Folk music in many forms will fill Gosforth Civic Theatre next weekend as Beyond the Moor returns for its fourth year.
Seven acts will perform across two stages on Saturday, October 10, with a programme stretching from Scottish and Irish traditions to the sound of the West African kora, alongside contemporary folk and music from some of the next generation of North East performers.
Bringing the day to a close will be Scottish roots band Breabach, whose visit comes less than a fortnight before the release of their new album, Gathering Ground.
“We are always excited to get back to Newcastle and it is a great honour for us to be a headline act for Beyond the Moor this year!” says Calum MacCrimmon, who plays bagpipes, whistle and bouzouki and provides vocals.
“We are very excited to be debuting music from our new album ‘Gathering Ground’.
“We often keep some of our most popular tracks involved but equally, it is important to us that this tour highlights our recent experiences and our new music.”
Those recent experiences have taken Breabach in some unexpected directions.
For more than 20 years, the five-piece have drawn on Highland and Island Gaelic traditions while remaining open to influences gathered on travels which have taken them as far as Sydney Opera House and New York’s Central Park.
But Gathering Ground has been shaped as much by changes within the band as miles travelled.
“The expansion of the Breabach family has definitely shaped the way we tour and reinforced the value of friendship and family for us,” says Calum, explaining that several members have become parents in recent years.
“We also feel that it represents a sense of place and the concept of home away from home.”
One of those homes away from home has increasingly been found within the American roots music community.
Last year Breabach performed as part of the Grand Ole Opry – the celebrated Nashville country music institution – when it came to the Royal Albert Hall, an experience which has fed directly into the new record.
“We were ‘taken in’ and made to feel a part of the Opry family - it was so special,” says Calum.
“This connection has continued and is a big part of the reason why we have some transatlantic musicians on the album.”
Among them are musicians from the Grand Ole Opry house band and American singer Darius Rucker, who guests on one of the songs.
Country and bluegrass may not be the first musical companions which spring to mind for a band grounded in Scottish traditional music, but collaboration has long been part of Breabach’s approach.
“Our musical ventures almost always start with the coming together of good people,” says Calum.
“For us, the most important element in collaboration is the people and the respect between you which allows ideas to grow organically.”
Neither has exploring new territory meant loosening the band’s relationship with its own traditions.
“As a band we have always cherished traditional music,” he says. “Equally, we relish the opportunity to bring new Gaelic music onto the modern stage.
“Perhaps as the years have rolled in, our own compositions have had a bigger part to play in the band’s identity but we are always excited to unearth lesser known melodies from dusty books.”
An old waulking song might be given a modern groove; a new bagpipe melody might borrow rhythms from another genre. The important thing, Calum says, is that experimentation remains respectful of the tradition from which it came.
It makes Breabach fitting headliners for a festival which deliberately casts its folk and roots net widely.
The Breath – Irish singer Ríoghnach Connolly and guitarist Stuart McCallum – are also on the bill, alongside Will Pound and Jenn Butterworth, Gambian kora player Jali Bakary Konteh, traditional European dance foursome Hearken Quartet and Newcastle indie-folk band Watersmeet.
Musicians from Newcastle University’s Folk Degree will perform short sets in the studio between performances on the main stage.
Breabach themselves have longstanding links with Newcastle. The band have performed numerous times at The Glasshouse, while individual members have been involved with the university’s Folk Degree.
“There is a really thriving community of creatives and musicians in the North East and we are excited to come down and see you all once again!” says Calum.
Beyond the Moor was created in part to give that community a festival bringing regional and national folk and roots artists together, and its fourth outing coincides with Gosforth Civic Theatre’s 10th anniversary.
Scott Forbes, the theatre’s marketing and programming manager, says: “Being able to support music that is so beloved in the region for the fourth year running is a real honour, and we can’t wait to welcome our friends, neighbours and newcomers along for what promises to be a fantastic day.”
Calum hopes some of those newcomers will arrive without necessarily thinking of themselves as folk fans.
“Festivals like this are for everyone!” he says. “The exciting part for an audience might be that they find music or a band that they didn’t think to check out before.”
And after more than two decades, Breabach are still making discoveries of their own.
“The Breabach path has swerved a good few times through the years but, we always try to focus on representing the music that is at our core,” says Calum.
For now, that path leads back to Newcastle – with a new album waiting just around the corner.
Beyond the Moor is at Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle on Saturday, October 10. Doors open at 2.30pm, with performances from 3pm to 10pm. Breabach headline at 9.15pm.