Eric McDonald and Katie McNally. Photograph by J. Michael McNally.

Postponed because of a February snowstorm, the third annual 乐播传媒 College Folk Music Festival takes place at last with three days of contradancing, workshops and performances beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 9, at campus locations to be announced.

The event is open to the public. Admission fees vary according to ability to pay — from $5 to $20 for one day, and $10 to $30 for all three days. No one will be turned away for inability to pay. Tickets are available at the door.

Performers include the Scottish-Latin fusion band Alba’s Edge; the Scottish-influenced, Boston-based duo of Katie McNally and Eric McDonald; the 乐播传媒 student band Chase the Fiddlers; the Midcoast fiddle and mandolin duo Velocipede; Press Gang, an Irish-music trio from Portland; and local string players Greg and Jessie Boardman.

The Press Gang is a Celtic-music trio based in Portland, Maine.

The event is sponsored by the Freewill Folk Society, a student organization at 乐播传媒. For more information, please contact mpickof2@bates.edu or visit .

The event opens Thursday with a 7 p.m. fiddle tune workshop, followed at 8 p.m. by Chase the Fiddlers and Velocipede.

A 6:30 p.m. contradance begins Friday’s activities. Student bands perform from 8 to 9 p.m., The Press Gang till 10:30, and the evening concludes with a singing circle and jam session.

On Saturday, workshops take place from 9:30 till 11 a.m. McNally and McDonald perform from 11:30 to 12:30 p.m., followed by an outdoor contradance until 2:30. Student bands perform until 3:30, and then there’s a break in the action until evening.

A 7:30 contradance runs till 9 p.m., followed by an Alba’s Edge concert from 9 to 11 and a singing circle and jam session until 1 a.m.

About the performers

Alba’s Edge draws on jazz, funk and the music of Cuba and Brazil, infusing traditional Scottish melodies with new ideas. Based in New York City and Boston, Alba’s Edge is led by pianist Neil Pearlman.

Greg and Jessie Boardman play traditional music on fiddle and cello.

Chase the Fiddlers play traditional French-Canadian fiddle music along with Irish, bluegrass and old-time dance music and songs.

Alba’s Edge. From left, Doug Berns, bassist; Neil Pearlman, pianist; Lilly Pearlman, fiddler; Jacob Cole, percussionist. At 乐播传媒, Katie McNally will fill in for Lilly Pearlman.

Katie McNally and Eric McDonald, musical partners since high school, blend Scottish influences with diverse other sounds, and carefully arranged traditional pieces with original compositions.

The Press Gang, composed of squeezebox player Christian “Junior” Stevens, fiddler Alden Robinson and guitarist Owen Marshall, performs all over the Northeast and into Atlantic Canada.

Velocipede, featuring fiddle tunes from around the world, consists of Julia Plumb, a member of the 乐播传媒 class of 2005 who plays fiddle, viola and foot percussion; and Baron Collins-Hill, on mandolin and tenor guitar.

Alba’s Edge. From left, Doug Berns, bassist; Neil Pearlman, pianist; Lilly Pearlman, fiddler; Jacob Cole, percussionist. At 乐播传媒, Katie McNally will fill in for Lilly Pearlman.

NOTE TO READERS: Because of heavy snow predicted for Feb. 8, the 乐播传媒 College Folk Music Festival has been postponed until spring. Watch bates.edu/news for an announcement of the new date.

Contradancing, workshops and performances by musicians from as far away as Scotland are on tap for the third annual 乐播传媒 College Folk Music Festival, a two-day event beginning at 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, in the Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave., and Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Ave.

The event is open to the public. Admission fees vary according to ability to pay — from $5 to $20 for one day, and $10 to $30 for both days. No one will be turned away for inability to pay. Tickets are available at the door. For more information, please visit .

The event is sponsored by the Freewill Folk Society, a student organization at 乐播传媒. For more information, please contact mpickof2@bates.edu.

The event opens Friday with music by the 乐播传媒 ensemble Chase the Fiddlers, led by Greg Boardman of the applied music faculty, and by the Scottish trio Cantrip.

Friday鈥檚 performers also include 乐播传媒 College students; the Press Gang, an Irish-music trio from Portland; and the Scottish-Latin fusion band Alba鈥檚 Edge. Kim Roberts of Farmington calls a 6:30 p.m. contradance with the Maine duo Velocipede and a 9 p.m. contradance with the Scottish band Alba鈥檚 Edge.

The Scottish trio Cantrip — from left, Eric McDonald, Jon Bews and Dan Houghton.

On Saturday, a yoga and stretching session starts the day鈥檚 activities at 9 a.m., followed by a 9:30 a.m. contradance with music by Greg and Jessie Boardman. Velocipede offers a concert at 3:30 p.m. The Portland band Tumbling Bones performs at the Ronj, 乐播传媒’ student-run coffeehouse at 32 Frye St., at 9 p.m.

About the performers

Chase the Fiddlers is a folk band composed of 乐播传媒 students and faculty including Greg Boardman, of Auburn, a longtime presence in the Maine folk music scene.

Cantrip is composed of fiddler Jon Bews, bagpiper Dan Houghton and multi-instrumentalist Eric McDonald. Performing on both sides of the Atlantic for more than a decade, the band weaves together music both traditional and contemporary to take audiences on a unique cultural journey.

Velocipede, featuring fiddle tunes from around the world, consists of Julia Plumb, a member of the 乐播传媒 class of 2005 who plays fiddle, viola and foot percussion; and Baron Collins-Hill, playing mandolin and tenor guitar.

Alba鈥檚 Edge draws on jazz, funk and the music of Cuba and Brazil, infusing traditional Scottish melodies with new ideas. Based in New York City and Boston, Alba鈥檚 Edge is led by pianist Neil Pearlman.

The Press Gang, composed of squeezebox player Christian 鈥淛unior鈥� Stevens, fiddler Alden Robinson and guitarist Owen Marshall, performs all over the Northeast and into Atlantic Canada.

Greg and Jessie Boardman play fiddle and cello.

Ari and Mia.

Contradancing, workshops and performances by established musicians from as far away as Montana are among the attractions at the second annual 乐播传媒 College Community Folk Festival, a two-day event beginning at 4:15 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10, in Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Ave.

The event is open to the public. Admission fees vary according to ability to pay, from $5 to $20 for one day, or $10 to $30 for both days (no one will be turned away for inability to pay). Tickets are available at the door. For more information, please contact freewillfolk@gmail.com or 952-913-0204.

The event is sponsored by the Freewill Folk Society, a student organization at 乐播传媒. Vouchers for meals in the 乐播传媒 Commons will be for sale. .

The event opens Friday with an open mic featuring 乐播传媒 musicians. Friday’s highlights include performances by Ari & Mia, from Boston; Sawyer Lawson, a 乐播传媒 senior from Concord, Mass.; and the Tumbling Bones, from New York City. Contradances and a waltz session begin at 7 p.m., with supporting musicians including Ari & Mia, the 乐播传媒 ensemble Chase the Fiddlers and the electro-folk Maine duo Perpetual e-Motion. Kim Roberts of Farmington calls the 7 p.m. contradance and Chrissy Fowler of Belfast calls the 10:30 contradance, with the waltz session in between.

The Press Gang is a Celtic-music trio based in Portland, Maine.

On Saturday, members of the Portland-based Celtic trio The Press Gang and Nicole Singer are among musicians presenting workshops from 11 a.m. to noon. The Press Gang offers a concert at 1 p.m., and a contradance follows at 2 p.m., with music by Montana’s Sassafras Stomp. Callers include Alex Krogh-Grabbe of Cambridge, Mass.; Andrew Stout of East Longmeadow, Mass.; and Tavi Merrill of Orono, Maine.

“The participatory nature of folk music is what sets it apart,” says Catherine Elliott, a 乐播传媒 senior from Edina, Minn., and an organizer of the festival. “People are invited to partake in the singing and playing, or just listening, and there’s a common understanding that each person’s contribution is important.

“Folk isn’t about perfection and refined technique, but rather about creating the opportunity for people to experience music together.”

The festival made its debut in 2011. It came about in part because of research done by Kaitlin Webber of Cazenovia, N.Y., an anthropology major in the class of 2011 who was writing a senior thesis investigating the role of young people in contemporary contradance communities. (Contradancing is a form of social folk dancing found in the Northeast.)

“Kate organized the festival as an experiential component of her thesis,” says Elliott. “But those academic reasons aside, the festival is also a classic case of a big vision and a lot of hard work among several festival organizers.

“We’re excited to carry her idea forward this year.”

About the Performers

are sisters who bring classical training in cello and violin to a wide range of genres with American folk music of the Southeast and Northeast at the heart. Their 2010 album Unruly Heart reached No. 2 on the national folk radio charts only two months after its release.

Chase the Fiddlers is a folk band composed of 乐播传媒 students and faculty including Greg Boardman, of Auburn, a longtime presence in the Maine folk music scene.

grew up singing and playing drums, fiddle and mandolin in his family band. A guitarist as well, he is concentrating these days on performing his own material.

consists of Ed Howe, playing electric fiddle, and John Cot茅, on electronically treated guitar, didgeridoo and foot percussion.

Shown in performance at She Doesn’t Like Guthrie’s, in Lewiston, are Perpetual e-Motion — Ed Howe and John Cote.

, composed of squeezebox player Christian “Junior” Stevens, fiddler Alden Robinson and guitarist Owen Marshall, perform all over the Northeast and into Atlantic Canada.

, dedicated to original and traditional music emphasizing fiddle, are fiddler-banjoist Johanna Davis and guitarist-bassist Adam Nordell.

is a trio playing old-time American music on guitar, fiddle and banjo. Former members of the Powder Kegs, they are Peter Winne, Jake Hoffman and Sam McDougle.

Lewiston fiddler Erica Brown, the Boston-area folk-fusion band the Bridgebuilders, and local and 乐播传媒 College performers appear at the 乐播传媒 Community Folk Festival starting at 4:15 p.m. Friday, Feb. 11, in Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Ave.

Following the festival in Chase Lounge at 8 p.m. is the college’s regular second-Friday contradance, featuring caller Chrissy Fowler and the bands Playgroup and Perpetual e-Motion.

Sponsored by the Freewill Folk Society, a student organization at 乐播传媒, the festival is open to the public at no cost. Suggested donation for the contradance is $6. For more information, please contact kwebber@bates.edu.

The festival begins with a slate of performers from 乐播传媒 and the region, including Leafy Greens, Grace Glasson, Raspberry Jam, Brendan Davidson, Antonio Dominguez, Nicole Singer and the 乐播传媒 singing ensembles Northfield and TakeNote.

At 5:30 p.m., appear. Brown, who has performed since age 7, is a musician celebrated across the region for a style that combines classical technique with the freewheeling spirit of bluegrass.

The Medford, Mass.-based sextet the perform at 6:30. Fusing traditional Celtic folk music with funk and rock, the Bridgebuilders create a distinctive blend of timeless melodies and innovative arrangements that incorporate multiple fiddles, bouzouki and Hammond organ.

Led by Greg Boardman, a prominent Maine fiddler and member of the applied music faculty at 乐播传媒, the folk band Chase the Fiddlers provides the tunes for an open waltz beginning at 7:30. The session includes a beginner’s contradance workshop with caller Fowler.

From the Midcoast, Playgroup kicks off the 8 p.m. contradance, followed by , a Maine duo that enhances traditional songs and instruments with state-of-the-art technology.

Matching Orange, a new high-energy folk band from the Boston area, makes its first performance at the monthly 乐播传媒 College contradance at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9, in Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Ave.

Contradancers of all levels are encouraged to attend; dances will be taught and called by Tavi Merrill. Beginners are invited to join a preceding workshop at 7:30 p.m., also in Chase Hall Lounge. This event is sponsored by the Freewill Folk Society and the price of admission is $5.

A trio, uses guitar, mandolin, piano, fiddle and vocals. Maintaining its roots in folk music, the band includes hints of jazz, classical and other musical traditions while keeping the strong beats that dancers crave. Matching Orange strives for minimalism while bringing to the dance floor an intriguing mix of sound that is equally at home in front of a sedentary audience.

Contradancing is a social dance genre whose participants dance in groups, rather than as couples, and move through intricate patterns and changes of partner. Particularly popular in New England, contradance has its roots in 17th- and 18th-century dances from England and France.

The contradance band Wake the Neighbors.

Folk music players and fans from around the region will converge in Lewiston on Friday evening and Saturday, Sept. 12-13, for the first annual Old Time Fiddle Festival. Featuring respected musicians from Maine, New Hampshire, Nova Scotia and Ireland, the festival’s workshops, mini-concerts and a contradance will be held on campus, while a Saturday evening concert by the band Be貌lach takes place at nearby Lewiston Middle School.

Schedule information appears below. Admission to the full festival costs $15 for the general public and $10 for seniors and students. Entry to only Friday evening’s contradance is $6 and $3, and Saturday evening’s Be貌lach concert costs $10 for all. For tickets and additional information, please call (207) 563-8953 or e-mail.

In addition to Be貌lach, a young Celtic band rooted in the same Cape Breton scene that produced fiddle star Natalie MacMaster, festival participants include fiddlers Tommy Peoples, from Ireland, and Nat Hewitt, an eclectic player from New Hampshire. Musicians familiar from Maine’s folk-dance scene include pianist-accordionist Doug Protsik and local favorites Wake the Neighbors, who will be joined by caller John McIntyre at the contradance.

In addition to fiddle, the 19 festival workshops and concerts explore piano, accordion, banjo, mandolin, pipes, guitar, pocket instruments such as spoons and harmonica, and even step-dancing.

Sponsored by the college’s Freewill Folk Society, the festival has been organized by two students from Maine as a “celebration of North American traditional music,” explains Aaron Putnam, a senior from Mapleton. His co-organizer is junior Julia Plumb, of Nobleboro.

Putnam says, “American music is so incredible because it is a conglomeration of so many different styles from everywhere throughout the world. The festival celebrates this diversity in the music that we love and that brings us all together to dance and jam and have a great time.”

The festival begins with the contradance at 8:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12, in Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Ave. It continues from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday with workshops and concerts in the Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell Street. Finally, the Be貌lach concert is slated for 7 p.m. at Lewiston Middle School, 75 Central Avenue.

Be貌lach takes its name from a Gaelic word for “lively youth.” The six-member band plays Cape Breton, Scottish and Irish tunes on two fiddles, piano, pipes and whistles, drums and guitar; step-dancing, too, is part of its energetic show. Emerging from an impromptu session at a festival in 1998, the band has performed in North America and Europe, and released its eponymous first album in 2001.

The student-run Freewill Folk Society strives to promote awareness of the traditional folk arts through a variety of events, including monthly contradances with Wake the Neighbors.

The members of Wake the Neighbors are Edward Howe, who plays fiddle; Jim DiCarlo, Irish flute and whistles; John C么t茅, guitar, foot percussion and lead vocals; and Anthony Shostak, uilleann pipes, clawed banjo and didgeridoo. To this mix the band often adds hypnotic percussion and chanting.

Wake the Neighbors’ sound is rooted in Celtic music but the group adds strong seasoning from other traditions and also performs original compositions. Its approach is distinguished by precise ensemble work, bold instrumental colorings and infectious energy.

“Our music has been described by fans as ‘straight-up Celtic trance-dance,’ ” says Shostak. “We worked on the CD for a long time to capture the energy of our live performances. We are very proud of it.”

The band was founded in 1996, launching the career of respected fiddler Lissa Schneckenburger. Since then it has been in demand across northern New England, traveling to Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts for festivals, dances and radio performances.

During the academic year, Wake the Neighbors performs at a monthly first-Friday contradance at 乐播传媒 College. “Everywhere we’ve been, people have begged for us to make a CD. Now we have, and we want to celebrate its release with our home crowd,” says C么t茅.

Featuring more than an hour of music and priced at $15, the quartet’s self-titled CD will be for sale at the concert and through the Web site .

Wake the Neighbors, specializing in contemporary and traditional Irish, Scottish, French-Canadian and New England dance music, features Ed Howe on fiddle, John Cote on mandolin, guitar and feet, Anthony Shostak on banjo, bodhran and didjeridoo, and Lissa Schneckenburger on fiddle.

Beth and Tony Parkes will call easy dances early and more challenging dances from 8:45 p.m. to midnight. Admission is $5 and free for children under 12. Proceeds from the concert, sponsored by the Freewill Folk Society and the 乐播传媒 College chapter of Habitat for Humanity, will benefit local Habitat for Humanity projects.

Earlier in the day, the Mighty Cloud of Fiddlers will appear with the Bow & String Band at the United Baptist Church in Lewiston for a fiddle festival and informal jam session with any interested musicians. The jam session begins at 1 p.m. and the concert starts at 2 p.m. Admission is $5 and free for children under 12. The fiddle festival is sponsored by the Bow & String Studio and Franco Folk Arts Cooperative.