World Music event Musicport Festival in the UK will take place Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 24, 2021. The festival will celebrate its 21st anniversary. Venue site is Whitby Pavilion, North Promenade, West Cliff, YO21 3EN. Headliners include Muzsikas (Hungary), Les Negresses Vertes (France), Monsieur Doumani (Cyprus) and Catrin Finch and Seckou Keita.
Festival founders and organizers Jim and Sue McLaughlin see the event’s location as one of the reasons for its survival. Jim said: “Whitby has a seafaring and welcoming tradition. People have sailed from here to all corners of the globe and so, despite our geographic isolation within Yorkshire, there are historic connections to many other cultures.
“One of our initial aims in developing the festival was to give young people in the area the chance to experience other cultures and traditions particularly as most would have to leave Whitby and move to more multi-cultural towns and cities to gain further educational opportunities.
“It was also originally started at the time of year to help extend the tourist season which, 21 years ago, dropped off dramatically by October.”
Sue added: “We really feel for the many festivals who’ve been forced to cancel their plans once again this year, so we feel very fortunate and excited that, as far as anyone can say at present, we can press on with getting Musicport 2021 under way!”
“We tend to use every available space in the building but this year, to make people feel more comfortable and safe in an indoor venue, we have reduced the number of stages within the building.
“In doing so have created a new DJ club space in the downstairs hall called The Perfumed Garden on Sea, a concept imported by our DJ team from Beat-Herder Festival where The Perfumed Garden has been a popular fixture for many years. We will still have our popular fringe venue Bob’s Blundabus parked just outside the main doors.”
One of the advantages of the festival is its size with audiences limited to 1,100 at any one time, although this is reduced to 850 this year.
Jim said: “The festival is really friendly and we do feel that it is one big family, and because of that people are happy to come on their own.
“There is, unusually, a higher proportion of women in our audience than at most festivals. We try to capture the feel of an outdoor festival with stalls all around the edge of the main hall and food vans in the outdoor area.
“Obviously, we are very aware of the effects on people’s confidence of gathering indoors in a pandemic but we also know we will take all the precautions we can to keep the audience, staff, artists and volunteers safe.”
Musicport Festival 2021 Program
Friday:
Monsieur Doumani (Cyprus), Les Triaboliques, Mariachi Las Adelitas (UK/Mexico), Paul Armfield, The Baghdaddies.
Saturday:
Les Negresses Vertes (France), The Men They Couldn’t Hang, Dizraeli, Cleveland Watkiss, Graham Fellows, Justin Adams & Mauro Durante (UK/Italy) Honeyfeet, She’Koyokh, Count Skylarkin (DJ Derek Set)
Sunday:
Muzsikas (Hungary), Catrin Finch and Seckou Keita (Wales/ Senegal), Le Vent Du Nord (Canada), Mary Coughlan, Tankus The Henge, Himmerland (Denmark) The Ciderhouse Rebellion, Joshua Burnell Band, Bull, Three Poets.
More information and tickets at musicportfestival.com
Author: World Music Central News Room
World music news from the editors at World Music Central