Karen Matheson OBE is a Scottish folk singer who frequently sings in Gaelic. She is the lead singer of the group Capercaillie and was a member of Dan Ar Braz's group L'Héritage des Celtes, with whom she often sang lead vocals, either alone or with Elaine Morgan. She and Morgan sang together on the Breton language song "Diwanit Bugale", the French entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996. She made a cameo appearance in the 1995 movie Rob Roy singing the song "Ailein duinn".
Craig Armstrong, is a Scottish composer of modern orchestral music, electronica and film scores. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 1981, and has since written music for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the London Sinfonietta.
The Celtic Connections festival started in 1994 in Glasgow, Scotland, and has since been held every January. Featuring over 300 concerts, ceilidhs, talks, free events, late night sessions and workshops, the festival focuses on the roots of traditional Scottish music and also features international folk, roots and world music artists. The festival is produced and promoted by Glasgow Life. Donald Shaw, a founding member of Capercaillie, was appointed Celtic Connections Artistic Director in 2006.
The Hebridean Celtic Festival or HebCelt is an international Scottish music festival, which takes place annually in Stornoway on Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Headliners to date include Runrig, Van Morrison, Deacon Blue, The Fratellis, The Levellers and KT Tunstall. Many other acts take part in the event, including visiting international artists, solo artists and local musicians. The festival regularly attracts over 16,000 attendees and provides significant economic and cultural benefits for its host area.
Jonathan Whitehead was an English musician and composer, born in Denton, Lancashire. He wrote music for television comedies such as The Day Today, Brass Eye, Black Books, Green Wing, Campus and Nathan Barley. He studied music at the University of Bristol and later lived in London. He sometimes wrote under the name "Trellis".
Meg Davis is an American singer of traditional music. She is also a songwriter, best known for her classic ballad "Captain Jack and the Mermaid". She is known primarily as a folk musician and folklorist specializing in historical ballads as well as a composer of stories and music in the same genre as Donovan and Fairport Convention.
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.
Maeve Mackinnon is a Scottish folk singer. Originally from Glasgow, she performs primarily in Scottish Gaelic, and also in English. She is also one of two Gaelic singers who share the same name.
Manus Lunny is an Irish producer and multi-instrumentalist from County Donegal, Ireland, best known as a member of Celtic supergroup Capercaillie. He is the brother of multi-instrumentalist and producer Dónal Lunny.
Capercaillie is a Scottish folk band, founded in 1984 by Donald Shaw and led by Karen Matheson, and which performs traditional Gaelic and contemporary songs in English. The group adapts traditional Gaelic music and traditional lyrics with modern production techniques and instruments such as electric guitar and bass guitar, though rarely synthesizers or drum machines. Capercaillie demonstrate "astonishing musical dexterity" and feature "the peerless voice of co-founder Karen Matheson. Universally recognised as one of the finest Gaelic singers alive today".
David Nicholas Poore is a British independent musician, who has composed and produced music for over 200 films by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Disney, PBS, National Geographic, RTÉ and other broadcasters.
Adrian Johnston is an English musician and composer for film and television, who resides in London and Samois-sur-Seine.
Niteworks is an Electronic Celtic fusion band from the Isle of Skye. The band are known for writing new songs in Gaelic and melding the bagpipes and Gaelic song forms such as puirt a beul with techno and house beats.
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.
Nicholas Britell is an American film and television composer. He has received numerous accolades including an Emmy Award and a Grammy Award. He has also received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score for Barry Jenkins' Moonlight (2016), If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), and Adam McKay's Don't Look Up (2021). He also scored McKay's The Big Short (2015) and Vice (2018). He is also known for scoring Battle of the Sexes (2017), Cruella (2021), and She Said (2022).
Juan Cristóbal Tapia de Veer is a Chilean-born Canadian film and television score composer, arranger, producer and multi-instrumentalist based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is best known for his score of the British TV series Utopia, for which he won a Royal Television Society award in the best original score category in 2013, and Channel 4's National Treasure, which earned him a BAFTA in 2017. He has received awards from the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada in 2013 and 2017.
Urram is the fourth solo (studio) album by Karen Matheson, lead singer of the Scottish folk band Capercaillie, released on CD on 16 October 2015.
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.
Hannah Rarity is a Scottish singer and songwriter from Dechmont, West Lothian. In 2018, she was the winner of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician award, and her debut album Neath the Gloaming Star was nominated for Album of the Year at the Scots Trad Music Awards in 2019.
