SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR MG ALBA SCOTS TRAD MUSIC AWARDS
Last year marked the 10th anniversary of the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards and they are back again this year with a bang. After weeks of anticipation and thousands of nominations from the public, shortlist for the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards, has been unveiled. (See full list in editor’s notes). The prestigious event honours and celebrates the achievements of Scotland’s traditional musicians and 2013 will marks its 11th consecutive year.
This year’s awards will take place at Aberdeen’s Music Hall on Saturday 7th December and tickets to attend the glamorous awards ceremony hosted by Mary Ann Kennedy and Tony Kearney are on sale now from www.aberdeenperformingarts.com or calling the box office on 01224 641122.
The public can vote from today, Tuesday 5th November until Friday 22nd November, for this year’s winners across 16 categories including Album Of The Year, Composer Of The Year, Venue Of The Year and Gaelic Singer Of The Year, by logging online at www.scotstradmusicawards.com/voting. The winner of each category will be the artist who receives an equal combination of the most industry and fan votes.
Over the past 11 years the awards, produced by Hands Up for Trad, have celebrated and seen performances by some of the finest Scottish traditional musicians and bands including Barbara Dickson, Peatbog Faeries, Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Karine Polwart.
This year’s notable nominees include Tiree Music Festival which has been nominated for Event of the Year Sponsored by VisitScotland. It has been a momentous year for the festival which sold out in record time – tripling the population of Tiree over the festival weekend, has been crowned ‘Best Cultural Event’ at the Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards and ‘Best Small Festival’ for the second year in a row at the Scottish Event Awards. It has also been announced that the festival will be extended to three days in 2014.
Event founder and promoter Simon Thoumire says: “We are delighted to be bringing the Scottish Trad Awards back for the 11th year running. We’d like to thank MG ALBA for their continued support of the awards and are privileged that this is the 6th year they have sponsored us, their contribution is invaluable. The Traditional music scene in Scotland is so vibrant with an unrivalled array of festivals, events, bands and singers. We can’t wait to host the ceremony in Aberdeen this year, it promises to be our best yet so make sure you get your ticket now.”
The hotly tipped Composer of the Year award has been sponsored by PRS for Music who has said “The Trad Awards provide PRS for Music with a tremendous opportunity to celebrate not only the rich heritage of Scotland’s traditional culture, but showcases some of our most exciting young writers and composers of contemporary traditional music. We’d like to congratulate all of our members amongst this year’s nominees.”
Entertainment will be provided throughout the night by some of the country’s top Trad stars including Kathleen McInnes, Blazin Fiddles, Brain Gear and the Violet Tulloch, North East North East Folk Collective, Paddy Callaghan Trio (BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award Winner 2013), The Shee, Ross Ainslie Band, Deoch n Dorus, Tom Spiers and Family and Bucksburn & District Band.
For more information, interviews and images, contact Wire Media:
Ashley Campbell| ashley@wire-media.co.uk | 0141 440 6761
Kirsty Atkinson | kirsty@wire-media.co.uk | 0141 440 6761
www.twitter.com/scotstradmusicawards
www.scotstradmusicawards.com
EDITOR’S NOTES
The Scots Trad Music Awards are produced by Hands up for Trad and supported by:
MG ALBA
MG ALBA is the operating name of Seirbheis nam Meadhanan Gàidhlig (Gaelic Media Service). MG ALBA is in partnership with the BBC to provide BBC ALBA. Find out more about MG ALBA and about the partnership at www.mgalba.com or visit www.bbcalba.co.uk for schedule and programme information
The full shortlist for this year’s MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards:
Album of the Year – Sponsored by Birnam CD
Wide Open (Ross Ainslie)
Room Enough For All (Battlefield Band)
Cruinn (Cruinn)
An Tra (Marie Fielding)
Club of the Year – Sponsored by Royal Scottish Country Dance Society
Banchory Accordion & Fiddle Club
Folklub (Glasgow)
Ness Melodian Band (Ness, Isle of Lewis)
Milngavie Folk Club
Community Project of the Year – Sponsored by Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust
Gadie Music (Aberdeenshire)
Atomic Doric (Banchory)
Gizzen Briggs (Tain Royal Academy)
Friends of Wighton (Dundee)
Composer of the Year – Sponsored by PRS for Music
Donald Shaw
Duncan Lyall
Adam Sutherland
Ailie Robertson
Event of the Year – Sponsored by VisitScotland
Tiree Music Festival
Jura Festival
Moniaive Folk Festival
Carrying Stream Festival
Gaelic Singer of the Year – Sponsored by Macmeanmna
Rachel Walker
Alasdair Whyte (Alasdair MacIlleBhain)
Sineag MacIntyre
Linda MacLeod
Trad Music in the Media Award
BBC Radio Scotland Travelling Folk
Horo Gheallaidh (Mac TV, BBC ALBA)
Trad with Pad (Celtic Music Radio)
Transatlantic Sessions (Whirlie Records)
Instrumentalist of the Year – Sponsored by Temple Records
Chris Stout
James Duncan Mackenzie
Patsy Reid
Angus Lyon
Live Act of the Year – Sponsored by Greentrax
Breabach
Lau
The Outside Track
Anna and Mairearad
Citty Finlayson Scots Singer of the Year – Sponsored by Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland
George Donaldson
Fiona Hunter
Mick West
Siobhan Miller
Scottish Dance Band of the Year – Sponsored by the National Association of Accordion and Fiddle Clubs
Trail West
Craig Paton and his Scottish Dance Band
Graeme Mitchell and his Scottish Dance Band
Nicky McMichan and his Scottish Dance Band
Scottish Folk Band of the Year – Sponsored by All Celtic Music
Manran
Nuala Kennedy Band
Blazin’ Fiddles
Paul McKenna Band
Pipe Band of the Year – Sponsored by The National Piping Centre
Newtongrange Pipe Band
Boghall and Bathgate Pipe Band
Greater Glasgow Police Scotland.
Ullapool and District Junior Pipe Band
Up and Coming Artist of the Year – Sponsored by Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Adam Holmes And The Embers
Robert Robertson
Scott Wood Trio
Tina Jordan Rees
Music Tutor of the Year – Sponsored by Creative Scotland’s Youth Music Initiative
Corrina Hewat (Borders)
Margaret Scollay (Shetland)
Bob Massie (Highlands)
Alpha Munro (Highlands)
Venue of the Year Award
Mareel, Shetland
Douglas Robertson’s House, Edinburgh
A’ the Airts, Sanquhar
National Piping Centre, Glasgow
