{"id":26836,"date":"2026-03-08T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/?p=26836"},"modified":"2026-03-03T12:32:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T12:32:23","slug":"hands-up-for-trads-women-in-music-and-culture-2026-kim-edgar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/hands-up-for-trads-women-in-music-and-culture-2026-kim-edgar\/","title":{"rendered":"Hands Up for Trad’s Women in Music and Culture 2026: Kim Edgar"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Kim<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Hands Up for Trad\u2019s Women in Music and Culture 2026 list has been announced to celebrate just some of the women working in Scotland.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Launched as part of International Women\u2019s Day 2026<\/a>, we shine the spotlight on 12 women who all contribute towards Scotland\u2019s cultural landscape through their work. Read the 2026 list here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We asked Kim Edgar<\/strong> to tell us more about their work, influences and ambitions for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you first get involved in the arts and who were your early influences?<\/strong>
As a toddler, I was keen to the play the piano my mum and dad had in the house, and once my hands were big enough, they got me private piano lessons. My gentle, patient teacher, Mary Newlands, was a huge influence. She sparked my interest in music theory, how music and words can work together, group singing and the power of music as a tool for social change \u2013 through my lessons and her inspirational local community choir leading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also had a lovely music teacher, Mrs Park, in primary school, who got me enthused about singing, and there was a welcoming music group at my local church where I learned guitar. Thankfully, no one told me that my singing was loud and out of tune (which apparently, it was) so I kept going, and slowly, it started to improve. In school, we learned Burns poetry and songs each year, and were offered free recorder and fiddle lessons, Scottish Country Dancing and annual performances of musicals, all of which I loved. In high school, I began learning flute (more free lessons) and taking part in the school wind band, regional orchestras and choirs. I discovered that performing meant travelling and meeting different people \u2013 and that\u2019s still something I love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of songwriters, as a teenager I discovered \u201cLittle Earthquakes\u201d by Tori Amos through a friend and \u201cBlue\u201d and \u201cCourt & Spark\u201d by Joni Mitchell through my art teacher, and listened to these albums, almost exclusively, for a number of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a time when many artists and creative professionals are facing significant challenges, how have you developed and evolved your creative practice over the past few years?<\/strong>
I\u2019ve never had a plan \u2013 I usually just say yes to opportunities that come my way!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s lovely when sometimes, something you\u2019ve made travels in the world without you, and leads to new chances for development and growth. That\u2019s how it was with the German folk band CARA, who heard and liked Blood Ice & Ashes (a song I wrote with Karine Polwart and Kenny Anderson), and invited me to audition to join them. I\u2019ve now been performing my own songs with CARA, alongside traditional Scottish and Irish songs and tunes, since 2013, and I appreciate having this regular, musically fulfilling work in Germany. I\u2019m also grateful that I said yes when asked to trial a singing session for a mental health charity in Falkirk. Ten years on, I co-lead Freedom Of Mind Community Choir \u2013 an independent, non-audition community choir: music makes us feel good \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With extra time on my hands, I released two solo albums during the pandemic, one of which enabled me to work with some of my songwriting heroes. I find collaboration is a bit like fertiliser; there\u2019s so much to learn from other songwriters\u2019 techniques. I was also honoured to be asked to write the music for \u201cLooking For The One\u201d, a mini-musical about dating by playwright Sylvia Dow, which was a delight! I\u2019ve recently begun performing music in a duo, The Grey And The Good, with my partner Lissa McIntyre. So far, we\u2019ve mainly been performing in hospital settings, using music to comfort and soothe patients, and their loved ones. Fingers crossed that such varied and unexpected opportunities continue to crop up\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who or what interests you creatively?<\/strong>
I\u2019m interested in the transformative power of music in people\u2019s lives. I love leading group singing and the feeling of connection that singing together can bring. In my songwriting, I like exploring harmonic progressions, and how melody, harmony and words can relate to each other. I\u2019m fascinated with song lyrics, and how to communicate in an understated, succinct way. I\u2019m interested in how songs (and other artforms) can open up discussions, and hearts and minds, on important topics like how we live, how we treat each other, and how we cope with the challenges life throws at us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are your plans for the next year or so and\/or what are your longer term creative ambitions?<\/strong>
This year, CARA are releasing a new album called \u201cOur Ship Is Ready\u201d which tackles some issues including immigration and the climate crisis head on. I\u2019m looking forward to us sharing this new (and traditional) music, and the conversations that the songs and tunes will hopefully spark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Longer term, alongside continued choir leading, and despite the uncertain music industry landscape, I\u2019d like to release more original songs as a solo artist. As I heard Tanita Tikaram discuss on the radio recently, it\u2019s really a kind of responsibility, if you have a platform and some people who listen to what you say, to try and do what you can by speaking out about injustices that you witness. It\u2019s also about making things, such as songs, that help people to ask questions, consider different perspectives and be open to trying to understand and be compassionate towards each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find out more about Kim Edgar here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the Hands Up for Trad\u2019s Women in Music and Culture 2026 List<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hands Up for Trad are an organisation who work with Scottish traditional music, language and culture. If you would like to support our work you can donate here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hands Up for Trad\u2019s Women in Music and Culture 2026 list has been announced to celebrate just some of the women working in Scotland.   Launched as part of International Women\u2019s Day 2026, we shine the spotlight on 12 women who all contribute towards Scotland\u2019s cultural landscape through their work. Read the 2026 list here. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26837,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-26836","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/files\/2026\/02\/Kim-Edgar-Credit-Louise-Mather-CROPPED-RECTANGLE.jpeg","featured_image_src":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/files\/2026\/02\/Kim-Edgar-Credit-Louise-Mather-CROPPED-RECTANGLE-600x400.jpeg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/files\/2026\/02\/Kim-Edgar-Credit-Louise-Mather-CROPPED-RECTANGLE-600x600.jpeg","author_info":{"display_name":"simon","author_link":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/author\/simon\/"},"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcv15g-6YQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26836"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26978,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26836\/revisions\/26978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}