The historic village of Falkland in Fife is about to experience an exciting weekend of traditional music when the fifth Falkland Traditional Music Festival takes place over the weekend of 23-25 June. The festival includes a ceilidh dance, concerts, competitions (for accordion, fiddle, and song), workshops, and informal sessions.  One highlight of the weekend will … Continued

Cultural Connections are back with another historical drama with music for this year’s Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival.  Dumfriesshire’s African Explorer is written and directed by Ayrshire’s Craigie Folk Club joint organiser Dave Dewar who has teamed up with esteemed folk musicians. The musical director is singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ian Walker who has written nine songs … Continued

Barry Gordon, JBiA guitarist, answers some quick questions ahead of the gig tomorrow evening at the Biscuit Factory, which promises a fusion of sounds from four nations, as well as tasty food too. Tell us about your band, James Brown is Annie, and your plans for 2017? James Brown Is Annie (or, JBiA for short) … Continued

Following on from discussions at Celtic Connections and Tradfest on Gender Inequality across Traditional Music, Eileen Penman has shared with us her reflections and concerns on this issue published in 1983 in Edinburgh Folk Club newsletter. You can read this HERE Eileen has been a longstanding champion of women’s rights, women’s issues and has been … Continued

The Merlin Music Academy was founded in 2011 and is based in the very attractive Borders town of Melrose. The Academy teaches traditional folk, blues and acoustic music to all age groups and abilities. They first started teaching Fiddle, Guitar and Accordion but have now grown considerably and offer music tuition over a huge range … Continued

The late Dundee-born singer, songwriter, actor and artist Michael Marra’s entire recorded back-catalogue is being made available digitally for the first time from February 3 through Amazon and other outlets. His albums include his first release, The Midas Touch, the experience of recording which made him concentrate on the idiosyncratic style that produced songs such as … Continued

Over 2016, the Traditional Music Forum undertook a census of involvement in learning of traditional music in community settings across Scotland. TMF wanted to get an idea of what was happening, where it was happening and who is involved, to get insights into gaps, challenges and costs. You might think that such data should already exist, … Continued

The finalists for Battle of the Folk Bands have been announced by Hands up for Trad. With impressive entries from 24 collectives, competition was tough so the final five promise an exciting and enticing evening of entertainment when they take to the stage on Sun 7 May as part of the finale for Edinburgh’s TradFest. … Continued

The Folklore Society’s AGM conference 2017, jointly hosted with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, and Celtic and Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh. Friday 31 March – Sunday 2 April 2017 Scottish Storytelling Centre Keynote Speaker: Professor Margaret Bennett, Royal Conservatoire of ScotlandThis annual conference will focus on beliefs, practices, expressive and material culture related to the cycle … Continued

Eight top young folk musicians are heading out around Scotland over the next three months. The tour is of the finalists and winner of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year Competition (2015) and organised by the TMSA (Traditional Music & Song Association of Scotland).  The full line-up is as follows; Claire Hastings … Continued