As Sidmouth Folk Festival week gets under way, a buzz of energy runs throughout the town, and nowhere more so than at the annual free Welcome Concert at the Ham on Saturday, August 3.

And since brass band performances have been a traditional part of British seaside holidays since Victorian times, Sidmouth Town Band  – who've been around for over 150 years – were a fitting choice to open this year’s proceedings with a medley of popular tunes and film themes.

“Ear to the Past, Eye on the Future” has long been the festival's motto, and the next act –the National Youth Folk Troupe of England – represented one of the many youth groups it has nurtured over the years. A talented group of young people aged 10-18, representing all the regions of England, their performance included a lively set of dances from around England.

After a brief pause to pay tribute to outgoing Festival Director John Braithwaite, who was awarded Freedom of the Festival, the free concert resumed with a well-executed set of traditional folk songs and tunes from Halsway Young Folk, members of the youth programme developed by the National Centre for the Folk Arts at Halsway Manor, which offers year-round courses and workshops for young people aged 7-21.

They were followed by Ilse Pedler, Sidmouth Folk Festival’s resident poet, well known to festivalgoers for her stimulating and inclusive Poetry for All workshops. For the Welcome Concert, she read “Seventy Years of Sidmouth”, written to celebrate the festival's 70th year. Created from the words of festivalgoers and performers, it was a powerful and moving performance that resonated profoundly with the audience, The poem is available online at: https://sidmouthfolkfestival.co.uk/seventy-years-of-sidmouth-poem/

Finally, few performers embody Sidmouth Folk Festival's international spirit as well as Haitian singer-songwriter Germa Adan. Adan's diverse background – born in Haiti, moving to the USA, and finally settling in the UK – is reflected in her music, which draws on her Haitian roots while embracing elements of American, British, and global folk traditions. Trained as a classical violinist, Adan performed two Haitian folk songs with violin accompaniment to close the concert in style.