Scots Trad Music Awards | |
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Awarded for | Scottish traditional music |
Sponsored by | MG ALBA |
Country | Scotland |
Presented by | Hands Up for Trad |
Hosted by |
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First awarded | 2003 |
Television/radio coverage | |
Network | BBC ALBA |
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. [1]
The awards are organised by Thoumire's organisation Hands Up for Trad. Since 2008 the awards have been sponsored by MG Alba, and the event is televised on BBC Alba.
Since 2019 the ceremony has including the awarding of The Belhaven Bursary for Innovation in Scottish Music, sponsored by Belhaven Brewery. The prize consists of £25,000, an ale brewed with the winner's name on it, an appearance at an event at Tartan Week in New York and the use of the winner's music in an advertising campaign. The cash prize is the largest music prize in Scotland, matched only by the Mercury Prize. [2]
The ceremony was held at the Caird Hall in Dundee. [3]
The ceremony was held at the Engine Works in Glasgow. [4]
The awards had been due to be staged in the Caird Hall Dundee, but were moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and presented by Alistair Heather and Mary Ann Kennedy. The categories were also adapted for the circumstances. [5] [6] [7]
The awards were staged in Aberdeen. [8]
The awards were staged in Perth and broadcast live on BBC Alba. [9]
The awards were staged at Lagoon Centre, Paisley and broadcast live on BBC Alba. [10]
The awards were staged at Caird Hall, Dundee and broadcast live on BBC Alba. [11]
The awards were staged at Caird Hall, Dundee and broadcast live on BBC Alba. [12]
The awards were staged at the Inverness Leisure Centre and broadcast live on BBC Alba. [13]
The 2013 ceremony was held in Aberdeen. [14]
The ceremony was held in the Perth Concert Hall. [15]
Scotland is internationally known for its traditional music, which remained vibrant throughout the 20th century and into the 21st when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music. Despite emigration and a well-developed connection to music imported from the rest of Europe and the United States, the music of Scotland has kept many of its traditional aspects and influenced many other forms of music.
A cèilidh or céilí is a traditional Scottish and Irish social gathering. In its most basic form, it simply means a social visit. In contemporary usage, it usually involves dancing and playing Gaelic folk music, either at a home or a larger concert at a social hall or other community gathering place.
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."
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.
Lori Watson is a fiddle player and folk singer who performs traditional and contemporary folk music. She is the first doctor of Artistic Research in Scottish Music.
The Paul McKenna Band are a five piece folk musical group from Glasgow, Scotland.
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
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.
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's band. He is also a founder member of the folk rock group Wolfstone. He played fiddle for Runrig.
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.
Lauren MacColl is a Scottish fiddle player from Fortrose. She has released three solo albums as well as a duet album with flute player Calum Stewart. MacColl is a member of the fiddle quartet RANT and contemporary folk band Salt House.
Skerryvore is a Scottish Celtic rock band formed in Tiree, Argyll and Bute in 2004. The band was formed by brothers Daniel and Martin Gillespie. The band is named after the Skerryvore lighthouse which lies 12 miles (19 km) off the coast of Tiree. The band currently resides in Glasgow. The band have released six studio albums, a compilation, and a live album. Now based in and around Glasgow, Scotland, Skerryvore have toured around Europe, as well as in the United States, the Middle East, and China. Their earlier work was inspired by the music of their native Scotland. Later artistic influences include rock, pop, jazz, Cajun, and country.
Blackhouse is the seventh studio album by Scottish celtic fusion band Peatbog Faeries, released in May 2015 by the band's label Peatbog Records. After recording their acclaimed album Dust (2011), the band played live for the following few years, during which time fiddler Peter Tickell left the band, to be replaced by Ross Couper. As the band had not recorded an album for some years, they returned to record Blackhouse mainly in a cottage in Kilchoan, Ardnamurchan during 2014, although recording continued into 2015. Their first album with Touper, and their first without a brass section since Welcome to Dun Vegas (2003), Blackhouse was produced by Calum MacLean and displays a very eclectic array of genres, fusing the band's Scottish celtic roots with genres such as jazz, funk, reggae, dance and house.
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.
Craig Irving is a multi-award-winning Scottish musician from Inverness, Scotland.
Ainsley Hamill is a Scottish singer and songwriter from the village of Cardross, who performs traditional songs in English, Scots, and Gaelic. She studied music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she obtained a First Class Honours Degree in Scottish Music, with Gaelic Song as her principal study. She was tutored by Kenna Campbell and Màiri MacInnes. Ainsley won the Silver Pendant at The Royal National Mòd held in Paisley in October 2013. She has competed in a number of Mòd competitions and made it to the final of the An Comunn Gàidhealach Gold Medal competition in 2014, and 2015. Ainsley was also a BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician finalist in 2014/15, and nominated for Gaelic Singer of the Year at the 2015 MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards.
Peat and Diesel are a three-piece band from Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, comprising Calum “Boydie” MacLeod, Innes Scott and Uilly Macleod. The band formed over Saturday sessions at the band members' homes in Stornoway, and grew in popularity through exposure on social media. The band's songs mostly concern a humorous take on island life, and are predominantly in English, although they include some Gaelic words and phrases.
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.
Sian is a Scottish all-female traditional band who are known for their Gaelic vocal harmonies and celebrating Gaelic songs composed by women. They formed to raise the prominence of work by female Gaelic bards, which might not have received much attention or credit otherwise.
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.