Lori Watson has released the fourth monthly digital single release of the Yarrow Acoustic Sessions, part of Lori’s (Scots Singer of the Year 2016) current project Yarrow. Born In The Borders was commissioned by John Henderson to celebrate the opening of Born In The Borders, near Ancrum. Since the ethos of the centre is showcasing local […]
Newsletter
Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award Longlist Unveiled
Twenty outstanding Scottish albums were unveiled tonight as The Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award Longlist to a crowd of eager music fans at the O₂ ABC in Glasgow. Now in its sixth year, The SAY Award is Scotland’s most popular and prestigious music prize, boasting a lucrative £20,000 prize for the winner and […]
We are looking for a sponsor for an exciting new online festival – can you help?
On September 23rd Hands Up for Trad will be promoting our first online trad music festival called TradLive. The festival will be broadcast to the world on YouTube and will feature top Scottish acts. The festival proceeds will all go to charity – we will be asking the public to pledge during the festival time […]
Cairn Valley Song Cycle
Cairn Valley Song Cycle is a very special set of songs newly commissioned by Moniaive Festival Village as part of their Creative Places Award. Ten UK composers, some local, some internationally acclaimed, explore their response to the beautiful landscape of the Cairn Valley and the changing sense of community and home, through the ages. Local […]
Hands Up for Trad’s Ignition Award awarded to Twelfth Day
Hands Up for Trad’s Ignition Award is an award for musicians and bands who put the charge into the tradition. At Hands Up for Trad we like to celebrate innovation so we have brought forward this award to celebrate those musicians who take chances and in doing so make Scottish trad music an exciting place […]
Battle of The Folk Bands – The photos
As reported in last weeks newsletter we had a brilliant time at Battle of The Folk Bands! Congratulations to the winners Dosca however everyone played amazing. The future of our music is in safe hands. If you haven’t watched the whole concert yet you can do so here. View all the photos below. Check our […]
New interviews with Archie Fisher MBE and David Francis
We have been travelling around interviewing musicians from the Scottish traditional music scene. We are so lucky in Scotland to have amazing people with stories to tell. You can watch our latest two interviews below or check out all the interviews here. Subscribe to our Hands Up for Trad YouTube channel here.
The Shetland Reel – Shetland’s indigenous dance
Maurice Henderson has been in touch about this interesting project to raise the profile of Shetland’s indigenous dance – The Shetland Reel. It is the match to our great repertoire of Shetland reels and Maurice set out to see who was dancing it around Shetland and in doing so put together a film – story […]
DOSCA COME OUT ON TOP, FIGHTING OFF FIERCE COMPETITION AT THE BATTLE OF THE FOLK BANDS
The penultimate night of tradfest 2017 saw DOSCA – one of scotland’s most promising trad acts – reign victorious, after a panel of judges declared them the winners of the debut Battle of The Folk Bands competition. DOSCA – an energetic five piece ensemble of bagpipes, flute, guitar, bass and drums – had stiff competition […]
Breabach’s ‘Astar’ nominated European album of the year in Songlines magazine
It’s great to hear that award winning band Breabach have been nominated for European album of the year in Songlines Music Awards 2017. These nominations are voted on by Songlines readers and the winners are announced in the June issue. Breabach have had a busy year with awards and won both Folk Band of the […]