Tønder Festival
Tønder Festival is a large annual folk music festival in Tønder, Denmark. It is always held at the last weekend of august. It was founded in 1975.
The festival has since developed itself into being one of the most important festivals for traditional and modern folk music. There were 1950 volunteers attached to the festival in 2007. The program is composed of international artists from especially Ireland, Scotland, Canada, USA, England and Scandinavia. The genres vary from irish and scottish folk music to folk-rock, blues and jazz, from singer-songwriters to country music, to modern danish, nordic, baltic folk music and songs.
During the festival, the entire town is influenced by music, and famous and less famous artists are part of a community with the audience on streets and squares.
The festival takes place in 9-10 indoor venues in the town and in the large tents of the festival area, with room for up to 2500 people. There are seats in all venues - with exception of a few concerts where it's a mix of seats and standing places. The Tønder festival can be considered one of the biggest festivals within modern roots/folk music in Europe -and as one of the coziest and most peaceful festivals in Denmark. The festival sells about 23.000 concert tickets every year - it is not possible to buy tickets for some days or the entire festival because the festivals venues vary in sizes from 180 to 2500 guests.
Amongst the artists who have visited the festival are Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Runrig, Great Big Sea, The Chieftains, Altan, Eivør, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Donovan, Natalie MacMaster, Wolfstone, Mary Black, Capercaillie, Karan Casey and many, many more..
International artists scheduled to appear at the 2007 festival include Runrig, Liam Clancy, Great Big Sea, Eleanor Shanley, Danú, Taj Mahal Trio, Levellers, Seth Lakeman, Antje Duvekot, Tim O'Brien, Balfa Toujours, Danú, The Mammals and Solas.
References
- Official site.
- FolkWorld: A bottle of Tønder audience - Tønder Festival 2000
- FolkWorld: Champagne for All - European Silver Jubilees Part I - Tønder Festival
- Celtic Cafe: Tønder Festival 2005