The MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards were held in Perth Concert Hall on December 4th 2010. It was a year of crazy snow and the Awards nearly never happened! Luckily there was a break between snow falls and the Shetland and Orcadian acts both managed to fly in. In fact the only act that never made it were the youth band from Perth. It was also the year that Simon Thoumire (organiser) lost his phone the night before with all the phone numbers… Performing on the night were The Chair, Phil Cunningham Band, The McCalmans, Shona Donaldson, Tom Orr Scottish Dance Band, Darren MacLean Band, Jenna Reid and Harris Playfair, Sheila Stewart, Daniel Thorpe Trio, The Gordon Duncan Experience, Fullsceilidh Spelemannslag, Vale of Atholl Junior Pipe Band. The comperes were BBC Scotland’s Mary Ann Kennedy and Tony Kearney.
The nominees and winners were:
Album of the Year sponsored by Birnam CD
Uam – Julie Fowlis (Spit and Polish) (Winner)
Canaich – Duncan Chisholm (Copperfish Records)
Birds & Beasts (Music by Martyn Bennett and Fraser Fifield) – Mr McFall’s Chamber (Delphian)
Sark o’ Snaw – Mick West (Greentrax)
Club of the Year sponsored by RSCDS
Edinburgh Folk Club
Glenfarg Village Folk Club
Aberdeen Royal Scottish Country Dance Society
Highland Accordion and Fiddle Club. (Winner)
Composer of the Year sponsored by PRS for Music
James Ross
Iain Morrison (Winner)
Fraser Fifield
Findlay Napier and Nick Turner
Community Project of the Year sponsored by Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust
Scots Music Group
Liltin Lasses
Orkney Traditional Music Project (Winner)
Tarbert Music classes
Event of the Year sponsored by VisitScotland
The Royal National Mod
Perthshire Amber Festival
Shetland Folk Festival (Winner)
The Splore
Gaelic Singer of the Year sponsored by Macmeanmna
Eilidh MacKenzie (Winner)
Joy Dunlop
Rachel Walker
Darren MacLean
Trad Music in the Media sponsored by Hegri Music and Snowgoose Productions
Celtic Music Radio
Travelling Folk (Winner)
Horo Gheallaidh
STV on YouTube
Instrumentalist of the Year sponsored by Temple Records
Ross Ainslie
Martin O’Neill (Winner)
John McCusker
Anna Massie
Live Act of the Year sponsored by Greentrax Recordings
Treacherous Orchestra
Skerryvore
Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham
Red Hot Chilli Pipers (Winner)
Citty Finlayson Scots Singer of the Year sponsored by Traditional Music & Song Association
Joe Aitken (Winner)
Wendy Weatherby
Fiona Hunter
Siobhan Miller
Dance Band of the Year sponsored by NAAFC
Marian Anderson Scottish Dance Band
Ian Hutson Scottish Dance Band
Ian Muir Scottish Dance Band (Winner)
Trail West
Scottish Folk Band of the Year sponsored by Foot Stompin’ Scottish Music
The Shee
Malinky (Winner)
Breabach
Fred Morrison Trio
Scottish Pipe Band of the Year sponsored by National Piping Centre
Oban High School Pipe Band (Winner)
Boghall & Bathgate Pipe Band
Inveraray and District Pipe Band
House Of Edgar Shotts and Dykehead Pipe Band
Up and Coming Artist of the Year sponsored by Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
Rachel Sermanni
Angus Nicolson
Ewan McLennan
Mattheu Watson (Winner)
Music Tutor of the Year sponsored by Creative Scotland’s Youth Music Initiative
Anne Neilson and Gordeanna McCulloch
Gordon Connell (Winner)
Dagger Gordon
Sarah Northcott
Venue of the Year sponsored by Coda Music
St Andrew’s in the Square – Glasgow
Acoustic Music Centre – St Brides Edinburgh
An Tobar – Tobermory, Isle of Mull
Skipinnish Ceilidh House – Oban (Winner)