Justin Adams & Mauro Durante

An acclaimed collaboration between Robert Plant‘s former guitarist Justin Adams, and Italian fiddle, guitar, and percussion player Mauro Durante.  Their music is rooted in the fascinating tradition of Taranta – the healing rituals of Southern Italy. It’s atmospheric and hugely danceable.

Justin Adams, guitarist, producer and composer, has been a chief collaborator with Robert Plant in his band, the Sensational Spaceshifters, co-writing a series of 4 albums and touring the world.  His production on landmark albums by Tinariwen and Rachid Taha highlight his feel for North African groove, while his award-winning project with Gambian maestro Juldeh Camara, ‘JUJU’, linked griot tradition with raw blues spirit.  His recent solo album of guitar atmospherics, ‘Ribbons’, was cited amongst the top 50 albums of the past decade by Songlines magazine.

Mauro Durante toured the world for many years with Ludovico Einaudi playing violin and frame drums.  He is one of the leading players in the pizzica style of Southern Italy and leads Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, who have played great festivals all over the world. Last year CSG were featured in their own concert at the BBC Proms (where Justin Adams guested with them) and they won Best Group in the Songlines Music Awards.

This new collaboration stems from a concert led by Ludovico Einaudi, the Notte della Taranta in Puglia, where the two first played together, recognising kindred spirits in the trance rhythms of Taranta which transcend “melancolia” or the blues. Together they create a raw, stripped-back sound that moves and mesmerises.

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

Doors open 7.30 for an 8pm start

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.

Maroon Town

Maroon Town, whose name is taken from a remote upland community in Jamaica formed by escaped slaves, burst onto the scene in the late 80s with their pioneering fusion of rap, dub, breakbeat, jazz and funk.  They have played our WemsFest stage multiple times and every year the audience is left wanting more!

When the London-based multi-racial 8-piece first started out 30 years ago, they were the first ska band to have begun mixing ska and reggae with rap, funk and Latin/cumbia to produce a fresh new world music sound with conscious and uplifting lyrics.  Their first album and singles were produced by John Bradbury of the Specials.  These recordings propelled the group to get the attention of the international music community and led to extensive touring in Europe, Japan and South America.

A long-standing relationship with the British Council saw Maroon Town perform in over 15 countries from Kosovo to Tajikistan and from Brazil to Brunei playing in theatres, festivals, schools, community centres, universities and even prisons. Their songs have been synched to major Hollywood films and they continue to provide a brilliant stage show!

Still at the cutting edge of creativity their sixth and latest album ‘Freedom Call’ released on the Spanish label ‘Brixton Records’ in 2018 blends conscious reggae, jazz, Big beat ska as well as an up-tempo ska collaboration with renowned Basque Country reggae, rock and ska singer Fermin Muguruza. (Spain, particularly Catalonia and the Basque Country has long been a touring destination for the band)

In 2018 Maroon Town played at Skabour (UK), Boom Town, Freedom Sounds Festival and Querbeat (Germany), the London International Ska Festival and at Foc a la Feixa (Spain – June 23rd) and many other venues. Each month the band run a club night at the legendary Troubadour in London with net profits going to the Alpha Boys School in Jamaica.

The result is a unique musical blend that has hooked fans and audiences from all over the world for over 30 years.

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

Doors open 7.30 for an 8pm start

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.

Please park considerately.

The Magpies

Bella Gaffney (guitar, banjo, vocals), Holly Brandon (fiddle, vocals), and Ellie Gowers (guitar, vocals) combine to take you on a journey to distant lands with their ethereal voices and glistening instrumentals.  They come to us off the back of a hugely busy summer playing at many of the major festivals.

It has only been a short space of time since The Magpies burst onto the UK folk scene, but they have already made a huge impression with their fresh brand of transatlantic neo-folk and have been ‘making waves wherever they play’ – Phil Beer, Show of Hands.

Based on a deeply felt musical friendship, The Magpies work collaboratively, arranging material led by powerful vocals and glittering instrumental ornamentation. They each draw on their wide-ranging influences to create a unique blend of transatlantic folk, transporting audiences to distant lands and capturing imaginations with their enthralling live show.

Accomplished musicians in their own right, founding members Bella Gaffney (award winning singer-songwriter, guitarist and banjoist) and Holly Brandon (acclaimed fiddle player and tunesmith) perform alongside gifted singer-songwriter and guitarist Ellie Gowers. These talented young musicians work collaboratively to create their fresh brand of transatlantic folk and champion gender equality in the music industry, with a fervent thread of feminism running through their music.

In their live performances The Magpies have been exceptionally well-received. Their first year as a band in 2018 saw them perform at festivals such as Cambridge Folk Festival and on main stages at Wickham Festival, Towersey Festival and Deer Shed Festival. 2019 saw their first international shows, with showcases at Folk Alliance International in Montreal, a successful tour in Ireland and performances at Costa del Folk in Portugal. And the summer saw many more festival performances including Glastonbury, Larmer Tree, Warwick and Shambala.

Their debut album – Tidings – was released in June 2020 to critical acclaim. A rich and varied showcase of their live sound, the album draws on a range of influences and delivers a sound that can only be described as contemporary. A huge range of exquisite instrumentation on mandolin, guitar, fiddle, cello, bouzouki and banjo provide a thrilling canvas on which they paint their stories. The album is full of songs which explore uniquely female experiences in unpredictable and surprising ways. From the transformation and sorcery of the traditional ballad The Two Magicians, to lost love, murder and suicide in the original Run River Run, The Magpies bring a fresh voice to the current milieu. As well as drawing on their experiences as women, the material is also deeply rooted in the traditions of their native Yorkshire.

‘One of those effervescent albums you’d be happy to recommend to people who might not consider themselves folk fans’ – The Sunday Times

‘Folk with finesse’ – The Daily Mail

‘Check their album ‘Undertow’ out! Really good mix of songs and instrumentals’ – Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio2

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

Doors open 7.30 for an 8pm start

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.

Lulo Reinhardt & Yuliya Lonskaya

The onstage chemistry of these two guitarists, from Germany and Belarus respectively, has wowed audiences over the past 2 years.  At its core is Gypsy swing but add influences from North Africa, and India, then folk, jazz, bossa nova, baroque and romanticism – you have a fascinating evening of music !

Two wonderful world class guitarists well deserving of keen interest from a music loving public. This musical ‘pairing’ is definitely a cut above. Together, as the saying goes, they make beautiful music.

Lulo Reinhardt, is the grand nephew of Django Reinhardt and has toured in the UK several times in the past 10 or so years. While Lulo has a repertoire of gypsy swing as you might expect, he has extended and developed beyond that with music from North Africa and India influencing his playing and now with Yuliya he moves towards classical music.

Yuliya Lonskaya was born in 1980 in Belarus and began her guitar journey at the local music college. She gained a diploma at the Belarus Academy of Music in Minsk and continued her studies with Prof. Andreas von Wangenheim at the Karlsruhe Musik Hochschule. Finally she took masterclasses with Costas Cotsiolis, David Russell, Carlo Marchione and Abel Carlevaro.  Since then, Yuliya has won several international guitar competitions in Poland, England, America, Serbia and Montenegro.  In 2002, in a duo with Russian guitarist, Dimitrii Illarionov, she won the prestigious GFA guitar competition (Guitar Foundation of America).  In 2006, she made her debut in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow as soloist with the Symphonic Orchestra Novaya Rossiya.  With her eclectic repertoire of folk, jazz, bossa nova, baroque, classical and romantic music, Yuliya is a very welcome performer in many European and American concert halls, playing solo concerts and appearing with orchestras.

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

Doors open 7.30 for an 8pm start

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.

Veronica Sbergia & Max de Bernardi

Hip, cool, and highly entertaining, this duo enjoyed a hugely successful UK tour last year and are back for more!  Join us for country blues, ragtime, vaudeville, hokum, jug band, and rural music from the 1920s and 1930s.

“Good time blues is alive and well and residing in… Milan, Italy. A band with a mission” – Folk & Roots Magazine

Veronica Sbergia & Max De Bernardi passionately play country blues and ragtime, hokum, jug band and rural music from the 20’s and 30’s.

They like to keep this precious musical heritage alive faithfully reproducing its original sound whilst playing it with a modern twist.

Using strictly acoustic instruments such ukulele, washboard, kazoo, resophonic guitars and doublebass their passion for this music is perfectly represented on their last CD “OLD STORIES FOR MODERN TIMES”, that also sees contributions by other leading musicians and friends, Sugar Blue (a legendary harmonica player in the past with the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Willie Dixon and Frank Zappa) and the world master of resophonic guitar, Bob Brozman.

The album is an overview of the American popular music from the early years of the last century with the Red Wine Serenaders reinterpreting great songs by artists like Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Minnie, Jimmie Rodgers, Sidney Bechet, Lucille Bogan, Bo Carter, and the Delmore Brothers in their own unique style.

With their trio called ‘Veronica & The Red Wine Serenaders’ they won the European Blues Challenge 2013, an important international contest held in Toulouse in March. Thanks to this result they performed at the prestigious Notodden Blues Festival in Norway and Lucerne Blues Festival in Switzerland.

Veronica & Max regularly perform in the USA, France, Switzerland, Hungary, Norway, Spain, England, Italy and Poland.

Veronica is also the first Italian artist ever invited to the Mustique Blues Festival (2012 and 2013), in the Caribbean.

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

Doors open 7.30 for an 8pm start

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.