Blazin' Fiddles are a contemporary Scottish fiddle band from the Highlands and Islands. They formed in 1998 to showcase Scotland's distinct regional fiddle styles. The band have a number of awards, including; the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards Live Act of the Year, Album of the Year and Folk Band of the Year. Their records are released on their own indie Blazin' Records label. They have been described as "...the Led Zeppelin of the Folk World."
As part of the year of Highland Culture in 1998 the band had originally come together to put on a one-off tour to showcase the various fiddle styles of the Highlands and Islands [1] but the audience reception was so enthusiastic they decided to continue. [2] Their name makes reference to the burning of fiddles that was done by the Church in parts of Scotland in the 19th century. [3] [4] In 1999 they were invited to the Fiddlers of the World festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia. [2] At the Scots Trad music awards they were awarded Best Live Act in 2004, [5] their Album Magnificent Seven was Album of the Year in 2005, [6] and they were Folk Band of the Year in 2013 [7] [8] and 2019. [9] They took part in the BBC Proms at the Albert Hall, London in August 2005. [10]
Of the original line-up, Aidan O'Rourke and Marc Clement left in 2009 and Catriona Macdonald departed from the band in autumn 2010. [11] They were replaced by the Shetland fiddler Jenna Reid, award-winning guitarist Anna Massie [2] and Young Trad winner Kirsten Harvey. [12] The Scotsman newspaper described them as "...the Led Zeppelin of the Folk World." [2] They played at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. the world's largest arts festival, in 2016 [13] and (with singer Emily Smith [14] ) in 2019. [15]
The album Six was the final recording that features Iain MacFarlane and Allan Henderson, who were both founder members of Blazin' Fiddles. [16]
Blazin' Fiddles has been described as one of the world's most prolific fiddle groups. [17]
Aly Bain MBE is a Scottish fiddler who learned his instrument from the old-time master Tom Anderson. The former First Minister of Scotland Jack McConnell called Bain a "Scottish icon."
Scottish fiddling may be distinguished from other folk fiddling styles by its particular precision of execution and energy in the delivery, for example, the rendering of the dotted-quaver/semi-quaver rhythmic patterns, commonly used in the Strathspey. Christine Martin, in her Traditional Scottish Fiddling players guide, discusses the techniques of "hack bowing", "the Scotch snap", and "snap bowing". These techniques contrast quite sharply with the most common bowing patterns of Irish fiddling. The style has a very large repertoire consisting of a great variation of rhythms and key signatures. There is also a strong link to the playing of traditional Scottish bagpipes which is better known throughout the world.
The Scots Trad Music Awards or Na Trads were founded in 2003 by Simon Thoumire to celebrate Scotland's traditional music in all its forms and create a high profile opportunity to bring the music and music industry into the spotlight of media and public attention. Nominations are made by the public and in 2019 over 100,000 public votes were expected across 18 categories.
Malinky is a Scottish folk band specialising in Scots song, formed in autumn 1998.
The Paul McKenna Band are a five piece folk musical group from Glasgow, Scotland.
Catriona Macdonald is a musician, composer, researcher and lecturer from Shetland and is considered to be one of the world's leading traditional fiddle players.
Joy Dunlop is a Scottish broadcaster, singer, step dancer and educator from the village of Connel in Argyll, who now lives in Glasgow, Scotland. Singing predominantly in Scottish Gaelic, she performs folk music, song and dance in a contemporary style rooted in the tradition. She is a weather presenter for BBC Scotland and BBC ALBA and formerly a volunteer radio presenter with Oban FM
Fiddlers' Bid are a Shetland based instrumental group known for playing contemporary arrangements of traditional Shetland fiddle tunes. The seven piece line-up consists of four fiddles, acoustic guitar, bass guitar and piano/Clàrsach.
Mairi Campbell is a Scottish folk singer and musician. Campbell's songs and music have a rooted and powerful quality that range from the everyday to the universal, both in sound and subject matter.
Maggie Adamson is a musician from Shetland, Scotland, who plays fiddle, violin, accordion and piano. She has played with several groups, including Swingin’ Fiddles. Still, she is perhaps best known for her collaboration with Shetland guitarist Brian Nicholson.
Duncan Chisholm is a Scottish fiddle player and composer. He has released seven solo albums as a solo artist. His studio album, Affric, released in 2012, was longlisted for the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award. In 2022, he released a seventh studio album, titled Black Cuillin. He tours with the Scottish Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis' band. He is also a founder member of the folk rock group Wolfstone. He played fiddle for Runrig.
Jenna Reid is a Scottish fiddle player who has been described as "...the finest fiddler in Scotland of her generation." She was born and brought up in the village of Quarff, in the Shetland Islands of Scotland and found a fiddle in her grandmother's attic when she was nine years old and started to play it. She was taught by Tom Anderson and Willie Hunter and also studied the classical piano. She graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Glasgow, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Scottish traditional music where she also sang and played the piano accordion and the piano.
Breabach is a Scottish folk music band formed in 2005. In 2011, they received nominations for ‘Best Group’ at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. They won Scottish Folk Band of the Year in 2012 and Live Act of the Year in 2013 at the Scots Trad Music Awards.
Aidan O'Rourke is a Scottish contemporary folk music fiddle player and composer. He was named the 2014 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Musician of the Year and the Scots Trad Music Awards 2011 Composer of the Year. In addition to his solo career, O'Rourke also plays in the award-winning folk trio Lau alongside Kris Drever and Martin Green. He was one of 20 musicians commissioned for New Music 20x12 by PRS for Music Foundation to celebrate the 2012 Summer Olympics. O'Rourke has worked with Eddi Reader, Andy Sheppard, Alyth, Roddy Woomble and appears on more than eighty recordings. Previously, he was a member of Blazin' Fiddles, The Unusual Suspects and Tabache.
Sarah Hayes is a British folk musician and multi-instrumentalist. She is a member of the indie folk band Admiral Fallow and also a solo artist.
Kinnaris Quintet is a Scottish folk band, founded in 2017, whose music is influenced by Scottish and Irish traditional music, bluegrass and classical. The group takes its name from the south-east Asian mythological creature, the Kinnaris, renowned for its dance, song and poetry. In 2019 they won the Belhaven Bursary for Innovation in Scottish Music.
Jenn Butterworth is an acoustic folk guitarist and singer based in Glasgow, Scotland, who was awarded the title "Musician of the Year" at the 2019 Scots Trad Music Awards, and was nominated for the same title at the 2019 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. She was a founder member of Kinnaris Quintet, who won the Belhaven Bursary for Innovation in Scottish Music at the 2019 Scots Trad Music Awards.
The BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician competition has run annually since 2001. It exists to encourage young musicians to keep their tradition alive and to provide performance opportunities, tools and advice to help contestants make a career in traditional music. Former winners include Hannah Rarity, Mohsen Amini, Robyn Stapleton, Shona Mooney and Emily Smith.
Rachel Newton is a Scottish singer and harpist. As well as playing both acoustic and electric harp she also plays viola, fiddle, piano and harmonium. She performs solo as well as in the bands The Shee, The Furrow Collective and Boreas and was formerly a member of the Emily Portman Trio. She was a member of the Lost Words Spell Songs project and is a co-founder of The Bit Collective, a group campaigning for equality in folk music.
Iona Fyfe is a Scottish singer from Huntly, Aberdeenshire known for singing Scots folk songs and ballads. In 2016, she was a semi-finalist of the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award and, in 2017 and 2021, was a finalist of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician award. In 2018, she won "Scots Singer of the Year" at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards. In 2019, she won "Young Scots Speaker o the Year" at the inaugural Scots Language Awards, winning "Scots Performer o the Year" in the 2020 Awards, and "Scots Speaker o the Year" in the 2021 Awards. She has advocated for official recognition of the Scots language, successfully petitioning Spotify to add Scots to their list of languages.
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