Logo: Susquehanna Folk Music Society
Presenting fine traditional arts in Central Pennsylvania since 1985

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Sat, January 25 - Winter Coffee House

Winter Coffee House Winter Coffee House Winter Coffee House Harrisburg
Susquehanna Folk Coffeehouses are intimate evenings showcasing Central Pennsylvania's fine amateur acoustic musicians, who play a wide variety of material for an attentive, music-loving audience. This edition of the coffeehouse brings us everything from blues to bluegrass, including some mighty fine acoustic guitar work, from Hank Imhof, Dave Fishel, Maria Wilson and Ray Owen. FREE Coffeehouse concert on Saturday, January 25 at Fort Hunter Barn. MORE

Sun, January 26 - Open Mic Night

Open Mic Night New Cumberland
Spend the evening at the lovely West Shore Theatre in New Cumberland, enjoying some fine local music and maybe taking center stage yourself. Your host for the evening is Kevin Neidig. Be there at 5:15 to sign up to play! Sunday, January 26 at West Shore Theatre. MORE

Fri, February 7 - San Miguel Fraser

San Miguel Fraser Harrisburg
Castilian, Celtic and original music featuring violins, vocals, cittern and pandareta: “exquisite, exhilarating, effervescent... expressing the joy, warmth, and beauty of our shared humanity.”—Culburnie Records   Concert on Friday, February 7 at Fort Hunter Barn. MORE

Sat, February 15 - Writing an Apprenticeship Grant

Writing an Apprenticeship Grant Online
Learn how to apply for a grant from the PCA’s “Apprenticeships in Folk and Traditional Arts” program. These grants support artists in teaching OR developing their artistic skills/repertoire. An informative online workshop presented by our Susquehanna Folk Arts Center. Live on Zoom on Saturday, February 15. MORE

Fri, February 21 - The Murphy Beds

The Murphy Beds Harrisburg
Eamon O’Leary and Jefferson Hamer present traditional and original folk songs with close harmonies and deft instrumental arrangements on bouzouki, guitar, and mandolin. Huffington Post describes their music as “taking what’s best of the classic Irish folk revival without falling into any of its clichés... beautiful, crystalline songs.” Concert on Friday, February 21 at Fort Hunter. MORE

Wed, March 5 - Solas

Solas New Cumberland
This brilliant Irish‑American band is celebrating thirty years of holding traditions and pushing boundaries! Grab tickets now to see the incomparable Seamus Egan, Winifred Horan, Nuala Kennedy and friends in concert on Wednesday, March 5 at West Shore Theatre. MORE
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Folk music is not just about the music -- it's also the people who love it, create it, and make it possible.
...and that's you :-)

Hey folks! Peter Winter Lee here, Executive Director of the Susquehanna Folk Music Society. Thank you for being part of our vibrant music community: as a volunteer, a musician, a patron or member. We couldn’t keep the music coming without you!

Did you know? Ticket revenues and membership dues cover only about half of our operating costs. That’s why I’m humbly asking you to make a donation this year to Susquehanna Folk as part of our annual year-end appeal. Your tax-deductible holiday gift will help us continue to bring world-class performers to our area and bring people together for music, for fun, for joy and for peace.

Give to SFMS
Spring 2025 performers: San Miguel Fraser, Charm City Junction, and Tracy Grammer
Upcoming 2024 performers: San Miguel Fraser, Charm City Junction, and Tracy Grammer

2025 marks Susquehanna Folk’s 40th anniversary!

Spring 2025 performers: Solas, Altan, The Murphy Beds and JigJam
Celtic concerts this spring: Solas, Altan, The Murphy Beds and JigJam

We’re planning to celebrate SFMS’s 40-year anniversary by doing what we’ve done every year since 1985: bringing you the very best in folk music from around the world.

I’m especially excited for a month-long celebration of Irish music featuring long-running, acclaimed bands like Altan and Solas (who are observing their 40th and 30th anniversaries respectively!) as well as more contemporary outfits like JigJam and The Murphy Beds. As always, there’s something for everyone: favorite and new-favorite singer-songwriters, and instrumentalists hailing from Scandinavia to Appalachia.

Help make it happen!

I sincerely thank you for being a part of the Susquehanna Folk Music Society, and I ask that you consider a contribution to SFMS during this festive season.

Regards,

Peter Winter Lee, Executive Director
Susquehanna Folk Music Society
A tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization
 

Visiting the Smithsonian Folklife Festival

In this Folk Artist spotlight, folklorist Amy Skillman shares her visit to the 2024 Smithsonian Folklife Festival in June. The theme for this year was “Indigenous Voices of the Americas,” celebrating the historic and contemporary folkways of native cultures across the Western hemisphere.

Read the full article

Amy especially enjoyed the Skateboarding and Skate Art area of the festival. Skateboarding is very popular among Indigenous youth, both as a sport and as a form of cultural expression: a new folk tradition in the making.

She was particularly impressed by ImillaSkate: a group of young women from Bolivia, lifelong skaters who felt excluded from the male-dominated sport. ImillaSkate distinguishes itself by adopting the traditional dress of their ancestors, including long braids and the colorful, bulky (but now shorter!) skirts associated with the women of the Andes. These young women have reclaimed the dress as a symbol of cultural pride and empowerment.

A montage of images from the festival. Top half: a handmade lacrosse stick, two young Bolivian women performing a hip-hop piece, artist Kandi McClinton, attendees watching a weaving demonstration, two baskets, and colorful knitted figures from Peru. Bottom half: a closeup of hands carving a wooden mask; an Ojibway woman holding a dress with heavy gold embroidery and rows of conical red bells; a group of Hawai’ian women dancing; a closeup of hands working a loom; a woman seated at a loom; and a dancer’s stylized eagle mask from the Pacific Northwest.
See more Folk Artist Spotlights
The board and staff of the Susquehanna Folk Music Society are committed to celebrating and affirming diverse cultures through programming which explores the music, dance, craft and stories of many people. We stand in complete solidarity with the Black community and all marginalized communities to speak out against injustice, bigotry and racial violence.
Sheila Arnold, an older Black woman with very short hair, holds her fingers up in L shapes, like a frame that she is looking through. She smiles as she speaks to her audience.
King Jester is a young Black man, leaning against a wall as he plays a metallic resonator guitar. He wears a gray T-shirt and is looking down at the guitar.
Narda LeCadre’s hands on a quilt. She is black, and her hands suggest she is an older woman. She is wearing a brown coat with its cuffs turned back, and a rust-colored top. The quilt has blue calico pinwheels.
A head-and-shoulders portrait of Sug Daniels. She is a young black woman with a strong, direct gaze. She has thick arched eyebrows, a broad nose with a stud on one side, very full lips, and medium-brown skin. She is wearing a black hat with a broad brim, tilted up, so all we see is a wide black disc behind her head. The photo is cropped so the edge of the hat almost doesn’t show. She also has a red bandanna wrapped around her head, with an inch or so showing beneath the hat brim.
A Black man stands in the corner of a brick-walled room, playing a banjo and gazing down toward his hands.
IMBA Award winner Tray Wellington takes a forward-looking approach to the banjo, an instrument inextricably linked with the Black experience in America. Tray's innovative music puts the cultural touchpoints of the banjo — so often clichéd, stereotyped and whitewashed — solidly in his rearview mirror. [2024-2025 Concert Series]