{"id":3612,"date":"2015-03-26T13:11:14","date_gmt":"2015-03-26T13:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/a-year-like-no-other-by-bbc-radio-scotlands-young-traditional-musician-2014-robyn-stapleton\/"},"modified":"2015-03-27T12:18:27","modified_gmt":"2015-03-27T12:18:27","slug":"a-year-like-no-other-by-bbc-radio-scotlands-young-traditional-musician-2014-robyn-stapleton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/a-year-like-no-other-by-bbc-radio-scotlands-young-traditional-musician-2014-robyn-stapleton\/","title":{"rendered":"A Year Like No Other by BBC Radio Scotland\u2019s Young Traditional Musician 2014, Robyn Stapleton"},"content":{"rendered":"

I must admit, I\u2019m not really one for writing a diary or blog, but this will have to be the exception because I don\u2019t want to forget what has been the most eventful and the most exciting year!<\/p>\n

As the launch of my debut album approaches, I\u2019ve been looking back on the past year and the wonderful journey I\u2019ve been on since winning the title of BBC Radio Scotland\u2019s Young Traditional Musician in February 2014.<\/p>\n

The night of the final, there was a fantastic atmosphere in Glasgow\u2019s City Halls. The audience were full of excitement for the night ahead, and I looked out into the crowd to see so many smiling and encouraging faces. Much to my surprise, I wasn\u2019t really nervous, I was just excited to be singing on such a stage as part of the final.<\/p>\n

At the side of the stage, I listened to Mhairi Marwick start off the concert with three fantastic sets on the fiddle, and then Alistair Paterson on the piano and harmonium \u2013 his beautiful interpretation of a Gaelic hymn near enough had me greetin. I was up next, and boldly started off with an unaccompanied song, \u2018MacCrimmon\u2019s Lament\u2019, which I first heard from the singing of Jeannie Robertson. I was overwhelmed by the audience\u2019s warm and encouraging reaction, which really put me at ease. And with Mhairi Hall, Mike Bryan and Martin O\u2019Neill to accompany me, I was in safe hands. It was a real pleasure meeting and performing with all three musicians for the first time.<\/p>\n

Totally caught up in the moment, I completely forgot about being live on radio, or being filmed for the telly!<\/p>\n

\u2018Jock Hawk\u2019s Adventures in Glasgow\u2019 was my last song of the night \u2013 a cheeky song from the northeast of Scotland. I love the story of the song, which first I heard sung by Tom Speirs and Arthur Watson. I wasn\u2019t sure whether folk in the audience would sing along to the chorus, but they absolutely did!<\/p>\n

The last three finalists Iain Smith, Jack Badcock and Neil Ewart gave wonderful performances: beautiful airs, tune sets and songs. Later on in the night, accordionist Paddy Callaghan arrived on stage with his trio, and they thoroughly entertained the audience with lively sets and a beautiful rendition of the hymn, \u2018Be Thou My Vision\u2019.<\/p>\n

With all the excitement, the rest of the night is a bit of a blur. I remember my name being read out by Jeff Zysinski of Radio Scotland as the winner, and I remember photos, interviews, tears, wine, hugs, and I left with a Quaich under my arm and was whisked away for an Indian dinner. Soon after, with a half-eaten naan bread in my hand, I was in taxi on my way to the Festival Club, where I was to perform to a packed room of party animals. Thanks to Martin O\u2019Neill for bravely accompanying me on bodhran!<\/p>\n

The year ahead brought many new experiences and wonderful memories. It was an exiting year for Glasgow and an important year for the whole of Scotland as we voted in our referendum of independence, and welcomed the Commonwealth Games to Glasgow.<\/p>\n

Here I am playing with my band at the BBC studios as part of the Commonwealth Games celebrations. Hosted by Bruce MacGregor, what a night it was, playing alongside Capercaillie and Shooglenifty.<\/p>\n

\"robyn2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My performance highlight of last year would have to be singing with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at BBC\u2019s Proms in the Park. Performing to eight thousand people at Glasgow Green, sharing the stage with Katherine Jenkins and Noah Stewart.<\/p>\n

Over the past year, I have been spending a lot of time in my home region of Wigtownshire: teaching, leading a choir, performing and collecting folk songs across the region as part of my intergenerational music project, SongRoots.<\/p>\n

I have been working on an exciting new project called \u2018Macmath: The Silent Page\u2019, singing the songs of Galloway collector William Macmath, alongside some of the region\u2019s top folk musicians. We\u2019ll be performing a series of concerts and recording an album of Macmath\u2019s songs in the months ahead.<\/p>\n

\"robyn-ali\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At the end of the year, it was wonderful to be awarded Dumfries & Galloway\u2019s Person of the Year and to be nominated for Scots Singer 2014 at the Scots Trad Music Awards, which was held in December in Inverness. We made it through the snow and ice to get there, where I performed with musicians Kristan Harvey, Innes Watson and Andrew Waite.<\/p>\n

2015 got off to a flying start with concerts at Celtic Connections in Glasgow. I performed with St Roch\u2019s Ceili Band at St Andrew\u2019s in the Square, at the Royal Concert Hall as part of the Young Trad Tour and at Glasgow\u2019s Art Club for Showcase Scotland. It was fantastic to return to City Halls again for this year\u2019s final of BBC Radio Scotland\u2019s Young Traditional Musician. I was absolutely thrilled to see my good friend, Scots singer Claire Hastings take the title for 2015. She finished off the concert with a wonderful rendition of Lionel McLelland\u2019s heartfelt song, \u2018Come Spend a While Wi Me\u2019. Along with Emily Smith and myself, Claire is the third Scots singer from Dumfries and Galloway to win the title since the competition began in 2001.<\/p>\n

Claire and I have been performing together as a musical duo for the past three years and work with the organisation\u00a0Live Music Now<\/em>, providing music to isolated groups across Scotland.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to the future, I\u2019m really excited for the release of my first album,\u00a0Fickle Fortune<\/em>. It\u2019s been a challenging experience, but I\u2019ve learnt so much along the way. I am fortunate to have been able to record the album with four very talented musicians: Alistair Paterson, Kristan Harvey, Hajime Takahashi & Stephen Heffernan.<\/p>\n

Really excited for its release on the 1st\u00a0of June and for the album tour, which includes concerts in Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow, Stranraer, Sanquar, Edinburgh, Castle Douglas and Peebles. Also looking forward to some international adventures, with concerts in France, Latvia, Germany and tours in Denmark and Finland in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Keep an eye on my website for songs, tour dates, updates and adventures.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Hands Up For Trad and BBC Radio Scotland for making these opportunities possible.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.robynstapleton.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I must admit, I\u2019m not really one for writing a diary or blog, but this will have to be the exception because I don\u2019t want to forget what has been the most eventful and the most exciting year! As the launch of my debut album approaches, I\u2019ve been looking back on the past year and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3625,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","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":[37,11],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3612","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newsletter","8":"category-young-trad","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/files\/2015\/03\/robyn-ali.png","featured_image_src":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/files\/2015\/03\/robyn-ali.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/files\/2015\/03\/robyn-ali.png","author_info":{"display_name":"simon","author_link":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/author\/simon\/"},"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcv15g-Wg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3612","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=3612"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3626,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3612\/revisions\/3626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}