We had a fabulous weekend at the semi-finals of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician 2016 Award. All twelve musicians performed brilliantly however only six musicians can go through to the final on the 31st January 2016 at Celtic Connections Festival. They are: Hannah Macrae – fiddle (Lochaber) Mohsen Amini – concertina (Glasgow) Jessica Burton – clarsach (Orkney) […]
Young Trad
Moniack Mhor Songwriting Retreat by Claire Hastings
I am just back from a lovely week at Moniack Mhor, Scotland’s creative writing retreat in the Highlands. I was on a songwriting course with 13 others, with tuition from Findlay Napier and Karine Polwart. I’m a fan of them both and admire their songwriting, so was interested to learn about the way they write. […]
BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician 2016 semi-finalists this weekend!
The BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award semi-finals are this weekend! This is our sixteenth year and all in South Lanarkshire. If you want to come along to the semi-finals concert in Coulter Hall, Coulter on Saturday 3rd October (start time 7.30pm) you can buy tickets online. Read about the semi-finalists performing below. The […]
G&T – HIGH SPIRITS Album Launch @ Stereo Glasgow Wed 7th Oct with Mec Lir & Innes Watson by Tina Rees
G&T are launching their brand new album HIGH SPIRITS. Come and join the party with music from Mec Lir, Innes Watson and a trad disco! GRÁINNE BRADY & TINA JORDAN REES Gráinne and Tina are an exciting and original fiddle and piano duo based in Glasgow. Originally from Cavan and Lancashire the pair perform solely […]
Scottish ‘summer’ so far… by Claire Hastings
Although the schools are still off, I am having a very busy summer indeed! The strangest part of last month was definitely seeing my face staring back at me from the magazine aisle in Tesco, Dumfries. I was absolutely delighted to have been featured in the July issue of Dumfries & Galloway Life Magazine, and […]
New funding opportunity – Career Development Bursaries
Help Musicians have recently launched our new Career Development Bursaries scheme which may be of interest to the musicians you work with and your wider network. The new scheme has been set up to fund exceptional career development opportunities for instrumentalists, singers, conductors, composers, songwriters or small groups aged between 21 – 30. Grants will […]
Don’t be late!! Enter the Young Trad Award
The entry deadline for the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award 2016 is Friday 3rd July. Don’t be late!! You can have a year like our 2015 winner Claire Hastings. Get all the details here to enter the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award.
A wonderful week with the BBC by Claire Hastings
I have finally had time to reflect on what was a wonderful and very memorable week of performances with the BBC! Starting on Wednesday the 3rd of June, Top Floor Taivers were invited to perform for BBC at the Quay – a five day pop-up festival taking place at BBC Pacific Quay in Glasgow, on […]
BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award is open for entries!
Opening date 19th May Are you aged between 16 and 27 and love playing and singing trad music? Why not enter the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award? This is now the sixteenth year of this award and it is exciting to get the process started to see who the 2016 winner will be! Scots singer […]
Moniaive and Orkney Folk Festivals by Claire Hastings
Festival season has well and truly begun, and I have recently been performing in opposite ends of Scotland at Moniaive and Orkney Folk Festivals. I love the community feel at folk festivals, and I couldn’t have felt more at home in Moniaive. (Mainly as it’s only half an hour from where my parents live!) Roddy […]