New acts for folk festival

WITH less than 10 weeks to go, this year’s Shetland Folk Festival has announced four new Scottish acts to join its international bill, including three from the different island groups.

Hot on the heels of their Celtic Connections performance, the festival organisers have booked Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers who are said to explore the darker side of folk music and feature former Shetland drummer Paul Jennings, formerly of the Old Blind Dogs and Croft No Five.

As part of this year’s Scottish Islands celebrations, the festival has won a £9,900 grant to showcase traditional musicians from all three island groups.

Orkney will be represented by twin sisters Jennifer and Hazel Wrigley, who last appeared at the festival 19 years ago, since when they have won several national and international awards and now run a busy music school in Orkney. They will perform as Wrigley and the Reel, with accordionist Billy Peace and Ian Mackay on bass.

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From Lewis in the western isles comes Eilidh Mackenzie, who became Gaelic Singer of the Year at the Trad Awards in December 2010, who will be accompanied by fiddler Gordon Gun, guitarist Marc Clement (both of Session A9) and bass player Ged Grimes.

Shetland itself will provide up and coming young multi instrumentalist Ryan Couper who will perform alongside Tim Edey, himself a master of several instruments, following the pair’s previous collaboration last November in the isles.

The travelling showcase will allow the festival to reach two new island communities, with concerts in Haroldswick, Unst, on Friday 29 April and on Fair Isle the following night. They also play in Lerwick on Thursday 28 April and come together as a 10 piece band for the Festival Foy concert on Sunday.

The festival is also to have a Norwegian theme to its opening night on 28 April as a result of the tall ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl stopping in Lerwick with music students, teachers and singers from Nordmore and Torshus Folkehøgskole.

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A choir will perform at Lerwick’s St Columba’s Church while a range of bands including a shanty group will join resident session band Knerton & Co for a Norwegian night at Islesburgh’s Festival Club.

Christine Fordyce, of the folk festival committee, said they were extremely pleased to receive the funding to put on the island performers. “Organising concerts the length and breadth of Shetland is core to the festival’s ethos and it’s particularly exciting that we are able to go back to Fair Isle after a seven year gap,” she said.

Advance membership to the festival closes on Friday 25 February. Advance members will be sent their ticket booking form and membership receipts around 12 March with ticket sales for non-advance members and the general public on sale from 1April.

More information on all artistes and venues can be found at www.shetlandfolkfestival.com