The Edinburgh Tradfest takes place from 28 April – 8 May 2023 at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre and other venues across the city. Featuring live music, talks, and new commissions, the event is supported by The National Lottery through Creative Scotland and the William Grant Foundation.
Opening the Festival on Friday, 28 April, is the electrifying two-time winner, and six-time Grammy nominee Rhiannon Giddens performing with multi-instrumentalist, pianist and composer Francesco Turrisi. The duo released their debut album ‘There Is No Other‘ in 2019, followed by a remarkable 2021 follow-up, ‘They’re Calling Me Home‘.
This is music at its most honest and primal, you can almost feel the walls of the studio shaking.
Matt McGinn, Folk Radio
They are supported by Glasgow-based fiddle and accordion duo Roo Geddes and Neil Sutcliffe, whose debut album Homelands, released in 2022, has been widely acclaimed.
Over the 11 days of the Festival, more than 100 artists and musicians will perform. From Scotland, the line-up includes well-known award-winning bands, and emerging new musicians, including Shetland pianist Amy Laurenson who was recently crowned BBC Radio Scotland’s Young Musician of the Year 2023. Other great talents taking part include legendary pipers Rona Lightfoot and Allan Macdonald; Rory Matheson and Graham Rorie whose album We Have Won The Land celebrates the success of the Assynt Crofter’s Trust in buying back the North Lochinver Estate from a Swedish land speculator 20 years ago.
The Assynt Crofters’ path to success wasn’t a smooth one, and the downs, as well as the ups, are faithfully reflected in the music. But listen to the album in its entirety, and the lasting impression is a joyful one. The more appreciative you are of wild and remote places, the more this album will resonate. And the more you listen to this gem of an album, the more appreciative of wild and remote places you may become.
Johnny Whalley, Folk Radio
Also performing are tenor banjo player Ciaran Ryan and his band; while you can expect spell-binding vocals and harmonies from Orcadian powerhouse FARA, who released Energy Island last year, a Folk Radio Featured Album of the Month.
Energy Islands is a brave, wildly original almost-concept album from one of the finest folk bands in Scotland.
Robin Denselow, Folk Radio
Also appearing is trailblazing cellist Juliette Lemoine (who counts SAY-award-winning pianist Fergus McCreadie among her A-list backing band); award-winning singer and composer Kim Carnie, who released her solo debut And So We Gather last year; nu-folk singer-songwriter and ukulele musician Zoë Bestel; 2022 MG ALBA Musician of The Year nominee fiddle player Ryan Young; and, to close the festival, award-winning musical geniuses Ross Ainslie (Treacherous Orchestra, Salsa Celtica) and Tim Edey (Chieftains) playing an unmissable festival finale of foot-stomping tunes topped with great banter.
Other great musicians from further afield, include talented Austro-British, singer-songwriter, folk-punk musician Alicia Edelweiss; Mississippi Delta songbird Bronwynne Brent; Swedish nyckelharpa player Fredy Clue; America’s masters of old-time, bluegrass, classic country and Cajun music The Foghorn Stringband; Northumbria’s Kathryn Tickell who has twice won ‘Musician of the Year’ at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, presents Music Planet and holds an OBE for services to folk music, performing with her band The Darkening; Gnawa musician Omar Afif in a collaboration with local sax wizard Steve Kettley; and father/daughter duo Dirk and Amelia Powell from Louisiana who bring their deeply rooted Cajun, Appalachian and original sounds to the festival for the first time.
Premiering this year is the festival’s new commission Two For Joy, composed and arranged by award-winning harpist Ailie Robertson, which explores the use of birdsong in music and folklore, and the positive impact that listening to birdsong has on our mental health. Joining Ailie on stage to perform this new work are some of the most talented musicians in Scotland – Neil Sutcliffe, Alice Allen, Alastair Savage, Josie Duncan, and Heather Cartwright. Supporting this Two for Joy premiere will be the very talented Edinburgh Youth Gaitherin Band.
Also new for 2023 is ETF Spotlight which will showcase some of the most exciting new performers emerging in folk and traditional music today, including high-energy folk band Falasgair; guitarist and singer-songwriter Heather Cartwright; folk musician and activist Maddie Morris; and the Madeleine Stewart Trio which includes Rory Matheson (piano) and Craig Baxter (bodhran).
Returning for a third year is Edinburgh Tradfest’s Rebellious Truth lecture/recital, presented in collaboration with Celtic and Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh, which explores mental health issues in the music industry. Led by Gaelic singer, composer, researcher and broadcaster Mischa Macpherson, the lecture looks in depth at the mental pressures that traditional musicians face and also the joy in playing the music you love. In 2021 her study involving over 2000 artists, was presented in an award-winning documentary on BBC Alba Ceol is Cradh featuring interviews with some of the folk scene’s best-known faces, including Ross Ainslie, Greg Lawson Laura Wilkie and Corrina Hewat. This fascinating talk, accompanied by live music from Mischa and Celtic and Scottish Studies musician-in-residence Fraser Fifield is free but ticketed and will be live-streamed.
Douglas Robertson and Jane-Ann Purdy, co-producers of Edinburgh Tradfest, said: “We’re delighted to be able to share our stellar music programme for this year’s festival ahead of the full programme being announced in March. Edinburgh Tradfest is brimming with musical highlights from some of the best trad and folk musicians from Scotland and around the world.”
Siobhan Anderson, Music Officer at Creative Scotland, said: “An incredible mix of talent from emerging local artists through to international award winners provides another exciting and diverse programme in the capital. Tradfest continues to offer performance opportunities to artists and allows audiences to experience a wealth of talent, new commissions and engaging talks covering important issues within the traditional music sector.”
The full programme for this year’s Edinburgh Tradfest, including events at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, and the Edinburgh Folk Club, will be launched mid-March and will include an unmissable line-up of talks, adult and children’s music workshops, ceilidhs, and storytelling thanks to continued support from The National Lottery through Creative Scotland, and the William Grant Foundation.
Edinburgh Tradfest 2023 will run from Friday 28 April – Monday 8 May. For tickets and more information visit edinburghtradfest.com