was released July 2006, played in the Symmetric trio alongside Toumani Diabate (kora) and was part of Taj Mahal’s ‘Kulanjan’ project. He won several BBC Awards for his celebrated debut album ‘Segu Blue’ (Outhere Records). Was Grammy nominated for the follow up ‘I speak fula’ (Outhere Records) and played hundreds of concerts all over the globe, sharing the stage with musicians from Paul McCartney to John Paul Jones, Bono & many many others …

Bassekou Kouyate & Amy Sacko will play The Old Malthouse (AKA Chidham Village Hall, Main Road, Chidham, West Sussex, PO18 8TP) on Saturday 23rd May

Doors open 7.30pm for an 8pm show.
Unreserved seating

As always, we’ll have our licensed bar serving delicious beers from Langham Brewery as well as wines, local cider, nonalcoholic beers, and soft drinks

Tickets on sale now at Bookends and Harbour Records in Emsworth village, at The Westbourne Cafe in Westbourne Village, and online at www.WeGotTickets.com/WemsFest

All profits from bar and ticket sales are reinvested into our local community

Boo Hewerdine & Yvonne Lyon

Yvonne Lyon and Boo Hewerdine‘s new collaboration, ‘Things Found In Books’, is an album of songs written in response to a notice board in Culzean Castle’s secondhand bookshop.

Notes, photographs, old receipts, letters, postcards and fragments of people’s lives had been collected and kept on the board on the wall among the bookshelves.

Forming an inimitable songwriting partnership, Yvonne and Boo weave these ephemeral stories with their own, creating an album full of nostalgia and beauty, hope and longing.

Boo Hewerdine & Yvonne Lyon will play The Old Malthouse (AKA Chidham Village Hall, Main Road, Chidham, West Sussex, PO18 8TP) on Friday 22nd May

Doors open 7.30pm for an 8pm show.
Unreserved seating

As always, we’ll have our licensed bar serving delicious beers from Langham Brewery as well as wines, local cider, nonalcoholic beers, and soft drinks

Tickets on sale now at Bookends and Harbour Records in Emsworth village, at The Westbourne Cafe in Westbourne Village, and online at www.WeGotTickets.com/WemsFest

All profits from bar and ticket sales are reinvested into our local community

Michael Daves & Jacob Jolliff

Top-Notch Bluegrass at WemsFest!

Michael Daves & Jacob Jolliff will play The Barn at Cobnor Point (Chidham, near Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 8TE) on Saturday 11th April

🎫 Tickets on sale now via telephone (no service charge) to Mark at 07802 500 050, and online at https://wegottickets.com/WemsFest

Bluegrass stars Michael Daves and Jacob Jolliff have just released a new duo album, We Like Jim & Jesse! (Wild Geranium Records), honouring the legendary Jim & Jesse and the Virginia Boys – one of the longest-running and most innovative brother duets in bluegrass history – by blending classic 1950s bluegrass styles with the duo’s signature high-energy improvisation and harmonies.

What happens when a New York “leading light” meets one of the country’s most elite mandolinists? We are incredibly excited to host Michael Daves and Jacob Jolliff!

🗽 Michael Daves: Described by the New York Times as a “leading light of the NYC bluegrass scene,” this Grammy nominee has shared the stage with icons like Chris Thile and Tony Trischka. His style is gritty, soulful, and perfectly balances the “high lonesome” sound with a modern edge.

✨ Jacob Jolliff: One of the most notable contemporary mandolinists in the world today. Whether touring with Béla Fleck or the Yonder Mountain String Band, Jacob’s technical skill and improvisational genius put him in a league of his own.

This is a masterclass in bluegrass virtuosity. Don’t miss it! Get your tickets here wegottickets.com/Daves&Jolliff

Heading to the show? Here is everything else you need to know:

⏰ Timings: Doors open at 7:30 PM | Show starts at 8:00 PM.

🪑 Seating: Unreserved (arrive early to pick your spot!).

🍺 The Bar: Fully licensed and stocked with Langham Brewery beers, as well as local cider, wine and soft drinks.

🤝 Our Mission: We are proud to reinvest all profits from our bar and tickets back into the local community.

✨ Accessibility: We want everyone to enjoy the show! If you have mobility difficulties or need assistance, please reach out in advance: 📧 adwemsfest@gmail.com 📞 07802 500 050