Sheena Wellington

Scotland's leading traditional singer, SHEENA WELLINGTON was born in Dundee into a family of singers and factory weavers who gave her many of the songs which she sings today.

SHEENA’s repertoire covers everything from Burns ballads to the best of contemporary songwriting and draws on the rich Scottish tradition passed from musician to musician through the ages. These songs reflect the human condition - history and struggle, joy and tragedy, work and love.

Sheena has taken her distinctive songs and style to Europe, North America, Asia and Africa, charming her audiences and winning new fans for Scottish song. Among those she has sung for are the Dalai Lama, the Queen, and Sean Connery who described her voice as "Absolutely Fabulous!"

Sheena will be MC for and performer in the Friday Night Showcase Concert. She will also be MC (along with Christine Kydd), and sometimes performer on the harbour stage on Saturday.

Makarakit

(Feature band for the Setterday Nicht Ceilidh)

Mak-a-Rak-it are based in the heart of Morayshire in the village of Fochabers and have been playing together since 1993. They are a five-piece ceilidh band playing traditional Scottish and Irish music and song.

The band can be found playing at weddings, festivals and corporate functions throughout Scotland where the emphasis is on fun and enjoyment.

http://www.makarakit.co.uk/

The Rapparees

a young leading folk band from Ireland who will be joining us for festival weekend.

The Rapparees are Gerard McNeill who plays the banjo, fiddle and drums, Connor McCaffrey plays the banjo, bodhrun and sings, Joe McKeague main vocals, fiddle and guitar, Damien Mcerlean plays guitar, viola and washboard and Kevin Mawdsley plays the fiddle and tin whistle.

This will be their second time playing their very energetic and lively show in Scotland and their local fans can't wait to hear them again!! - more...

www.therapparees.net
www.myspace.com/therapparees

Calum Stewart 3

Traditional roots re-surfacing in the territory between the old and new.

"Calum Stewart is a musician who manages to combine the search for fresh, new and innovative music with a deep commitment to tradition." Rob Adams

Joined by Lauren MacColl and Andy May to form this highly acclaimed trio, "Earlywood" is the much awaited debut album from Calum Stewart and features contemporary compositions married with arrangements of vibrant traditional melodies.

From Morayshire, Calum Stewart was brought up amongst traditional music in the family home, as was Andy May, from Northumberland, who is very fortunate to have met and played with many of the great Northumbrian musicians, spanning several generations. Winner of the prestigious BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award in 2005, Lauren MacColl is from the Black Isle.

Whilst grounded in their respective traditions, the trio looks beyond regional and national boundaries searching new territories: A rich sound that will capture your imagination.

http://www.calumstewart.com/
http://www.myspace.com/calumfrancisstewart

Andy May

Performing with Calum Stewart

Andy is from Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.  He studied Jazz at the University of York. Andy is a pianist and also an accomplished Northumbrian Piper. He has won several competitions, and now judges. 

As well as performing with Calum Stewart, and the Calum Stewart 3, Andy performs with English Folk band Jez Lowe and the Badpennies, and with Anglo-Scandinavian group Baltic Crossing. He is also a talented composer.

Alex and Madeline Green

Alex Green from Aberdeenshire is the maestro of the tin whistle. He is appreciated by a much wider audience through playing at many Traditional Music and Song Association festivals throughout Scotland. He has released one of the few recordings dedicated to Scottish whistle playing: Whistle O'er the Lave O't.

For the past 25 years, Alex has been ably and sympathetically accompanied on accordion by his wife Madeline. Together, this stalwart duo are well known around the traditional music scene, not only in the north east, but throughout Scotland. They still regularly support many of the Scottish traditional festivals.

In 2007, Alex celebrated 30 consecutive years as a performer at the Keith TMSA Festival, where he has taken whistle workshops and judged competitions.

Apart from her accordion playing, Madeline also sings with the Banffshire based women's group, 'Local Vocals' and the Forres based, 'Too Many Kooks'.

Christine Kydd

(Tutor for the Ballads and Bairns project)

Christine is a full-time professional musician. Her time is divided between performance, teaching, theatre work, promoting traditional and related music and recording/ media appearances. She has an Advanced Diploma in Voice Studies.

Christine is the Scots Song Tutor at the School for Excellence in Traditional Music at Plockton, Wester Ross. Scottish teenagers audition to attend this special project, coming from all over Scotland. Pupils attend the High School and have additional music tuition, record and perform their work.

Christine is a longstanding tutor for the Festival's Music Master Classes, conductor of the Ballads and Bairns concerts and, this year, she will be turning up as MC and performer on the various stages.

http://www.ck.musicscotland.com/

L-Fish

"Songs, tunes and lots of fun- a breath of fresh sea air!" with Sara Reith, Frances Wilkins and Christine Kydd

With an eclectic mix of songs and tunes, L- Fish formed in the North East of Scotland but draws on a range of styles and traditions to celebrate both the land and of course, the sea.

Sara Reith is an Aberdeen tin whistle and fiddle player, currently researching Traveller traditions at the Elphinstone Institute. She has played at many TMSA and local festivals as a solo artist and previous member of three piece Banish Misfortune. She is currently a member of Paddyrasta who are a regular feature of music festival in Scotland and further afield and plays regularly in local ceilidh bands.

Frances Wilkins is a self-taught concertina player, learning first among musicians in Shetland before moving to London to do degree in music. Now resident in Aberdeen, she is a researcher in North-East sacred singing at the Elphinstone Institute. She is regularly plays for ceilidhs and in Aberdeen-based group, The Pictones and teaches a mixed instrument class in traditional music at Scottish Cultures and Traditions (SCaT) in Aberdeen.

Dave Francis

(Manager of the Ballads and Bairns project)

Dave Francis comes from Aberdeenshire, where he cut his teeth playing in bands such as the Desperate Danz Band. Since moving to Edinburgh during the 1990s he has become a central figure in traditional music, from performing with Mairi Campbell in the successful duo The Cast, to occupying key positions in the Scottish Arts Council traditional music section and the Edinburgh Folk Festival.

Brian Nicholson

Although not a solo artist in his own right, Brian is internationally recognised as one of Shetland's finest ever guitarists, whether in a traditional music context or performing music of a more contemporary nature.

He has traded 'licks' with a number of prominent guitarists, including Albert Lee who termed him "a world class guitarist". Brian is also Shetland's most prolific 'band member', currently an active member of groups such as Hom Bru, No Sweat and Sheila Henderson's band .

Brian is on the line up with Maggie for the Friday Night Showcase Concert

Maggie Adamson

Maggie began playing fiddle at the age of eight with Bernadette Porter and is currently taught by Alan Gifford. She is enthusiastic about music and plays various instruments and in different styles.

Maggie has held the titles of Shetland Intermediate and also Junior Young Fiddler of the Year, and has been successful in several competitions for Fiddle in mainland Scotland for the last 3 years.

Maggie is on the line up with Brian for the Friday Night Showcase Concert

Shepheard, Spiers & Watson

Peter Shepheard, Tom Spiers & Arthur Watson have been active performers, collectors and organisers since the 1960s and are enthusiasts for the Scottish folk tradition.

They bring together a wealth of song in a repertoire gleaned predominantly from many traditional singers they have known including well known artistes such as Jimmy McBeath, old Davie Stewart, Jeannie Robertson and Lizzie Higgins.

Fisher Folk

Fisher Folk consists of five mature men, who live within 3 miles of the fishing village of Gourdon, in the county of Angus, on the north east coast of Scotland.

The group specialises in Scottish and Irish songs, ballads and sea shanties.

The present line up is Angus Thow, guitar and vocals, Bert Innes, guitar, banjo and vocals, Bobby Gowans, bodrain and vocals, Iain Mackie, drummer, and Rab Thompson, vocals.

In the past year, Fisher Folk have played Yellow on the Broom festival, had a successful tour of Donegal, Ireland, and have performed at the Aberdeen City St. Andrew's Night Concert, Stonehaven Feein' Market and Gourdon Gala. They have also played at Burns' concerts, and numerous gigs in various pubs, clubs and halls.

They have produced a 5 track demo CD at ARC Studios, titled "Yellow on the Broom".

Gaye and Trish

G&T, otherwise known as Gaye and Trish (Gaye Anthony and Trish Norman), have been performing at the festival regularly since 1999 when they made the acquaintance of Nannie Kalma and Ankie Van der Meer of 'Liereliet' from the Netherlands. This led them to singing at Festivals in the Netherlands, Poland as well as Brittany and even England!

They love to sing together in harmony and have sung on a variety of stages in venues including schooners, castles and the occasional harbour wall. The clarity of their singing and richness of their close harmony arrangements has led them to appearing in three International Festivals of the Sea and being invited to the prestigious Hull Sea Fever Festival six times.

At maritime festivals they appear in costume and specialise in songs of the sea and the fishing - mainly from a woman's point of view. They include songs acquired from other groups on the maritime scene from America, Australia and the Netherlands. They have 3 CDs to their credit: number 4 is a work in progress.

Kate James

A Banff based songwriter reached Number 4 in the Folk section of MySpace's on-line musical showcase and the semi-finals of this year's UK Songwriting Contest.

Appearing in the Salmon Bothy

Half Infinite Equation and Kelsey Macphee

John Mackie (poet) makes up half of Infinite Equation whose unique combination of talents has been described as mesmerising, bardic and hypnotic. He will be appearing with Kelsey Macphee, a young fiddle player who grew up in Aberdeenshire and who is now at the University of Aberdeen. She has been playing for twelve years, concentrating on Scottish traditional forms

They will be appearing at the Salmon Bothy

Dick and Maggie Trickey - Bridge the Gap - Folk Duo

Maggie is Aberdonian and Dick was brought up in Cornwall (hence their name 'Bridge the Gap') they live just outside Ellon and have been singing together for just over twenty years. They sing and play a mixture of Scottish, Irish, English and Contemporary Folk. They have toured in America, Russia, UK and Ireland and are singing tutors for Scottish Culture and Traditions.

Slogmaakane (Greedy Seagulls)

Slogmaakane is a group of 20 male sea shanty singers from the island of Karmoy in Norway. Their formal and informal appearances at the 2006 Festival were highly acclaimed and we are delighted that they are to be back with us this year.

Danny Spooner

Singer of traditional and contemporary folk songs of Britain and Australia - solo acoustic singer, guitar and concertina.

In recent years Danny has sung at festivals, clubs and house concerts in Europe, England, Canada and the USA. But for 40 years in Australia audiences have enjoyed his concert brackets, workshops and one-man shows, his deep multi-disciplinary understanding of social history, his personal warmth, and his immense repertoire of songs covering the full range of human emotions, endeavours and experiences. He is a spellbinder.

Frank Reynolds & John Starsmore

This dynamic duo will be turning up on various stages as performers and also as Master of Ceremonies.

Frank Reynolds and John Starsmore are singer/songwriters living in this area who have been collaborating over the last few years with some extremely 'ear catching' and original results. Sometimes we have lyrics by Frank and music by John, showing how well they have 'tuned in' to each other.

Frank's own songs, which he has been producing prolifically over the last eight years or so, cover a huge range of topics; sometimes taking a humorous swipe at politicians; sometimes wryly observing more everyday stories of life around us and, at others, expressing tenderness which touch the heart.

Likewise, John has crafted beautiful songs expressing such things as his feelings on moving to this part of the world, to his treatment of the powerful emotions evoked (on becoming a grandfather) by generations past and future.