The first ever Hobgoblin Music Folk Festival is to be held at the Birmingham Custard Factory on Sunday 18 July 2004. It’s an all day event, 2pm - 12am, and the day will be packed with music and dance. During the day there will be sessions, dance troupes, workshops and an open mic/show case stage, followed by an evening concert and Ceilidh. The Hobgoblin shop at the Custard Factory will be open all day.

There will be music workshops upstairs at the Custard Factory Med Bar between 3pm and 6.30pm. Confirmed so far are a fiddle workshop with Gina Le Faux, a very well known performer on the folk scene, and a mandolin and banjo workshop with experienced multi-instrumentalist Keith Kearns.

Downstairs between 2pm and 6.30pm will be an open mic/show case stage, with free entrance. The Med offers a fantastic venue with a nice PA and lighting set up, and during the afternoon people will have the opportunity to get up and perform a couple of numbers. Two acts are already confirmed for this stage: Irish music band Blackthorn from Sussex, who are promoting their album Far From Home, and the Hobgoblin All Stars, a four piece band made up of staff from Hobgoblin Music and Wind World in Birmingham, including Marcus Coulter, former All Britain Uilleann Pipe Champion, and Mark McCabe, former All Britain Piano Accordion Champion, along with Steve Turner, a well respected name on the folk scene, recently brought out of retirement from performing to join the All Stars, and Keith Kearns, a talented multi instrumentalist who currently teaches in the Hobgoblin shop in Birmingham.

Evening events include a concert held at the Custard Factory Theatre with a number of top acts, including Gina le Faux, Drowsy Maggie (excellent up and coming Irish group from the Midlands), The Gravelly Hillbillies (upbeat Birmingham-based skiffle band promoting their new album A Cartload of Monkeys), Big Girls Now and Sally and the Shot Dogs. The evening will be compered by Stuart Jeffs who was the resident compere at the legendary Boggery folk club in Solihull.

There will also be a Ceilidh at the Irish Centre (across the road from the Custard Factory) with the Blackthorn Band, who are becoming well known in the South East of England for their foot tapping music, dances and songs from the British Isles and America. A caller for the evening will be announced nearer the time.

Tickets for the Evening Concert in the Custard Factory Theatre are £7 Advance or £8 on the door. Tickets for the Evening Ceilidh in the Leinster Suite of the Irish Centre will be £4 Advance or £5 on the door.

For enquiries, contact Hobgoblin Music in Birmingham on 0121 772 7780, or at hobgoblin.brum@turnerviolins.co.uk, or Tony Ware at Transmusic, tel 0121 680 7723

The festival website is at http://www.hobgoblin.com/festival