Dundee played host to many of the brightest stars in Scottish traditional music last Saturday, as the 13th MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards took place in the city’s glittering Caird Hall. Organised by Hands Up For Trad, the awards were this year broadcast live online and on BBC ALBA for the first time, treating trad fans around the world to a fantastic celebration of incredible Scottish talent.
Culture Secretary, Fiona Hyslop, said: “It was great to see Scotland’s traditional music being celebrated along with Gaelic language and culture at the Scots Trad Awards, and to know that the event was broadcast worldwide bringing Scotland’s traditional music to a global audience. The Scottish Government is committed to supporting our unique languages, culture and music and last night all three were brought together to celebrate Scotland’s rich heritage.”
Notable winners included Treacherous Orchestra, who won album of the year for Grind, and League of Highland Gentlemen, who were named Up and Coming Artist of the Year. Rura took the title of Live Act of the Year, while Griogair Labhruidh was named Gaelic Singer of the Year.
The Scottish Storytelling Centre was nominated for Venue of the Year but was beaten to the title by SEALL at Sabhal Mor Ostaig. Several of the Centre’s regular performers and supporters scooped up prizes, however, with Mairi Campbell named Instrumentalist of the Year , Fiona Hunter winning Scots Singer of the Year and Ewan McVicar receiving the Hamish Henderson Award for his tireless archiving of folk music.
See our Events pages for details on Mairi’s music session, Campbell’s Ceilidh (Tue 2 Feb) plus Fiona’s upcoming workshop on Learning Your Songs (Sat 19 Mar), or watch Fiona performing with Malinky at TradFest 2015 below:
Other winners included GRIT: Celtic Connections Opening Concert in the Event of the Year category, Ross Ainslie for Composer of the Year and BBC ALBA’s Port for the Trad Music in the Media award. TRACS were also delighted to sponsor the award for Club of the Year which was won by the Orkney Accordion and Fiddle Club and presented by TRACS Chair Gary West.
A full list of winners can be found on the Hands Up For Trad website, along with details of all of this year’s nominees. Watch the awards here.
The Scots Trad Music Awards will return to the Caird Hall for their 14th edition on 3 December 2016. Look out for more information about nominations next year.
(Photo credit: Hands Up For Trads)
