SHOVEL DANCE COLLECTIVE^UK

Take a dive into the strange tales and critical voices of folk music when the many-headed English collective Shovel Dance Collective visits Roskilde Festival for their first Danish show.

Rooted in traditional working class protest songs, queer counterculture, and post-colonial and intersectional protest, the collective's nine musicians wrest folk music from the shadows of nostalgia and show how it speaks to our time. At the same time, old folk songs are placed in new contexts with a collage-like approach that draws on everything from metal and free improvisation to ambient drones and field recordings. 

The collective approach is pervasive to the project, both in creation and performance. Shovel Dance Collective emerges as a multiplicity of voices unfolding folk music narratives in all their richness, as heard on the masterful album The Water is the Shovel of the Shore (2022), which garnered acclaim in both folk and more experimental circles.

They have already thrilled audiences at many international festivals with their fascinating journey through the alternative landscapes of folk music, lifted by beautiful, unpolished voices and a wealth of instruments such as harp, pump organ, banjo, and flute. Now you can finally experience them on Danish soil!