Bella Gaffney and Kate Griffin

Award-winning folk artists Bella Gaffney (The Magpies) and Kate Griffin (Mishra) join forces for an evening of spellbinding folk music. Both celebrated for their songwriting and musicianship, they’ll each perform solo sets before coming together for a collaboration brimming with driving rhythms, rich harmonies and the distinctive sound of the banjo at its heart.

2016 Celtic Connections Danny Kyle Award winner Bella Gaffney writes folk inspired songs which she performs along with her own original arrangements of traditional pieces. 2023 saw the release of Bella’s new album ‘Reflections’ which is inspired by connections made over the lockdown period. Her latest single, ‘Blood in the Earth’, a duet with Leesa Gentz (Hussy Hicks) was released in this year to great acclaim along with airplay on BBC radio 2. Bella is also part of sought after folk band The Magpies ('effervescent' The Sunday Times).

'Great singer, great guitarist, really interesting songwriter'
Mike Harding

Emerging on the UK folk and world scene, Kate Griffin is a clawhammer banjo player, singer and composer, fusing influences from the British Isles, America and India. Described as “one of the top banjo players in the country” by virtuoso Dan Walsh, her innovative banjo style combines both traditional UK and American folk, whilst also placing the banjo in a contemporary setting. Kate has performed in multiple bands over the last 7 years, recently creating global folk collective Mishra with musical partner Ford Collier, where Indian classical music strongly infects her compositions, fusing multiple styles at the root of a songs development. In her solo career she launched the Wayside Tales project in 2018, which transformed soon to be forgotten stories from her childhood home into reflective compositions, culminating with a performance and EP. Whether focusing locally or globally, Kate strives to forge connections between musical genres, people or generations through her music.

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