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

UPCOMING EVENTS:

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

Mon, March 10 - JigJam

JigJam Lancaster
When virtuoso Irish playing jumps the pond and runs naked through the wide open fields of bluegrass/Americana... JigJam is born! Three Irish lads plus a Missouri-born Irish-American make up this iGrass (Irish Bluegrass) quartet. Concert on Monday, March 10 at Zoetropolis. MORE

Tue, March 25 - Altan - NEW VENUE!

Altan - NEW VENUE! New Cumberland
One of the most iconic bands in Irish music! Enchanting Irish-language singing and fiery twin fiddling from Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and new band member Claire Friel, along with Dáithí Sproule, Ciarán Curran, Martin Tourish and Mark Kelly. Their music forges a connection between modern times and Ireland’s rural past. Get tickets early for this show! Concert on Tuesday, March 25 at West Shore Theatre. MORE

Sat, April 6 - A Run For the Arts

A Run For the Arts Harrisburg
Runners, walkers, friends and fans: TEAM SUSQUEHANNA FOLK is "Running for the Arts" in the Capital 10‑Miler, and we need your support! Join our team, sponsor our run, volunteer, or come out to cheer us on. This race benefits many local arts organizations including SFMS. Our goal is to raise $1000 to fund future programming. Saturday morning, April 6 on the riverfront in downtown Harrisburg. MORE

Sat, April 5 - Spring Coffee House

Spring 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. Interested in performing? Apply now! FREE Coffeehouse concert on Saturday, April 5 at Fort Hunter Barn, Harrisburg. MORE

Sun, April 13 - Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light

Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light Harrisburg
Rachel Sumner (formerly of Twisted Pine) and her new bandmates take folk far beyond the conventional, with lyric-forward songwriting, snaking chord progressions, acrobatic fiddle and bass, and songs both sweet and biting. Concert on Sunday, April 13 at Fort Hunter. 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.
Closeup of a Black woman’s hands stitching small hexagons of colored calico into a flower. In her lap is a clear bag holding several finished flowers.
Two Hispanic men with dark skin pose with large Puerto Rican drums in front of a Puerto Rican flag. They wear white shirts and trousers, and white hats with black bands. They are also holding other percussion instruments, including maracas and a basketball-sized shaker covered with colorful fishnet.
A plate of Vietnamese grilled pork. It is beautifully presented in a whitebowl with pretty chopsticks laid across the rim pf the bowl. The bowl contains a layer of salad greens at the bottom, then a pile of thin white rice noodles, then the pork in red-brown sauce, then a garnish of decoratively-sliced carrot pieces, chopped peanuts, and cauliflower florets.
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]