Edinburgh Folk Festival

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The Edinburgh Folk Festival has had a shadowy existence since about 1951. Hamish Henderson was instrumental in creating the first "People's Festival" in 1951, with funding from the British Council, The Communist Party and the Scottish TUC. This saw a performance of Ewan MacColl's play "Uranium 235" and Gaelic singing by Flora MacNeil and others. In 1952 it ran for three weeks. Almost all the major funders withdrew in 1952. In a reduced program the Ceilidh became the chief event. In 1953 it was the further reduced, but both Jeannie Robertson and Jean Ritchie made memorable appearances. The 1954 People's Festival was the last.

In 1964 there was an Edinburgh Folk Festival, with appearances by The Corries, The Dubliners, the Ian Campbell Folk Group and Robin Hall and Jimmie MacGregor. Evidence is fragmentary, but there were probably other years in which it took place.

For 1983 to 1999 there was an annual Edinburgh Folk Festival with all the major Celtic music bands represented - Boys of the Lough, the Battlefield Band, and so on. Financial problems caused its collapse, but in 2004 a new event, called Ceilidh Culture has taken its place. For a modern audience, dance tunes are far more popular than ballads. It will next take place in April 2006.