For folk's sake!

Folk singer Karan Casey has been doing what she does for a very long time. For this reason, she can be forgiven for being caught out by my first question.

I ask her how many times she has performed at the renowned Cork Folk Festival, a question she struggles with for all the right reasons.

“Oh Jesus, I don't know. I'd say six or seven times? But I've been going to it for twenty years.”

Originally from Waterford, Karan has been honing her craft for the best part of three decades and has long been recognized as one of the most innovative, provocative and imitated voices in Irish traditional and folk music.

Somewhere, somehow, between collaborations with the likes of James Taylor, The Chieftains and The Dubliners, and extensive tours throughout North America, Europe and Japan, Karan has managed to release seven solo albums.

She is now preparing for this years’ re-imagined Cork Folk Festival, the majority of which will take place behind closed doors from 30 September to 4 October.

“I'm delighted to be doing a gig. I mean, I presume it'll be very strange, but I'm still delighted. It'll be different, singing to nobody, but it'll be live-streamed so hopefully we can conjure up some sense of performing,” says Karan.

She will join long-time musical comrades Sean Óg Graham and Niamh Dunne for a special live-streamed performance from Cork Opera House on 2 October.

Speaking of her passion for folk music, Karan tells me she’s a jazz-lover at heart, and that it was down to a certain amount of luck that she found folk at all.

“I actually tried to be a jazz singer for a long time. I loved jazz. I still love jazz, it's what I listen to. It's actually what brought me to America in 1993. Through good fortune, I just fell into the Irish folk scene in America, but I was actually there to study jazz.”

Since then Karan and folk music have, to the delight of her legions of fans, become irreversibly entwined.

“Folk songs are beautiful and rich in stories, and many people can find their voices within those stories. I think they're a great gift to the world. I think we all want stories. That's how we shape our lives and find meaning,” reflects Karan.

This year marks the 41st Cork Folk Festival and will see more than 20 concerts, launches, walks and workshops take place across the city, including two live-streamed concerts from Cork Opera House.

Speaking this week Festival Organiser William Hammond said: “In our four decades of running the festival, there has never been a year quite like this. We needed a solution that kept both audiences and musicians safe, but still celebrated the beauty of folk music.

“The programme for the festival is about bringing people together, virtually and in small numbers, to celebrate the extraordinary work of musicians who have provided solace and joy in recent months.”

The 41st Cork Folk Festival is funded by Cork City Council and will run from 30 September to 4 October. For more information see corkfolkfestival.com.