As its contribution to the 2011 Jorvik Viking Festival in York, the Black Swan Folk Club will present an Icelandic Special on Thursday.

That night, the Funi duo of Chris Foster and his partner Bára Grímsdóttir will perform folk songs from Iceland and England at 8.30pm at the Black Swan Inn in Peasholme Green.

“Chris was one of the great singer/guitarists in the vibrant 1970s’ British folk scene, rated by many in the same league as Nic Jones and Martin Simpson and he’s a superb interpreter of traditional English folk songs,” says club organiser Roland Walls.

Chris stepped out of the professional music business in the 1980s and 1990s, but never stopped playing entirely and indeed he did a guest spot at the Black Swan in 2002. Along the way, he met and fell in love with Icelandic folk singer Bára Grímsdóttir, who had grown up surrounded by the folk songs of her parents and grandparents in the family farm Grímstunga in Vatnsdalur in the north of Iceland.

Chris and Bára settled together in Reykjavik, later establishing the first degree-level course on Icelandic traditional music at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts in 2009.

They have collaborated musically as Funi since 2000, releasing two CDs, Funi in 2004, and Man Eg last May, that combine Bára’s repertoire of traditional Icelandic songs with Chris’s English folk balladry and her kantele playing with his classic finger-style folk guitar.

“They also promote the revival of traditional Icelandic instruments the Íslensk fiðla and the langspil, and sometimes they sing together in an Icelandic harmony style known as tvísöngur,” says Roland. “To complete their show, they use backdrop projections of stunning Icelandic scenery. It promises to be a fascinating evening.”

Tickets are available at £8, £6.50 concessions, through the WeGotTickets website and on the door from 8pm, if not all are sold beforehand.