Karine Polwart, Mairi Campbell and other top Edinburgh folk musicians will come together at this year’s inaugural TradFest Edinburgh • Dùn Èideann for a gala concert in aid of Macmillan Cancer Relief.
The concert reprises a popular feature at the old Edinburgh Folk Festival, which spotlighted the wealth of folk music talent living in and around Scotland’s capital. This year’s concert at Teviot House features original participants as well as those who were just starting on their first lessons at the time.
Leading singer and songwriter, Karine Polwart, is squeezing the gig into her spring tour, in support of her best-selling album ‘Traces’:
“I took part in one of the original concerts, back when I was just starting out, and it was a real thrill for me to be sharing a stage with some amazing performers back then. I’m delighted to be involved again, especially for such a good cause.”
Organiser Simon Thoumire, the man behind the Scots Trad Music Awards and the BBC Scotland Young Traditional Musician competition echoes Polwart’s comments about the charity effort:
‘The folk music community in Scotland suffered some grievous losses to cancer in recent months, with the death of Michael Marra amongst others, so it seemed right to make this a fundraiser for Macmillan.”
Thoumire, a virtuoso concertina player who will be doing a spot himself with long time collaborator, pianist Dave Milligan, added:
“The original concerts were such great fun and have stuck in people’s memory, so we thought it would be a nice idea to bring the Flowers of Edinburgh back for this new festival, TradFest, which merges tradition with contemporary edge and flair.
Despite Glasgow being seen as the hot spot for traditional music these days there is still loads of talent resident here in Edinburgh and we wanted to showcase that.”
As well as Karine Polwart, the line-up features a host of award winners and nominees, including harpists Corrina Hewat and Rachel Newton, singers Bella Hardy and Mairi Campbell and some cross generational combinations with piping father and son, Hamish and Fin Moore, and singing father and daughter Brian and Siobhan Miller.
Eilidh Steel and Mark Neal also join the concert with their refreshing mix of jazz and folk-sourced song as they blend the historical and modern perspective of trad music, using older and newer compositions, with many influences from Argyll and the West Coast of Scotland.
"One of the most inspiring and popular things in Scotland since Ikea arrived giving you new colourful ideas but at the same time keeping retro important" - The Scots Fiddle Festival
Flowers of Edinburgh is at Teviot House, Edinburgh on Saturday 27 April at 7.30pm.
Tickets available from the Scottish Storytelling Centre online, by phone and at the box office.
43-45 High St, EH1 1SR | www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk | 0131 556 9579
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