Congratulations to Magnus Turpie and Friends who has been nominated in the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2025. Vote now! It’s going to be another great night at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards on Saturday 6th December in Aberdeen Music Hall. Why not join us for a brilliant night of music and awards. Buy a ticket here.
We asked Magnus of Magnus Turpie and Friends the following questions.
Tell us about yourself
Hopes and aspirations for the band:
Following upon the massively popular reception enjoyed by the band and the album
‘Hold on Tight’, we are looking to capitalise on the positivity and appetite for our product.
In the short term, this is compiling material for a follow-up creative endeavour – another album, or a touring show, video or documentary to reach a wider audience.
MEET THE BAND: MAGNUS TURPIE AND FRIENDS
Due to folks’ other commitments, the original line-up proved to be unsustainable,so we kept moving forward, building a ‘pool’ of musicians, ensuring flexibility and familiarity with the core repertoire. They are all listed below.
Magnus Turpie (Diatonic B/C/C# button accordion, fiddle, snare drum) has been a regular at sessions and festivals since he was a wee boy, starting on the fiddle, guitar and ukulele. Nowadays, his main instrument is a diatonic 3-row b/c/c# Stradella bass button box.
He has been performing at public and private events since 2017. Individually, he has been involved with Dandelion Festival: (2022); Fèis Rois Ceilidh Trail (July/Aug 2023, 2024 & 2025); Scottish & European Folk Day (Sept 2023); ‘’Ester and Iseabail’s Kitchen Ceilidhs’ tour of Skye (March 2024); ‘.
In 2023, Magnus piloted ‘Pathways’ programmes for both Live Music Now Scotland (LMNS) and Fèis Rois, both of which organisations have recognised the under-representation of people with neurodiverse skill sets in their programmes. He is a member of ‘Paragon Ensemble’, ‘All Together Now’ (RSNO) ‘GDJam’ (EJBF), Scots Music Group (SMG) and a regular volunteer with Totally Sound/Reel Youth Media project in Edinburgh.
Magnus is grateful to all of these agencies, as well as Creative Scotland’s ‘Create: Inclusion’ initiative and his bandmates for their support.
Magnus Turpie has Down’s Syndrome. It is important to him that he, and other learning-disabled and neurodiverse musicians, are visible and respected in music-making communities, and our wider society, as worthy participants alongside everyone else; for everyone’s benefit.
Magnus is joined by :
Mike Turpie (Scottish Smallpipes)
Mike plays Highland, Border and Scottish Smallpipes in his roles as a ‘Blue Badge’ tour guide across Scotland and performer with small ensembles playing mainly Celtic Traditional music. He is also an award-winning visual artist: https://miketurpiepaintings.com/
Beatrice Blanco (pianist and singer) studied classical piano and composition in Italy. When she moved to Edinburgh five years ago, she fell in love with traditional music. Since then, she has been enthusiastically learning and performing her repertoire at gigs and sessions. Beatrice has been playing with us since the Girvan festival in May 2024. Beatrice also teaches privately and plays with the Italian folk band ‘Scylla’.
Daisy McCormick (fiddle) Daisy has been involved with numerous ensembles, including the fabulous ‘Lau-land Big Tune Machine’ (EIF) gigs at Leith theatre and Edinburgh’s Queens Hall in 2018 and other projects, including ‘Strands: 30th Anniversary Youth Concert‘ (Celtic Connections education programme – 2023). She also played in the inaugural ‘combo’ line-up in Battle of the Folk Bands Final at Celtic Connections 2024 and has been part of the line-up throughout this year. Daisy studies Applied Music BA (Hons) with University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) and teaches fiddle on the RCS junior conservatoire trad courses. Daisy is a founder member of the upcoming band ‘The Way North’.
Linda Campbell (2nd accordion) from Edinburgh, has played in ceilidh bands, performance duos and sessions locally and worldwide. She is currently finishing off the Applied Music BA (Hons) degree with UHI.
Linda co-produced the ‘Hold on Tight’ album and was the executive producer of the recording project.
Dominic Blaikie (guitar, vocals and fiddle) is also a LMNS musician and ‘partners’ Magnus in that programme. They are also a popular ‘turn’ with the residents at a local residential care home and together with Beatrice Blanco and Linda Campbell have been engaged by the Artlink ‘Thursday Live’ programme.
Dom is one of the finest entertainers, the most sensitive accompanist and welcoming and inclusive session host, responsible for maintaining the grassroots Scottish traditional Edinburgh pub session scene.
He has been accompanying Magnus at various gigs since 2022, including as part of the ‘Dandelion Project’ and Down’s Syndrome Scotland’s ‘Forever 21’ ball in March 2023. He also took part in Celtic Connections ‘Battle of the Folk Bands’ final in January 2024 and later that year, toured Skye in March with Magnus as part of ‘Esther and Iseabail’s Kitchen Ceilidhs’ and played with the band at pretty well most of the key gigs during 2024 and 2025.
Dom co-produced the band’s album ‘Hold on Tight’.
Dominic also plays with the folk band ‘Swelke’ and regularly with fiddler Rachel Petyt in their popular duo: https://rachelanddominic.bandcamp.com/album/rachel-walker-and-dominic-blaikie
Cameron Newell is a fiddle player from Edinburgh, who takes inspiration from his Orkney roots in his repertoire and fiddle style. Since graduating from the RCS in 2021 with a masters in Scottish music, his fiddle playing has brought him to the far reaches of the world. In 2020, and 2022 he toured Japan playing gigs in a duo with Japanese Irish harp player Riko Matsuoka. Recently, he toured Scotland as part of the Creative Scotland-funded show “Hebridean treasure” which featured a fusion of Scottish and Indian traditional music. In Edinburgh, you’ll find Cameron playing regular folk sessions with band mates Dominic and Magnus.
Cameron joined the band for Girvan festival weekend in 2024 and we are looking forward to playing with him in Dublin in January 2026 and hopefully sooner in Edinburgh.
Kirsty Harrison is a fiddle player and vocalist from Orkney. She regularly performs with the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Company, including performances in Germany and Norway. Kirsty also took part in the Feis Rois Ceilidh Trail in Summer 2024 and recently participated in the cross-cultural music project ‘Folkemusikk i Vesterled’, which included performances in Oslo and at the Farsund Folk Festival.
She plays in the emerging band ‘Meallan’, and this year has joined this band for our concerts at Celtic Connections on Campus and the Feis Rois nan Inbheach (Ullapool).
Anna Durkacz Ryan joined us, contributing her whistling and swing fiddle to the recording mix and our album launch gigs. Anna established the ‘Professors of Logic’ band in 2017 showcasing her original multi-genre works annually at Edinburgh Festival fringe. She also writes for and plays in ‘Ravaged Hearts’ duo.
Kate Crichton (fiddle) joined the band at the Comuun tir Nam Beaan concert this year. Kate is especially noted for her ‘pipey’ style and so fitted right in. We hope to play with Kate again soon.
Debbie Davidson (fiddle and Storyteller) – noted for her warm, rich fiddle style, Debbie played on the album and has joined the band for the seasonal tourist gigs. She is also a Blue Badge tour guide.
Why are you involved in Scottish music?
Traditional Scottish music holds an innate cultural pull, connecting us back to our forebears – their communities and connections to the land and practices of old.
This is our intangible cultural heritage; deeply ingrained in the everyday as well as the extraordinary life moments of the people; The soundtrack to our existence.
You’ll notice that, as a band, we embrace diversity across many demographic segments.
This gives us a freshness of approach, learning from each others’ depth of musical experiences – deploying tropes from couthy Scottish traditional balladeers to contemporary ‘trad’ composers, peppered with touches from the ‘classical’ and other European idioms.
Any particular career highlights?
Yes!
It all started with the invitation to play at the final of the 2024 Battle of the Folk Bands at Celtic Connections. That was a great opportunity and motivated us to gather a band :
Magus Turpie on lead accordion, Dom Blaikie on vocals and guitar, Iseabail Strachan on 2nd box, Matt Duncan on keyboard and Daisy McCormick on fiddle.
Whilst we didn’t win, it was a great experience! – The audience loved the band. We had some great feedback, and a ‘Celtic Connections’ credit to our name!
Due to folks’ other commitments, the original line-up proved to be unsustainable, however, so we kept moving forward building a ‘pool’ of musicians, ensuring flexibility and familiarity with the core repertoire.
We decided to build on the demo tracks we had made for the Battle of the Folk Bands competition and began to plan and record our Debut album -‘Hold on Tight’ at B&B studios in Edinburgh.
Next up was an invitation to ‘guest’ at Girvan Traditional Folk Festival in May 2024, playing at a few venues across the town but also opening the ‘Kist o’ Riches’ concert on the Saturday evening.
Piping Live invited the band to play for a ceilidh dance in their ‘Emerging Artists’ series in August 2024. We then played a short ;welcoming; set at the Traditional Music Forum – ‘Trad Talk’ event on November 24.
In January 2025, our gig at Celtic Connections on Campus event led us to a live session with Celtic Music Radio. They subsequently invited us to interview with Ian Kidd for his Album of the Week show.(due out 8 Nov).
May 2025 saw our debut album, ‘Hold on Tight’ released on ‘Brechin All Records’ label and launched at Feis Rois nan Inbheach (Ullapool) in the village hall to an audience of over 80 people.
We played another couple of ‘launch’ style events in Edinburgh – in June at Central Library then our ‘final’ cabaret-style launch at Leith Depot on 31August.
Summer 2024 and 2025 saw us at several local festivals and gigs in Edinburgh – Meadows Festival, LREC festival of cultures, Comuun Tir nam Beann, Edinburgh Argyll Association, Edinburgh Festival Fringe (PBH Free fringe) and gigs in the ‘Greyfriars at 12’ series..
And now THIS nomination! What a great thing! We’re looking forward to getting along to Aberdeen Music hall on Dec 6 to join in this fantastic event and meet up with the rest of the Trad Music community!
What are your plans for the future?
Hopes and aspirations for the band:
Following the massively popular reception enjoyed by the band locally, and the album ‘Hold on Tight’, we are looking to capitalise on the positivity and appetite for our product.
Short term – next 6 to 12 months:
Learning from our experience of recording ‘Hold On Tight’ we’ll look at further developing the band and widening the collective of musicians to collaborate with.
We aim to record a further album and, having had the invaluable studio experience we will be able to structure the next project more effectively in terms of technical and personnel resources
Aesthetically, we plan to develop sets which call for a wider skill contribution from participants, looking at harmonic and rhythmic devices to create dynamic and atmospheric effects.
Social impacts:
We already have plans to deliver an event at Holyrood in Spring 2026 ‘Supporting Performers with Down’s syndrome – ending stereotypes and widening access’ to challenge the status quo.
The content of that event will depend on the degree of change made by participating organisations up to that point.
The aim is to challenge negative assumptions and expectations held regarding the competence of musicians with Down’s Syndrome, who are subjected to ‘rock-bottom’ expectations throughout their years in ‘formal’ education and beyond. Consequently, many parents, guardians, educationalists and even bookers see little value in investing emotional, social, or financial resources to change this scenario.
That attitude has resulted in there being NO OTHER ‘traditional’ musicians with Down’s Syndrome who perform to Magnus’s level of competence currently in Scotland – ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’ (Edelman, M.W. n.d.).
Medium term – 12 months to 2 years
1) To develop a production – a show – engaging a core cast similar to the players at the recent “Magnus Turpie and Friends” album launch event “Hold on Tight” delivered on 31 August at Leith Depot.
This production would be performed at least 2 or 3 times over Q3 & Q4 2026. The performances would be recorded on video and combined to create an artefact suitable for delivery as a TED, or SEED talk production and distribution over that network to anyone who wanted to view it.
2)To develop a NETWORK of artists – musicians, and creative industry professionals, to which musicians with Down’s Syndrome and other marginalised people can have easy professional and social access.
3)Throughout – from here to eternity:
To demonstrate the social value of participative music making amongst people of all ages and abilities, irrespective of race, gender or ethnicity.
To inspire and encourage people with DS and other diverse conditions, and those who are the gatekeepers to their opportunities, to participate in music projects in the sure knowledge that they will be welcomed as social and musical equals.
4) To provide quality light entertainment to an audience engaged in the output.
Magnus Turpie and Friends Social Media
Website: https://magnusturpiecombo.bandcamp.com/album/hold-on-tight
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/magnus.turpie.combo/
Instagram:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MagnusTurpieandfriends
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@boxyeh
The 2025 MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards are on the 6th December 2025 in Aberdeen Music Hall! You will be able to watch it live in person (buy a ticket here). Watch it live in the UK at 9pm (GMT) on BBC ALBA and and around the world here. Hosted by Scottish personalities Alistair Heather and Mary Ann Kennedy, the night in the Granite City will also welcome live performances from some of the brightest lights on the thriving trad scene today including beloved singer Hannah Rarity, UK folk legends The Poozies, trad pop band Mec Lir and BBC Radio scotland Young Traditional Musician and Scots Performer o the Year Ellie Beaton and many more!
If you would like to support Hands Up for Trad in their work with Scottish trad music and musicians why not become a friend of Hands Up for Trad. In addition to our high profile events like the Scots Trad Music Awards, we also deliver a less well known, education programme for young people from 8yrs right through to young adults at the start of their careers. Read more here.