El Pony Pisador

Crazy Catalonian musicians delivering an infectious, high-octane set you simply can’t stand still for!

Following two storming, consecutive sold-out nights in Chidham and Chichester last November, we’re thrilled to welcome them back. Expect an electric atmosphere—it’s mainly standing room (because you will want to dance!) with limited seating available.

⚠️ IMPORTANT VENUE UPDATE: Please note the venue change from Chichester to Westbourne.

🎶 El Pony Pisador 🎵
🗓️ Wednesday 4th November
📍 Westbourne Community Hall, 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, at The Westbourne Cafe in Westbourne, & online at www.WeGotTickets.com/WemsFest

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Hailing from Barcelona, El Pony Pisador deliver an unpredictable, high-octane celebration of world folk driven by humour, boundless energy, and virtuoso musicianship.

Their sound knows no borders. Anchored in native Catalan traditions, their repertoire effortlessly weaves through Celtic and Mediterranean folk, Appalachian flatfooting, Alpine yodeling, Tuvan throat singing, Georgian polyphony, and complex Balkan polyrhythms. It is an adventurous, cross-continental collision of styles tied together by sharp wit and infectious modern grooves.

Having cut their teeth on Catalonia’s iconic festes majors—communal open-air festivities where entire towns turn out to celebrate—the band treats every stage like an all-inclusive street party. Spontaneous, interactive, and fiercely entertaining, El Pony Pisador transform passive spectators into active participants.

(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

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.

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.

Surtierra Touring Project – Quimantu with the WemsFest Community Choir – London performance

We are delighted to announce a new project, the Surtierra Touring Project, which WemsFest will be delivering locally in collaboration with London-based Anglo-Chilean band Quimantu in the first half of 2025!

The Surtierra Touring Project is a large-scale project, run by Quimantu and Musiko Musika (an artist-led music education and cultural organisation). The project will work with five community choirs to tour performances of Mauricio Venegas-Astorga‘s Misa de los Mineros (Miners’ Mass), in Hampshire, West Sussex, and Dorset, culminating with two large-scale performances in London as part of Refugee Week in June 2025, in which all singers/choirs that have been involved in the project will be invited to perform together.

Locally for WemsFest, this project will involve the creation of a collaborative community choir, bringing together locals from all walks of life, as well as deliberately involving refugees who live locally. We have two brilliant choir leaders, Emily Barden and Laura Blake, who will lead our choir. The WemsFest Choir will form to learn, rehearse, and perform the Misa de los Mineros, as well as other pieces chosen by the choir. The choir will perform three local performances of the Misa de los Mineros in Spring 2025, and will then travel to London for a special performance at St Paul’s Church in Covent Garden, in a grand finale for the project in June 2025.  For some performances, the WemsFest choir will be joined by similar collaborative community choirs from Andover, Southampton, and Dorset.

Details of the finale performance on World Refugee Day, as part of our celebrations of Refugee Week 2025, are below:

The WemsFest Choir performing alongside Quimantu and the Alkyona Quartet, and the Andover Museum Loft Singers and Southampton & Winchester Visitors’ Group Choir

St Paul’s Church, Bedford Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9ED
Fri 20th June, 7.30pm (doors open 7pm)
Tickets (£15 general admission; £10 concessions) on sale here: https://actorschurch.org/whatson/surtierra-tour/ 

Licensed bar at all performances

Finally, this project is being supported by a generous grant from Arts Council England, but we need to support the project with local fundraising – we have a target of raising £15,000 locally.  This money will be used to deliver our arm of the project – paying for the hire of rehearsal spaces and performance venues, paying for the choir leaders who will teach the piece to the choir, paying for the choir’s transportation to and from London for the Finale Performance, etc.  If you are interested to donate or to help us raise funds to deliver the Surtierra Touring Project, we’d be absolutely chuffed!  You can click on the JustGiving logo below to make a donation to help us deliver this project.  Alternatively, if you have fundraising ideas, please get in touch with Mark Ringwood at adwemsfest@gmail.com 

Siobhan Miller Trio

One of Scotland’s most celebrated folk singer-songwriters, Siobhan Miller embarks upon an intimate trio tour, joined by two of Scotland’s finest musicians: Innes White on guitar and Charlie Stewart on fiddle.  This acoustic setting is the perfect opportunity to see Siobhan’s richly celebrated Scottish folk songs up close and personal.

Siobhan’s musical prowess has earned her numerous accolades, including four BBC Alba Scots Trad Music Awards; Scots Singer of the Year titles and a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Best Traditional Track.  Her discography boasts five solo releases, all of which have been shortlisted for BBC Alba STMA Album of the Year, including her latest album, Bloom.

An out and out, freewheeling celebration of much-loved Scottish songs, Bloom deftly balances a love of traditional song with modern influences.  Joyous and cathartic, it adds to the wide ranging accolades and radio-play enjoyed throughout Siobhan’s solo career.

Having grown up in Scotland’s rich folk scene, Siobhan has been a regular performer at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections festival, where she was Artistic Director for the 2016 Opening Concert and featured amidst the star-studded Transatlantic Sessions line-up in 2022, duetting with Paul Brady and Sarah Jarosz.

Siobhan’s unique vocal style has been honed through collaborations with many of Scotland’s top musicians, including Eddi Reader, Kris Drever, & Phil Cunningham.  She has also made guest appearances with the National Theatre of Scotland, spent a season on Broadway, returned to the US for a month-long residency in Boston’s Majestic Theatre for Brian O’Donovan’s Celtic Christmas, and can be spotted on US/UK TV drama Outlander.

This is a rare opportunity to see Siobhan Miller in intimate surrounds, and experience her stunning vocals and lyrical songs in a truly special setting. WemsFest are delighted to be introducing Siobhan, Innes, and Charlie to our audience – though we suspect plenty of you will need no introduction to her music!

Doors open 7.30pm for an 8pm show.

Licensed Bar helps support WemsFest – 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.  All profits from bar and ticket sales are reinvested in the local community.

Tickets available now at Bookends and Harbour Records and online here

If you require special assistance or have mobility difficulties, please contact us in advance and we will do our very best to accommodate you so that you are comfortable.

The Barleycorn Tavern, which is a stone’s throw from the Village Hall, are very kindly offering ticket holders 2 for 1 meals before the concert.  You’ll need to call them and book at least 3 days before the event, and will need to show either your ticket or your WeGotTickets.com email.

FARA

In celebration of their 10th anniversary, Orkney-born folk quartet FARA embark on a whistlestop tour around the UK in 2025, returning to some of their favourite venues and towns from a decade of touring. Presenting an evening of highlights from their three critically acclaimed albums, FARA’s fiery fiddles, foot-stomping piano, and enchanting three-part vocal harmony will take you on a joyful journey through their time performing at the forefront of Scotland’s folk music scene.

FARA have played at WemsFest several times previously and are a firm favourite with our audience! We are delighted to be welcoming them back to The Old Malthouse for a special 10th anniversary show.

“The album (Energy Islands) beguiles right from the pizzicato strings and dancing piano that herald the first track.”  – The Scotsman

Comprising Kristan Harvey, Jeana Leslie, & Catriona Price – each on fiddle and vocals – and accompanied by Rory Matheson on piano, FARA have racked up a number of nominations and awards, including:

Scots Trad Music Awards Best Live Act Nominees 2022 & 2019

Belhaven Bursary Nominees 2019

BBC Radio 2 Horizon Award Nominees 2017

German Critics’ Choice Award Winners 2019

“Torch-bearers of a freshly reinvigorated tradition. . . one of the most exciting Scottishfolk discoveries in recent years” – AllMusic

“Gifted, imaginative, complex and engaging. . . a sound that just exudes joy” – FRUK

“Bring contemporary fiddle music to new heights. . . enthralling vocal arrangements” – Scotsman

“From delicate, elegant and beautiful to full and rich and fiery. . . spellbinding” – Fatea

Doors open 7.30pm for an 8pm show.

Licensed Bar helps support WemsFest – 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.  All profits from bar and ticket sales are reinvested in the local community.

Tickets available now (and selling fast already!!) at Bookends and Harbour Records and online here

If you require special assistance or have mobility difficulties, please contact us in advance and we will do our very best to accommodate you so that you are comfortable.

The Barleycorn Tavern, which is a stone’s throw from the Village Hall, are very kindly offering ticket holders 2 for 1 meals before the concert.  You’ll need to call them and book at least 3 days before the event, and will need to show either your ticket or your WeGotTickets.com email.