If you don’t know what to expect at the National Folk Festival, that’s the best attitude to have, because there could be Nordic heavy metal (like in 2024) or this year’s fiddle trio pumping electronic trance music at a rave party.

Just like common folk (people), the music is a melting pot.

Of course there will be traditional, English, Scottish and Celtic folk music but after dark, anything can – and does – happen.

Like at the famous Sessions Bar, where internationally-acclaimed artists jam alongside amateurs, and spontaneous 100-piece bands play until dawn.

No other festival in the country has a dedicated Sessions Bar like the National Folk Festival.

So be advised to expect the unexpected when you walk amongst the colourful bunting and roaming minstrels this Easter (2–6 April) as Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC) is transformed into a cultural kaleidoscope.

Every year is a massive party but this year the National Folk Festival is turning 60 so it’s going to be big.

Just ask American artist Elias Alexander, who uses electronics to turn bagpipes into doof doof frenzy, making the crowd go wild.

Want to hear something you’ve never heard before? Check out the bizarre nyckelharpa – a freakish hybrid of fiddle with 30 wooden keys that will be taught during a workshop by the Brisbane Nyckelharpa society.

That brings us to the participatory part of the National Folk Festival, don’t just be a spectator, be an active participant.

Artistic director Holly Downes said the National Folk Festival boasted a swag of interactive workshops and ensembles that everyone could participate in.

“That’s one of the unique things, participation, being at the core of what folk is,” Holly said. “Music that you do, dancing that you do, stories that you tell, and then also this idea of discovering new artists that you might not have heard of before, rather than expecting someone that you know exactly what they’re going to sound like.

“Discovering new favourites and coming away enriched, with new skills, and having created transformative experiences together with your fellow folk.”

Ever since the National Folk Festival started 60 years ago – back in Melbourne when it was a travelling show (it even visited Alice Springs) – it’s always been a friendly gathering. Just ask folk singer Warren Fahey who’s been going every year since the very beginning.

“Most people knew each other, and certainly by the end of the weekend they knew each other,” Warren said. “The festival still upholds that storyline.”

There are more than 50 folk festivals dotted around the country but Warren reckons the National Folk Festival is “the big daddy”.

The very first festival attracted a few hundred folkies and a weekend ticket cost you $5.

“It was a little bit of a free-for-all and there was a great energy,” Warren recalled. “A lot of people sang all night, frankly because people used to sing. This was the great thing, even if you weren’t much of a singer or musician, you could join in. Those first 20 years of the National Folk Festival were very much attended by people participating as performers in some way.

“Even if they couldn’t classify themselves as performers, they sucked up the energy of the performance and it was a very convivial atmosphere where people really looked forward to catching up with these new friends every year.”

What’s unique to the National Folk Festival is in its title – it is a national gathering. Performers come from across the country to perform, share and develop folk traditions.  

“They recognised it was a national gathering and that obviously meant considerable travel but that didn’t stop people coming because there was a feeling by the community that they owned this festival,” Warren said.

 It is without a doubt, the people’s festival.

Holly said the National Folk Festival was not like any music festival she’d ever been to.

“The existence of our session bar where people are gathering and just casually and informally playing music is unique,” she said.

“Our international artists come and they see the Sessions Bar and they’re like, ‘this is amazing’. They never experience this idea that within one place you can go to a bluegrass jam, you can go to an Irish session, you can go to a Scottish session, you can go to a Hungarian session.”

The demographic is just as varied as the eclectic music tastes. Baby boomers are dancing alongside Millennials, Gen X is jamming with Gen Z. It’s an alphabetical soup at the folky.

“It’s absolutely fabulous to see those evolving traditions,” Holly said. “Across the world, a lot of folk music is tackling those kinds of developments of what happens when you have grown up with pop music as well as your traditional music, what happens when you meld elements that actually are your authentic musical self.”

Bringing the festival full-circle is 84-year-old English folk singer Martyn Wyndham-Read, who started the National Folk Festival 60 years ago. He’s travelling all the way from the UK to perform at this year’s special anniversary.

“These festivals are unique in the music world in that they’re presented not to make a dollar, but to make the world a better place culturally,” Warren said.

Whatever your preference – music, dance, poetry, circus acts, visual art – it’s all at EPIC this Easter.

Every night you can attend a ball – queer Ceilidh, bushrangers ball or square dancing. Across five days you can choose music from more than 120 artists. The tiniest of folks are also welcome with heaps of family-friendly activities.

“I think that is really truly one of the blessings of Australia is that culturally we are a melting pot and so we should be,” Holly said. “The National Folk Festival reflects that – not just people who are holding their own cultural traditions from overseas, but it’s also the development of what happens when different cultures meet each other, what happens when you have bagpipes and electronic dance music.”

The National Folk Festival runs from 2–6 April at Exhibition Park in Canberra. Program and tickets: folkfestival.org.au