MNS FESTIVALS supplement (Jan22-24)

Festivals! 

Scotland's Music 

the Scottish music festival supplement from MUSIC NEWS Scotland 

Kim Carnie 

(pictured), performs at this 

year's Celtic Connections 

opening concert - read all 

about the festival on 

page 3 

www.facebook.com/kimcarniemusic 

:: photo by Gaelle Beri 

INSIDE :: Celtic Connections :: Scottish Blues Weekend :: 

Big Burns Supper :: Overlands Festival :: HebCelt :: 

Orkney Folk Festival :: Speyfest :: Knockengorroch :: Sonica 

www.musicnewsscotland.wordpress.com

page 2 

music news scotland - MNS FESTIVALS! 

www.hebceltfest.com 

tickets @ www.hebceltfest.com/booking 

facebook @ www.facebook.com/HebCelt 

twitter @ www.twitter.com/HebCelt 


MUSIC FESTIVALS - MUSIC FESTIVALS - MUSIC FESTIVALS - MUSIC FESTIVALS 

Celtic Connections 2022 fights back against 

covid and opens with live and streaming events 

Glasgow :: 20 Januray - 6 February :: www.celticconnections.com 

Europe’s premier winter music 

festival Celtic Connections 

opened in Glasgow on Thursday 

20 January, showcasing uplifting 

performances from some of 

folk’s brightest emerging talent. 

The Opening Concert ‘Neath the Gloamin’ Star was 

staged at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall in front of 200 

lucky audience members. Named after a beloved old 

Scots love song, the show marked a poignant opening 

moment for the much-loved roots festival as it 

celebrated how precious heritage is being taken 

forward into a new tradition. 

This year’s hybrid Celtic Connections programme 

spans around 60 lively in-person concerts, a number 

of intimate filming sessions, an exciting digital 

offering and a number of talks and exhibitions, with 

more than 500 artists involved across the festival. 

Tickets for live in-person shows and online festival 

passes are now on sale. Digital passes will give 

audiences from around the world access to more than 

12 hours of exclusive performances available to watch 

from Wednesday 26th January. 

Artists involved include Dublin-based quartet The 

Jeremiahs, flute / whistle genius Brian Finnegan, 

world-folk sensations Dallahan, Nordic-inspired folk 

group Stundom and Gaelic singer Megan Henderson. 

Magnificent duo performances from Heal and Harrow 

(Rachel Newton and Lauren MacColl) and Ross Ainslie 

and Tim Edey are also on the bill. 

The New Tradition: Rejuvenation show will 

showcase young emerging artists, led by musical 

director Rory Matheson and a New Voices commission 

from singer songwriter Jack Badcock will also be 

available to enjoy as part of the pass. 

This weekend will also see two speciallycommissioned 

Shetland 550 shows filmed for the 

online programme in front of limited-capacity 

audiences. 550 years on from the islands becoming 

part of Scotland, Norn Voices and A Peerie Foy - part 

of the festival’s Whisper the Song strand for 

The Opening Concert ‘Neath the 

Gloamin’ Star was staged at 

Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall in 

front of 200 lucky audience 

members due to covid restrictions 

Paul McKenna at Celtic Connections 

opening concert 

www.facebook.com/imarband 


BUY YOUR TICKETS @ www.celticconnections.com/whats-on/calendar/ 

Ímar play the opening night of Celtic Connections 

www.facebook.com/imarband 


Scotland’s Year of Stories - will celebrate Shetland’s 

unique cultural history and identity. 

Saturday night’s Shetland spectacular opened in style 

with a celebratory Viking torch-lit march through the 

streets of Glasgow. A group of more than 30 male 

and female Vikings, journeyed to the bottom of the 

steps of the Royal Concert Hall to welcome audiences 

with flaming torches, cheers and songs celebrating Up 

Helly Aa. The spectacle marked an unforgettable start 

to an evening involving Shetland’s foremost cultural 

ambassadors. 

From Monday 24 January, live music in front of inperson 

audiences will take centre stage, breathing life 

and joy into venues across Glasgow - from 

Mackintosh Church to The Old Fruitmarket - with the 

usual dynamic array of traditional folk, roots, 

Americana, jazz, indie, soul and world music 

brightening up the city for two weeks. 

Highlights include the renowned British Indian sitar 

player and composer Anoushka Shankar who will 

perform her father’s iconic Concerto No.3 with the 

Scottish Chamber Orchestra on Friday 28th January in 

the Royal Concert Hall. Support comes from the 

incredible Orchestral Qawwali Project featuring the 

soaring vocals of Abi Sampa, the UK’s first female 

qawwal, together with tabla player Amrit Singh, and 

singer/composer Rushil, who combine the ancient Sufi 

devotional tradition of qawwali with modern 

orchestral arrangements. 

Elsewhere, the iconic Mitchell Theatre will play host to 

some exciting events putting Scotland’s rich oral 

traditions in the spotlight for the Year of Stories 2022. 

The Scottish World, featuring writer, performer and 

broadcaster Billy Kay and singers Siobhan Miller and 

Robyn Stapleton will look at how tales of Scotland 

travelled with and were reimagined by the Diaspora, 

while Sing Me a Story will see the storytelling 

tradition of the Gàidhealtachd championed. 

Grammy-nominated, Brooklyn-based Pakistani 

composer, songwriter and vocalist Arooj Aftab - who 

names Barrack Obama among her legion of fans - will 

bring her critically-acclaimed sound to the Mackintosh 

Church, and sparks are set to fly when the mighty 

RURA play The Theatre Royal. 

Maverick musical duo, Nae Plans, aka fiddler Adam 

Sutherland and pianist/flautist/singer Hamish Napier, 

will perform as part of the festival’s Tradovation 

strand supported by The Scottish Government 

Festivals Expo Fund. 

With support from polish-born cellist Justyna 

Jablonska and South Indian violinist Jyotsna Srikanth, 

multi-award-winning Scottish pianist Fergus 

McCreadie will treat fans to his brilliantly original 

music, rooted in Scottish folk and international jazz. 

Additional New Voices commissions come from harp 

player and vocalist Esther Swift and fiddler Ross 

Couper. 

Donald Shaw, Creative Producer for Celtic 

Connections, said: “The opening weekend of Celtic 

Connections is always a memorable moment for us 

but this year, we are particularly proud to lift the 

curtain on our 29th edition. The festival has never 

shied away from ambition and we’re very excited to 

still be able to present such a vibrant programme, 

covering live shows, filming sessions and digital 

content. Despite the challenging environment we’ve 

been operating in, we have been driven by our 

passion for Scottish music and culture and 

opportunities for unforgettable collaboration. We look 

forward to reconnecting with our audiences at home 

and around the world over the next few weeks.” 

Councillor David McDonald, Chair of Glasgow 

Life and Depute Leader of Glasgow City Council, 

said: “We’ve been working hard to retain an exciting 

programme and live festival experience for Celtic 

Connections this year, which continues to meet the 

Scottish Government’s guidance and ensures the 

safety of our audiences, artists, staff and suppliers. 

The importance of Celtic Connections to profiling 

Scotland’s cultural and musical legacy to the rest of 

the world cannot be understated, and it’s testament 

to the efforts of everyone involved that this year’s 

programme presents a rich and diverse mix of 

content; from some 60 in-person concerts to an 

extensive digital offer, which will delight global and 

local audiences alike.” 

Culture Minister Jenny Gilruth said: “We welcome 

Celtic Connections’ plan to stage live indoor events at 

this year’s festival following the First Minister's 

announcement of a relaxation in restrictions. 

“Live performances are not only exciting for 

audiences, but they are important to maintain the 

festival’s visibility and support the development of our 

emerging artists. They are also crucial in driving our 

cultural recovery from the pandemic. 

“We will continue to work closely with Celtic 

Connections to plan for the remainder of the festival, 

after the 24 January.” 

The safety of audiences, artists and suppliers has 

been put at the centre of all the plans for this year’s 

festival, with all necessary public health measures in 

line with Government guidelines in place. 

www.celticconnections.com 

www.twitter.com/ccfest 

www.facebook.com/CelticConnections 

email your festival news to alastair.musicnewsscotland@gmail.com

page 4 

music news scotland - FESTIVALS! 

www.dundeebox.co.uk 

www.thequeenshall.net 

www.glasgowconcerthalls.com 

www.snjo.co.uk 

info & tickets @ www.snjo.co.uk/whats-on/pop-rock-soul 

facebook @ www.facebook.com/theSNJO 

tweet @ www.twitter.com/SNJO2 



Beat Winter Blues with Scottish Blues Weekend 

Edinburgh :: 18-20 February :: www.edinburghjazzfestival.com 

BUY YOUR TICKETS @ www.edinburghjazzfestival.com/whats-on 

Next month Edinburgh Jazz 

& Blues Festival (EJBF) 

present the Scottish Blues 

Weekend – a three-day 

event from 18-20 February. 

It will feature ten of the best Scottish blues 

bands performing live and online at Edinburgh's 

Assembly Roxy with a closing concert from 

award-winning blues guitar phenomenon Mike 

Zito. 

The weekend kicks off with classic 1950s and early 

60s American blues delivered with passion and power 

from Jed Potts and the Hillman Hunters. The band 

have been making waves across the UK blues scene 

and, for the first time with EJBF, they are joined by a 

driving horn section who add in some New Orleans 

funk ramping up the musical excitement. 

The Scottish Blues Weekend wouldn’t be complete 

without the ever-popular Blues Afternoon, featuring 

three stellar blues acts. The afternoon begins with 

solo set from Glasgow guitarist Gus Munro, whose 

singing and song writing are complimented by his 

imaginative and melodic slide guitar work. Jawbone 

Walk, a new project from Toby Mottershead, serve up 

the spirit of 50s era Chicago - with a strong shot of 

Mississippi Hill Country blues and a chaser of gospel. 

Jensen Interceptors, who tear through a mix of covers 

by the likes of Slim Harpo, Little Walter, T’Bone 

Walker and Muddy Waters as well as their own 

original songs, close the afternoon 

Singer/guitarist, Liz Jones leads a stellar band, 

Broken Windows, featuring guitarist John Bruce. Their 

dynamic blues, Americana, folk and jazzy roots sound 

provides the perfect backdrop for her powerful smoky 

:: photo by Per Ole Hagen 

vocals and compelling guitar. 

We get funky on Saturday as Melisa Kelly and the 

Smokin' Crows brew up a mix of blues and soul with 

songs from Etta James to Aretha Franklin; Stevie 

Wonder to James Brown. The five-piece, Glasgow 

based combo are fronted by Melisa’s glorious and 

powerfully soulful vocals. 

Sunday sees two exciting double bills. First up is 

Sandy Tweeddale with an exciting new project that 

he’s premiering at the Scottish Blues Weekend. 

Opening the show, Simon Kennedy delivers his 

trademark guitar and organ led gospel-tinged, funky 

blues. 

Closing with a bang - blues phenomenon Mike Zito 

makes his Festival debut. Famed for his integral role 

blues super group the Royal Southern Brotherhood, 

with his own band he mixes exceptional guitar work 

with personally inspired new songs alongside classic 

numbers. Jon Mackenzie opens the evening with a 

new set of music from his trio. 

The Scottish Blues Weekend is just one of the events 

EJBF runs outwith the main festival in July, thanks to 

funding from PLaCE. 

Audiences can attend in person at Assembly Roxy, 2 

Roxburgh Place, Edinburgh EH8 9SU2 and will be 

seated in socially-distanced bubbles, but they can also 

buy a Digital Day Pass for £10 that gives access to 

online streams of all concerts on Saturday 19 

February. 

The Weekend is supported by The PLaCE programme 

funded by the Scottish Government and The City of 

Edinburgh Council 

www.edinburghjazzfestival.com 

www.twitter.com/EdinburghJazz 

www.facebook.com/EdinburghJazzandBluesFestival 

www.scottishmusiccentre.com 

Covid-19 advice @ www.smc-covid19.com web @ www.scottishmusiccentre.com 

fb @ www.facebook.com/scottishmusiccentre tweet @ www.twitter.com/scottishmusic 



Stars step in to Help Save Burns Night as Eddie 

Reader’s Big Burns Supper line up announced 

online :: 25 January :: www.bigburnssupper.com 

Free online on 25 January from 7pm @ https://fb.me/e/503SQ0p70 

Big Burns Supper is 

delighted to announce that 

KT Tunstall, Skerryvore 

and Tidelines will join 

Ireland’s ionic Dervish to 

Help Save Burns Night! 

Taking place online on Tuesday 25 January, Eddi 

Reader’s Big Burns Supper is this year’s unmissable 

Burns Night celebration. Hosted by the supremely 

talented Eddi Reader and entirely free of charge, Big 

Burns Supper announce a line up of both big names 

and local talent spanning the full spectrum of music, 

comedy, poetry, performance, and prose. 

Comedy circuit stars Ross Leslie and Richard Pulsford 

join homegrown musical talent from the likes of Amy 

Papiransky, Dumfries Community Choir, David Bass & 

KT Tunstall 

www.facebook.com/kttunstall 

:: photo by Piper Ferguson 

Eddi Reader 

www.facebook.com/eddireader 

Chazz, The Lucky Doves and Jack Hunter, and 

Scottish TV presenter and of former captain of 

Glasgow Wheelchair basketball team Mark Dougan is 

even set to make an appearance. 

Big Burns Supper is also excited to announce its firsttime 

collaboration with arts, cultural and social 

entrepreneurial organisation BE United for this year’s 

Eddi Reader’s Big Burns Supper, as it continues to 

bring diversity to the Burns Night stage. 

The lineup will now include BE United featured artist 

Sean Focus 'Live' who will perform his single 

Mullholland Drive for only the second time ever with 

his live band. The only Scottish artist to be included in 

the of six UK acts on Amazon Music platform's ones to 

watch in 2021, Sean Focus 'Live' is Edinburgh based 

and was born in Zimbabwe, his music comprises a 

compelling blend of afro-pop, hip-hop and dancehall. 

For fans of Le Haggis, one of the most popular events 

in the Big Burns Supper programme since its 

inception, this year’s Burns Night spectacular will 

unfold in a familiar fashion, with Eddi taking audiences 

on a cabaret-esque rollercoaster around the world. 

From KT Tunstall in LA to Dervish performing from 

lockdown in Dublin, this year’s Big Burns Supper takes 

Burns Night global once again. 

KT Tunstall said: “I feel honoured to have been 

asked by Big Burns Supper to step in and Help Save 

Burns Night in 2022. I love my Scottish heritage and 

Burns Night celebrations continue to play a hugely 

important role in the arts and culture scene, not only 

in Scotland but across the world. I can’t think of a 

better way to spend it than alongside exceptional 

talent such as Eddi Reader, Skerryvore, and many 

more, as part of the diverse and inclusive Big Burns 

Supper event. 

Remembering all holding hands to sing Auld Lang 

Syne together takes on stark significance this year 

and I look forward to connecting with folks across the 

world in the spirit of friendship and kinship, with 

performance, poetry and laughter this Burns Night, 

25th of January 2022”. 

Graham Main, Chief Executive at Big Burns 

Supper, said: “Despite being unable to host our Big 

Burns Supper winter fringe this year there was no way 

we were letting Burns Night pass without a significant 

celebration. As planned, the eminently talented Eddi 

Reader will play host to an eclectic evening of 

comedy, music and mirth and our diverse programme 

will feature something to tickle every taste bud.” 

Emma Picken, BE United Executive Director, 

said: “We are delighted to be working with Big Burns 

Supper this year, it is an organisation that shares our 

commitment to delivering Scottish arts and culture 

excellence to all corners of the country. 

Big Burns Supper embraces and embodies the 

diversity that we identify with, we have no doubt that 

audiences will greatly enjoy this only second ever live 

performance of Mullholland 

Drive by Sean Focus and his live band, and we hope 

that fans everywhere from Dumfries to Durban, where 

BE United are also based, will tune in on the 25th of 

January.” 

While the difficult decision to postpone the Big Burns 

Supper winter fringe programme was taken at the end 

of 2021, plans for further events in 2022 are 

underway, with more information to follow early this 

year. 

www.bigburnssupper.com 

www.twitter.com/BigBurnsSupper 

www.facebook.com/BigBurnsSupper 

www.orkneyfolkfestival.com 

facebook @ www.facebook.com/orkneyfolkfestival 

tweet @ www.twitter.com/OrkneyFolkFest 


music news scotland - FESTIVALS! page 7 

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page 8 


re-arranged tour info @ www.skerryvore.com/tour/ 

tweet @ www.twitter.com/SKERRYVORE 

facebook @ www.facebook.com/skerryvore 



Otherlands Music & Arts Festival reveal 

first wave of artists for its debut festival - 

welcome to another world…a celebration 

of music culture deep in mother nature 

the 

mns 

collection …. 

Perth :: 19-21 August :: www.otherlandsfestival.com 

BUY YOUR TICKETS @ www.otherlandsfestival.com/shop/otherlands-festival-2022 

Otherlands Music & 

Arts Festival has 

announced the first 

wave of artists for their 

debut boutique threeday 

camping festival. 

Brought to you by FLY, one of Scotland’s largest 

music events, this celebration of music deep in 

mother nature will take place at Scone Palace near 

Perth from 19-21 August. 

Line-up: Bicep (live), Jamie xx, Tom Misch, Honey 

Dijon, Folamour (POWER TO THE PEOPLE A/V), 

Ricardo Villalobos, Alewya, DJ Seinfeld, Elkka (live), 

Sherelle, TSHA, Yung Singh, Hayley Zalassi, Seren 

Seo. 

Spread over 6 stages, Otherlands will combine 

cutting edge music, forward thinking art, boutique 

glamping and bespoke talks from industry leaders in 

the idyllic setting of the Perthshire countryside. 

Included in today’s line-up announcement is euphoric 

era-defining duo from Belfast, Bicep, who will be 

bringing their acclaimed live show to Otherlands. The 

two-time Brit Award nominees’ second album Isle’s 

was released last year to critical acclaim, with Atlas - 

the lead single from the album - scooping DJ Mag’s 

2020 Track of the Year. Joining them is one of the 

most sought after DJ & producers in electronic music 

and one third of the Mercury Prize-winning trio, The 

xx: Jamie xx. Multi-instrumentalist and producer 

Tom Misch will be bringing his own blend of R&B, 

jazz and soul to the festival; DJ, producer, activist 

and fashion icon Honey Dijon who is globally 

renowned for her exquisitely curated cross-genre 

sets and bringing total dance-floor chaos wherever 

she plays; while renowned French house virtuoso 

Folamour will take fans to a new dimension with his 

infectiously joyous, energy-infused Power to the PPL 

project. 

Minimal techno visionary and regular of Fabric 

London’s legendary room, Ricardo Villalobos will also 

be joining the bill, as well as one of the most exciting 

breakout artists of last year and dance-pop star to be 

TSHA 

www.facebook.com/TSHAMUSIC 

:: photo by Annie Reid 

reckoned with: Alewya. Genre-defying DJ Seinfield, 

celebrated live DJ, producer and label boss Elkka, 

and Sherelle whose incredible energy-inducing 

performances have cemented her as one of the most 

exciting rising stars in the UK scene. Named as one 

of last year’s ‘Up Next UK Artists’ by Apple Music, 

TSHA will be lending her warm, feel-good sounds to 

the bill alongside Yung Singh, Hayley Zalassi and 

Seren Seo - with many more still to be announced. 

Otherlands have also revealed that they are 

partnering with BBC Introducing who will be hosting 

their own stage, boasting a line-up stacked full of 

Scotland’s most exciting up & coming artists. From 

eclectic electronic to goth-glam and punk, the stage 

will showcase a genre-spanning array of home-grown 

talent. 

Tom Ketley, Founder of Otherlands Music & Arts 

Festival, said: “We’re delighted to bring such an 

array of amazing artists to Scotland in what’s 

shaping up to be an unforgettable debut festival. 

There are so many unmissable acts still to be 

announced including a whole host of home-grown 

talent. To be able to do this at such an unique venue 

where Scotland’s Kings were once crowned is a true 

honour and we look forward to welcoming fans from 

around the world.’’ 

Pre-sale tickets exclusive to newsletter subscribers 

on sale 10am Thursday 27 January with General 

Release 10am Friday 28 January - see link above. 

Alewya 

www.facebook.com/Alewya11 

Welcome to the Otherlands: 

A place where we can all be free. 

An escape of worldly music & culture 

deep in mother nature. 

The eternal wonders of The Otherlands. 

www.otherlandsfestival.com 

www.twitter.com/_Otherlands_ 

www.facebook.com/OtherlandsFestival 

Read the three 

MNS digital 

publications 

from links at .. 

www.musicnewsscotland.wordpress.com 


page 10 


www.birnamcd.com/artists-0721 

www.johnnysteinberg.com 

www.foxstarrecords.com 

www.mishramusic.co.uk 

www.stonehavenfolkclub.co.uk 

www.tommclelland.co.uk 

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info@birnamcd.com 

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click links directly in advert for artists or go to www.birnamcd.com/artists-0121 

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HebCelt add more artists as 2022 

programme plans continue to grow 

Stornoway :: 13-16 July :: www.hebceltfest.com 

The HebCelt Festival 

programme for 2022 has 

mushroomed to 26 acts in 

number, offering in excess 

of 24 hours of music. New 

additions to the line-up 

include Admiral Fallow, 

Elephant Sessions, Mischa 

MacPherson, and Heisk. 

They will join Scottish icons Texas, international 

touring artist Seasick Steve, and festival 

favorites Tide Lines, to play the award-winning 

Festival’s landmark 25th anniversary, 13-16 July 

2022, centred in Stornoway. 

Tidelines 

www.facebook.com/wearetidelines 

BUY YOUR TICKETS @ www.hebceltfest.com/booking 

All female folk band Heisk will open proceedings 

on the main stage for the keenly anticipated 

return of the annual event as it bounces back 

from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic which 

saw the festival pivot to a digital offering in 

2020 and 2021. 

Glasgow’s alt-folk indie outfit Admiral Fallow 

make their HebCelt return after 10 years since 

first playing there, and will be performing tracks 

from their new album “The Idea Of You” as well 

as crowd pleasers from their critically acclaimed 

back catalogue. 

Having stunned the HebCelt audience in 2019 

with their blistering performance, Elephant 

Sessions will once again bring their trademark 

sound to the main stage. The band celebrates its 

own anniversary in 2022, marking 10 years 

since exploding onto the scene in 2012. 

Local Gaelic songstress Mischa Macpherson is 

widely credited with being one of the most 

exciting and fully rounded talents to emerge 

from the islands and has delighted audiences 

across the world. Promoting other local artists, 

HebCelt will also shine a spotlight on seasoned 

musicians Sean Harrison & Band, and 

newcomers; alt-pop artist Scott C. Park, and 

local emerging Gaelic rock artists Balach. 

Also joining the growing line-up are, Rusty 

Shackle, Ryan Young & Jenn Butterworth, 

Eriska, James Nicol, Conor Fyfe, Nicky Murray, 

Amy Papiransky. 

Graham MacCallum, Deputy Festival 

Director, said: “We are preparing for a HebCelt 

worthy of celebrating our 25th anniversary. 

These new additions to an already exciting 

programme will add to the quality the event is 

famous for. We believe festival-goers will be 

delighted to see the amazing talent on offer, and 

to date ticket sales have been phenomenal. We 

can feel the excitement growing already and this 

is another notable milestone in our return.” 

Texas 

www.facebook.com/texastheband 

:: photo by Jen Koch 

Arena weekend arena tickets for HebCelt 2022 

are now back on sale. A weekend arena ticket 

covers entry to all arena shows over Thursday to 

Saturday, 14th – 16th July. Day tickets will be 

made available next year when programming is 

complete. There are no booking fees! This is not 

a single venue event therefore there is not one 

ticket that covers all events. 

www.hebceltfest.com 

www.twitter.com/HebCelt 

www.facebook.com/HebCelt 

www.ticketsglasgow.com 

www.bethnielsenshapman.com 

www.fallenangelsclub.com 

facebook @ www.facebook.com/The-Fallen-Angels-Club-149553931728736 

twitter @ www.twitter.com/KevoMorris 



Orkney Folk Festival to return 

to full-scale live event in May 

Orkney :: 26-29 May :: www.orkneyfolkfestival.com 

Stromness is set to 

come alive to folk 

music from around 

the world once 

again, as the team 

behind the Orkney 

Folk Festival have 

announced a return 

to a full-scale live 

event this spring. 

In the first wave of line-up announcements, 24 

acts have been unveiled for the 39th outing of 

the award-winning festival. Musicians and 

singers from throughout Scotland will join artists 

from England, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, 

Canada, USA and India in appearing alongside 

scores of home-grown Orcadian artists in venues 

throughout Stromness and the Orkney mainland, 

over 26-29 May. 

This year’s live festival will be the first since 

2019, and follows two highly successful digital 

editions that brought a worldwide online 

audience to Orkney during the pandemic. A 

number of artists who were originally scheduled 

to appear in 2020 - some of whom featured onscreen 

in 2021’s Virtually Orkney Folk Festival - 

have been rebooked and will now take to the 

stage this May. 

Leading Scottish artists Karine Polwart, 

Skerryvore and Blazin’ Fiddles will join 

international favourites at this year’s live return, 

including Canadian duo Madison Violet and 

Norwegian/Swedish firebrands SVER, as well as 

globetrotting Orcadian artists Fara, Gnoss, The 

Chair and Saltfishforty performing on home soil. 

Festival audiences are set to enjoy a programme 

of stellar Scottish talent this year, including 

trailblazers Talisk (recently seen ringing in the 

bells in front of millions on BBC One’s Hogmanay 

2021), four-time Scots Singer of the Year, 

Siobhan Miller, celebrated West Highland 

champions Dàimh, BBC Radio 2 award-winning 

Gaelic smallpipes player Brìghde Chaimbeul, and 

Scottish Americana troubadour Dean Owens with 

his new band, The Sinners. 

LATEST NEWS ABOUT TICKETS @ www.orkneyfolkfestival.com/tickets/ 

Bands such as Skerryvore (pictured here at 

Barrowland Ballroom) hope to bring scenes like this 

back to Orkney after a two year break due to Covid 

:: www.facebook.com/skerryvore 

Shetland fiddler Kevin Henderson will appear in 

a new transatlantic partnership with celebrated 

US pianist Neil Pearlman, whilst James Yorkston, 

Jon Thorne and Suhail Yusuf Khan’s 

groundbreaking fusion of Scottish song with jazz 

and Indian classical sarangi will also bring 

acclaimed international collaborations to Orkney 

Folk Festival stages. Amongst Scandinavia’s 

most virtuosic folk musicians, Denmark’s Helene 

Blum and Harald Haugaard Band are set to 

return to Stromness, as are further festival 

favourites including Yorkshire-based singersongwriter 

Edwina Hayes, and The Peter Wood 

Shetland Dance Band. 

Completing the bumper Scottish contingent are 

two exciting groups new to the festival; 

freewheeling trio The Langan Band, who 

embrace Celtic, Roma, bluegrass, flamenco, 

swing and punk influences, and contemporary 

fiddle, accordion, song, guitar and harp fourpiece 

Tannara, 

For almost four decades, the Orkney Folk 

Festival has been famed for presenting the 

islands’ own folk musicians and singers 

alongside world-leading visiting artists, with 

further Orcadian acts announced so far including 

the piano and fiddle pairing of Jennifer Austin 

and Eric Linklater, and Orkney song duo Sarah 

Jane Gibbon and Emma Grieve. 

Award-winning Orcadian fiddle and mandolin 

player, Graham Rorie is set to be joined by an 

all-star band in staging The Orcadians of Hudson 

Bay; a suite of music inspired by islanders who 

travelled from Stromness to The Hudson’s Bay 

Company in Northern Canada during the 18th 

and 19th centuries. Following a sell out debut at 

Celtic Connections 2020, the show makes its 

way home to the Orkney Folk Festival 2022. 

A highlight of the festival in recent years, the 

festival’s all-Orcadian multi-generational 

collaboration, The Gathering will return, 

celebrating a decade at the heart of the festival 

programme, whilst the annual Fiddlers’ Rally will 

return for its 39th Sunday afternoon outing. 

As well as shows taking place in multiple venues 

throughout the festival’s hometown of 

Stromness across the weekend, concerts are 

also set to take place in Birsay, Deerness, 

Finstown, Harray, Holm, Kirkwall and Sandwick 


as the voluntary-run event makes its longawaited 

live return. 

Looking ahead to the festival’s live return, 

Orkney Folk Festival Producer, Bob Gibbon 

said: “After a two year sojourn into the world of 

online festivals, we are more than excited to be 

planning a full, physical festival. Live music has 

taken a severe hit these last couple of years, but 

there is nothing quite like sitting face to face 

watching amazing musicians making amazing 

music. 

“The spirit of the festival will return in full to 

Stromness and the rest of Orkney, and I can't 

wait to see the smiling faces from Stromnessians 

and visitors alike. Orkney benefits so much from 

this festival, both culturally and economically, 

and I must say that the support that we have 

had from local businesses, and the enthusiasm 

for the festival to come back, has been 

genuinely heartwarming. Everyone is keen to get 

back to normal and let their hair down. Hopefully 

this festival will kick start the Orkney tourism 

economy and reinvigorate the musical landscape 

once more.” 

The 39th Orkney Folk Festival programme will be 

published in the spring, with tickets due to go on 

sale in the coming months. Festival Patronage, 

offering advance booking and discounted 

merchandise, will be on sale shortly/ 

For further information, head to www. 

orkneyfolkfestival.com and follow the festival on 

Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. A sampler 

playlist of the 2022 festival line-up is also 

available on Spotify. 

www.orkneyfolkfestival.com 

www.twitter.com/HebCelt 

www.facebook.com/orkneyfolkfestival


www.highlandmusictrust.org 

www.tmsa.scot 

www.facebook.com/TMSAScotland www.twitter.com/TMSAScotland 

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tweet @ www.twitter.com/TMSAScotland 


page 14 


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Speyfest To Return For 25th 

Anniversary Edition in July 

Fochabers :: 22-24 July :: www.speyfest.com 

Speyfest – the much-loved 

Moray folk festival – has 

announced it will return in 2022 

as it gets set to celebrate 25 

years at the heart of the 

Speyside community and the 

Scottish events calendar. 

Hosted in the event’s pop-up Tented Village by the 

picturesque banks of the River Spey, Speyfest will transform 

Fochabers into a haven of music and culture between 22-24 

July. 

With a limited number of early bird tickets on sale now, the 

Celtic music festival makes a welcome return after its plans 

for 2020 and 2021 editions were put on hold due to the 

pandemic. 

Thousands are expected to flock to the Focahbers festival as 

it welcomes a host of Scottish talent and marks a quarter of 

a century showcasing the very best in traditional and Celtic 

music. 

Headliners include contemporary bagpiping sensation Red 

Hot Chilli Pipers and multi-award-winning Scottish outfit 

Skerryvore, who will take to the Speyfest stage for the 25th 

anniversary celebrations. 

Audiences will also be able to catch Highland folk favourites 

Elephant Sessions and enjoy the exquisitely rugged yet 

refined sounds of the mighty RURA, alongside performances 

from traditional music duo Aly Bain & Phil Cunningham, 

esteemed fiddler Duncan Chisholm and Anna Massie & 

Mairearad Green. 

Speyfest Chairman James Alexander said: “We’re 

overjoyed to see the much-awaited return of Speyfest. 

We’ve been itching to get our 25th anniversary celebrations 

under way for some time and we’re so excited to be back in 

full voice for 2022, with a fantastic line up including some 

spectacular headliners on the menu. 

“Early bird tickets are on sale now for all three days of 

entertainment and activities. We can’t wait to welcome our 

loyal Speyfesters who normally attend year on year back to 

Fochabers for a festival to remember - it will be an emotional 

moment for us all. 

“Audiences and performers can rest assured their safety will 

be at the forefront of our planning for 2022. A big thank you 

also goes to the ongoing support of our sponsors for making 

the event possible.” 

Kevin MacDonald of the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, said: 

“Speyfest is a Scottish festival that holds a dear place in our 

hearts, having played it many times over the years. It’s 

brilliant to see it return and to be able to headline once 

again. Next year marks our 20th anniversary and we 

couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than at one of our 

favourite festivals who are marking their own special 

milestone. We are looking forward to giving the Fochabers 

crowd a festival to remember and make sure the 25th 

Speyfest celebrations go off in style - we’ll see you there!” 

Folk singer Claire Hastings, the festival’s founder James 

Alexander, local favourites Tour Bus Fortune, singer 

songwriter Colin Campbell and beloved Inverness fiddler of 

Blazin’ Fiddles Bruce Macgregor, complete the ream of 

Scottish talent on display in Speyside next summer. 

Speyfest will also be back providing a fantastic platform for 

up and coming musicians from Moray and beyond to 

showcase their talents, welcoming Milne’s High School 

Fiddlers to the bill for 2022. Traditional music and singing 

workshops will also engage and inspire youngsters and 

adults alike throughout the weekend. 

Alongside the lively mix of concerts, ceilidhs and stomps 

taking place across the event’s Bothy Stage and Whisky 

BUY YOUR TICKETS @ www.speyfest.com/tickets/ 

Stage, the final day will see the event’s non-denominational 

Celtic Kirk Service and Speyfest Family Sunday take place. 

The full programme, including more acts set to take to The 

Whisky Stage will be announced in spring 2022. 

Speyfest stalwart Chris Wiles will get the crowd going once 

again when he returns as host and to close out the weekend, 

BBC Radio Scotland Travelling Folk broadcaster Bruce 

MacGregor will take on the MC mantle for much of Sunday. 

Local producers and suppliers will also be showcased at 

Speyfest, with a bustling craft fair and a vibrant food and 

drink fair including tastings on offer. 

First held in 1995, Speyfest has grown from a local event 

with one small tent holding around 300 people, to a 1500- 

capacity festival and much-loved jewel in the traditional 

music calendar in the north-east. 

Early bird tickets for Speyfest 2022 are 

priced at £80 each and are on sale now at 

www.speyfest.com/tickets/ 

www.speyfest.com 

www.twitter.com/Speyfest 

www.facebook.com/Speyfest 

www.doghouseroses.net 

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tweet @ www.twitter.com/DoghouseRoses 


page 16 


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Scotland’s leading world ceilidh is back, as Knockengorroch is 

set to return music to the hills and people to the land once more 

Galloway :: 19-22 May :: www.knockengorroch.org.uk 

Knockengorroch 

has unveiled the 

first acts to 

perform at its 

comeback event in 

the Carsphairn Hills 

of south west 

Scotland. 

Leading the line-up on the Bo-Airigh stage is the 

highly anticipated and critically acclaimed European 

and African based collective Afro Celt Sound System. 

Rescheduling their appearance from 2020, the 

collective will fill the hills of Galloway with their 

driving afro house, bold West African brass, and 

exuberant electronic rhythms. 

They share top billing with a rare UK date for elders of 

traditional sound system and vinyl culture, the 

enigmatic French “Sir James” and “King Johnny”, aka 

L’Entourloop, a unique hip-hop ‘Yardie Style’ show 

featuring DJs, MCs, live brass and unique visual 

creations drawing on classic French cinema. Sunday’s 

closing performance on the Bo-Airigh stage will come 

from Ross Ainslie and Ali Hutton’s Symbiosis, two of 

Scotland’s absolute finest award winning pipers, 

appearing with full 5-piece band to offer a masterful 

blend of the old and the new; modern Scottish folk 

music at its mightiest! 

The co-creators of the Breakbeat genre, 

internationally renowned UK DJ and producer duo, 

Plump DJs, aka Andy Gardner and Lee Rous will fuse 

the favourite styles of their youth into their ‘Plump 

Music’. Self admitted suckers for bass and bringing 

‘the groove’, the duo will have the Festival jumping 

once more. Also making their way to Knockengorroch 

2022 by way of Belgium and Mali is Kel Assouf, with 

their unique blend of Tuareg roots and psychedelic 

rock. With one foot in the Sahara and the other in 

Europe, Kel Assouf melts African trance rhythms with 

the energy of vintage rock. 

Knockengorroch has long pushed the boundary of 

‘traditional’ music, supporting artists that channel the 

voice of the people, and 2022’s edition is no different, 

with British-Iraqi rapper and political activist Lowkey 

set to take the mic. Scotland’s Album of the Year 

Award winner 2020, and DJ Mag’s 2021 Best of British 

BUY YOUR TICKETS @ www.knockengorroch.org.uk/tickets/ 

Langwhan, the Celtic Longhouse 

:: photo by ReCompose 

Breakthrough MC / Vocalist, Nova AKA Nova Scotia 

the Truth will bring her uncompromising lyrics to the 

hills of Galloway, spanning grime, trap, garage, and 

hip-hop. And future-afro soul vocalist, producer and 

multi-instrumentalist, Fehdah, from the front-line of 

an emerging Irish RnB and electronic music scene. 

The natural amphitheatre of the Southern Uplands of 

Scotland, is the perfect stage for world music, and 

Knockengorroch has an incredible line-up of roots and 

folk music for its return including: 

Festival favourites, and internationally renowned 

Glasgow-based sound system collective Mungo’s Hi 

Ficome with their full rig in the original Jamaican 

sound system tradition bringing dub reggae classics 

and fresh new productions, dancehall and dubstep to 

the party. 

The original cutting-edge jazz-inflected klezmer and 

Balkan inspiration of Moishe’s Bagel; an intoxicating, 

life-affirming mix of Eastern European dance music, 

Middle Eastern rhythms and virtuoso performances. 

The British all-female folk band, at the forefront of the 

wave that revolutionised traditional Scottish and 

Gaelic music in the 1990s, The Poozies. 

Innovative and multi-award winning ensemble, Don 

Kipperbring their psychedelic turbo folk - 

transformations of the world’s folk music from Turkish 

Fasıl and Greek Rebetiko to Klezmer. 

Performing on an assembly of instrumentation 

including electric guitar, Elka Panther organ, piano, 

blues harp and accordion, re-contextualised via 

effects boxes, samplers and sequencers, experience 

the addictive, inventive sounds of Callum Easter. 

Plus high energy folk pop from Australia’s Little 

Quirks; nu-folk from ukulele player and singer Zoe 

Bestel; rocking blues for heavy times from John 

Fairhurst; trans-European fusion project Blue Giant 

Orkestar; soaring re-imaginings of an orchestra with 

the Tinderbox Collective; chamber folk-pop from 

Twelfth Day; and contemporary folk and virtuoso 

guitarist Stacey McMullen. 

With more acts to be announced in the coming 

months, including the full line-up of beat-makers to 

fill Maddie’s Dance Tent, regular Knockengorrochers 

and Festival newcomers can expect to enjoy the 

cutting edge of music from across the Celtic diaspora 

and beyond. 

Knockengorroch is Scotland’s longest running 

greenfield festival and a true celebration of music, 

people, and the land they came from. The festival will 

feature a series of environment and heritage 

workshops and activities, comedy, theatre, and arts 

and crafts; as well as a range of activities for younger 

festival-goers to get involved. 

www.knockengorroch.org.uk 

www.twitter.com/Knockengorroch 

www.facebook.com/Knockengorroch 

fb @ www.facebook.com/nothingeverhappensheresummerhall 

tweet @ https://twitter.com/NEHHSH 



Sonica Festival 2022 announces full programme 

for its tenth anniversary edition across Glasgow 

Glasgow :: 10-20 March :: www.sonic-a.co.uk 

One of the world’s largest 

celebrations of visual sonic 

art, Cryptic’s renowned 

biennial festival will 

showcase a groundbreaking 

international programme of 

200 events by over 85 

artists from 10 countries 

Live highlights include composer and musician Alex Smoke live in Paisley Abbey, 

Gavin Bryars conducting the RSNO with live visuals from Alba G. Corral, Roly 

Porter and MFO collaborating with celebrated Gaelic singer Anne Martin, 

Argentina’s Jorge Crow exploring the legacy of the cassette tape in Kinemancia, a 

live played video game through doomed digital environs in InLAND, a double-bill 

from Ela Orleans and British-Rwandan sound artist Auclair, an interactive 

experiment in taste and sound in Unusual Ingredients and Maotik’s Erratic 

Weather turning live weather data into an onstage hurricane with cello 

accompaniment 

Free installations include Sing the Gloaming, a series of sound sculptures in the 

beautiful Hidden Gardens, featuring some of Scotland’s most renowned vocalists, 

including Aidan Moffat, Emily Scott and Hanna Tuuliki; an invitation to explore an 

interactive digital garden in Maotik’s Bloom; Kathy Hinde’s re-imaging of Antoine 

Brumel’s ‘Earthquake’ Mass as a hymn to modern seismic shifts; Mellon Charles’s 

January King, a meditation of Scotland’s history and its possible destiny and 

Quebecois artist LP Rondeau inviting audiences to turn themselves into light and 

sound or an endless funhouse of collages in Lux æterna and Liminal (all 

installations running 10 - 20 March) 

Sonica’s Next Gen will showcase the best young audiovisual artists under 25, 

including Samm Anga, Emily Brooks-Millar and Harry Gorski-Brown utilising 

everything from space race-inspired animation to Nigerian storytelling traditions 

The full programme has been announced for Sonica 2022, as one of the world’s 

largest celebrations of visual sonic arts celebrates its tenth anniversary. Produced 

by Glasgow-based Cryptic, the festival will showcase 200 events, installations, 

screenings and talks by over 85 artists from 10 countries at venues across 

Glasgow and beyond from 10 - 20 March, with all installations free to attend. 

Sonica 2022 will shine a spotlight on contemporary French artists - look out for 

Maotik, Annabelle Playe, Collectif Coin, Guillaume Cousin and Virgile Abela whose 

work is presented throughout the festival - as well as welcoming artists and 

performers from Australia, Spain, Canada, Myanmar, Switzerland, and more, 

alongside showcasing the best in established and emerging Scottish talent. 

Live highlights include: 

Roly Porter and MFO opening the festival in awe-inspiring style with their audiovisual 

collaboration Kistvaen performed with the celebrated Gaelic singer from 

the Isle of Skye, Anne Martin. Porter’s music blurs the boundaries between field 

recording, folk instrumentation and digital sound processing, Marcel Weber’s 

scenography blends subliminal stage and lighting effects with cinematic imagery 

and Martin’s beautiful and percussively powerful vocals bring Gaelic ritual burial 

songs to life, forming a captivating performance from the trio that seeks to 

connect the deepest past with the near future. (10 & 11 March Tramway) 

One of the most influential British composers working today, Gavin Bryars, will 

conduct in Scotland for the first time ever as he leads the Royal Scottish National 

Orchestra in a spectacular and atmospheric performance featuring, in a world 

first, kaleidoscopic live visuals from prodigious female coder Alba G. Corral. For 

Sonica, Bryars conducts his own iconic Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet and the 

UK premiere of his Viola Concerto (A Hut in Toyama) with Morgan Goff on viola 

plus Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s melodic and bright If Bach had Been a 

Beekeeper. For this performance, seating will be absent from the Tramway main 

hall, allowing audiences to use the space more informally, reflecting Bryars’s 

freeform, improvisatory work. (12 March Tramway) 

A chance to catch the rising star of Scottish hip-hop Solareye – aka SAMAwinning, 

Stanley Odd frontman Dave Hook – performing a new set of solo works, 

imagining a future Scotland recovering from a fictional disaster. With support 

from Becky Sikasa. (10 March The Glad Cafe) 

A double-bill premiering musician Ela Orleans’ new audiovisual work L’Apparition, 

collaging hundreds of preparatory images made by Gustave Moreau for his 

1874/6 painting depicting Salome and the first live performance of Giramata, the 

new EP from British-Rwandan sound artist Auclair, developed during her Cryptic 

residency at Cove Park, with additional music-reactive elements provided by 

Sonia Killmann. (Fri 11 March, Tramway). 

Glasgow musician and composer Alex Smoke in a unique live concert at the 

beautiful Paisley Abbey. For Creation, Smoke draws on the Eastern musical 

tradition that a performance should respond to its own unique environment, 

circumstances and audience and has devised a new musical instrument: a third 

bridge zither, which generates harmonics and overtones when its strings are 

played. (Sat 12 March, Paisley Abbey) 

A semi-improvised set from Scottish duo Failed System Test (Sonia Killmann and 

Aidan Lochrin) using coded visual projections which respond to and guide the 

musicians, in a double bill with Cucina Povera’s Maria Rossi (Finland/ 

Luxembourg) making music from the overlooked and the under-heard, with 

visuals by Katie Shannon (Sat 12 March, Tramway) 

A one-off performance from Brighton duo The Golden Filter (aka Penelope 

Trappes and Stephe Hindman), whose twisted Italo disco, new wave-influenced 

alt-pop and grubby mutant techno has seen them newly signed to Glasgow’s 

legendary Optimo Music. (Sat 12 March, The Rum Shack) 

From France, Collectif Coin’s MA suspends a vast apparatus spider-like over the 

darkened stage, as powerful lights dance playfully and create stunningly intricate 

mathematical patterns. In a double bill with the UK premiere of Alex Augier 

(Paris) and Heather Lander (Glasgow)’s Recurrence, where propulsive live music 

melds with pseudo-holographic patterns (Thu 17 March, Tramway) 

A cheeky reclamation of the TEDTalk format by Kaj Duncan David in his Lecture 

About Myself, which sees a fictive supercomputer deliver a treatise on artificial 

intelligence as Swiss-based electronic music duo ReConvert (Roberto Maqueda 

and Lorenzo Columbo) engage in a dramatic live percussive battle. 

A special Sonica serving of Unusual Ingredients, food artist Caroline Hobkinson 

and composer Jacob Thomson-Bell’s quirky multi-sensory experiment which 

invites the audience to learn how varying musical frequencies can make the same 

food seem sweeter, spicier, even crunchier. The audience ‘tastes along’ with nine 

different vegan-friendly foods, including popping candy, Szechuan pepper and 

ginger, as they listen to nine newly composed soundscapes. (Fri 18 March, 

Tramway) 

BUY YOUR TICKETS @ https://sonic-a.co.uk/sonica-2022/ 

The European premiere of Myanmar multi-instrumentalist Pinky Htut Aung’s 

There’s No Prayer Like Desire, a lively, moving meditation inspired by pioneering 

sonic experiments, the movement of clouds and the notion that thought itself can 

have tangible presence with visuals by Heather Lander. (Fri 18 March, The Glad 

Cafe) 

Littoral, the new collaboration between two powerhouse female experimental 

composers Kathy Hinde (UK) and Myriam Boucher (QC/CA), inspired by rising 

global climate and sea levels. In a double bill with Annabelle Playe’s Ad Astra II 

(‘to the stars’), a semi-improvised series of unnerving and electrifying musical 

performances inspired by vast cosmic events. (Fri 18 March, Tramway) 

An international triple bill of Maotik’s Erratic Weather, processing live data from 

weather databases worldwide to generate a bespoke hurricane as cellist Maarten 

Vos improvises an accompanying live storm; Argentina’s Jorge Crowe with 

Kinemancia, a love letter to the tape cassette’s cultural legacy and surprising 

recent comeback and InLAND, a first-person game played live across a series of 

doomed digital environments, from haunted houses to ashen forests (Sat 19 

March, Tramway) 

Renowned live visual improviser and coder Alba G Corral with a world premiere 

as, for the first time ever, she accompanies herself - using preset algorithms and 

live coding to generate visuals that respond to the waves of warm sound she 

produces as her musical alter ego Namba. In a double bill with rising London 

talent Halina Rice, whose cutting-edge audiovisual project New Worlds combines 

ambient, new pop and beat-driven electronic dance music to create a mutant live 

event that is part art happening, part rave. Innovative visuals allow the audience 

to interact with projections via their phones, while a live-action avatar of the 

artist herself dives in and explores the unfolding digital world. (Sat 19 March, 

Tramway) 

Closing Sonica 2022, Swiss-based duo ReConvert working with the simplest of 

elements - the striking of a bell, plain white lightbulbs- to reveal the vibrant nearlimitless 

potential of even the most austere audiovisual apparatus. (Sun 20 

March, Tramway) 

For the first time ever, Sonica will be presenting Sonica Next Gen:, a unique 

showcase of the best young audiovisual artists in Scotland supported by PRS 

Foundation and PPL in association with Youth Music. In Space Race, Emily 

Brooks-Millar and Lew-C explore the prickly legacy of Yuri Gargarin’s triumph as 

the first man in space, through music and animation. Harry Gorski-Brown’s film I. 

Been a badboy:- cut me loose_ is inspired by Iain Banks’s The Wasp Factory and 

the notion of waste, real and metaphorical. And Heretik by Samm Anga draws on 

Nigerian storytelling traditions to suggest routes out of our increasingly dystopian 

present. All aged under 25, these visionary artists are the next generation of 

Sonica headliners. (10 - 20 March, The Lighthouse). 

Alongside the festival’s live events is a citywide programme of large-scale 

installations running from 10-20 March, all free to attend. Highlights include: 

Scenographer and lighting designer Guillaume Cousin’s gigantic 7m high 

installation Soudain Toujours, which sends light and smoke creeping through a 

wind tunnel uncannily free of turbulence. (10 - 20 March, CCA) 

Robbie Thomson’s new multimedia installation End of Engines, a robotic sonic 

sculpture symbolising how our reliance on outmoded power sources and 

dependence on fossil fuels has led to our current environmental predicament. 

(10 - 20 Mar, CCA) 

Maotik’s Bloom, interrogating how patterns in nature can be technologically 

reproduced and manipulated. Visitors are encouraged to move fingers and hands 

across touch-sensitive surfaces, generating abstract floral shapes and music that 

burst vividly across the screens creating a flowering, virtual garden. (10 - 20 Mar, 

CCA) 

A former Harley Davidson shop by the M8 turned brand new art space will host 

Australian artist Hannan Jones’s New Horizons, investigating and reclaiming her 

personal history via a deconstructed car and a fractured rear-view mirror 

displaying videos of her real past and alternative histories (10 - 20 March, Civic 

Room at North Street/ Box Hub. ) 

Kathy Hinde’s new Earthquake Mass Re-imagined, a response to Antoine Brumel’s 

stunningly intricate work of choral music for twelve voices ‘Earthquake’ Mass 

(c.1497). Hinde travelled to Mexico, where she made recordings of twelve local 

musicians which she subsequently splintered and disintegrated for an installation 

that plays on both the title of the work and Mexico’s seismic instabilities. (10 – 20 

March, The Pipe Factory) 

Physics - and metaphysical poetry- in action with Virgile Abela’s deceptively 

simple Acoustic Pendulum, as a pendulum begins to swing in response to acoustic 

feedback, at first gently and ultimately in wide arcs or circles, forming an acoustic 

picture of the venue. (10 – 20 March, The Pipe Factory) 

Past traditions, potential futures and a psychedelic present colliding in Mellon 

Charles’s January King, a meditation of Scotland’s history and its possible 

destiny. The members of Mellon Charles – Matt Zurowski, Elise Haller-Shannon 

and James Dixon – have travelled the country making field recordings and 

documenting local customs and present their findings in an ark-like space looking 

out on luridly coloured landscapes, where sheep-like beings make music that 

fuses the folkloric, the analogue and the futuristic. (10 - 20 March The Pipe 

Factory). 

Frozen Music, from Montreal media artist and VJ Cadie Desbiens-Desmeules and 

composer/digital artist Michael Gary Dean, transforming the familiar shape of 

audio waveforms – music made visible – into vast three-dimensional shapes that 

twine and revolve, stately and vast, in this mesmerising installation. (10 - 20 

March, The Lighthouse) 

A world premiere for Louis-Philippe Rondeau (Quebec)’s new interactive artwork, 

Lux æterna. Audiences are invited to step into a tunnel of light and fog, with 

every movement they make creating a beautiful shadow play and altering the 

music itself, transforming their very bodies into light and sound. (10 - 20 Mar The 

Lighthouse). At Tramway, Rondeau’s playfully interactive Liminal investigates 

transformation, mutation and portals into the unknown as participants step back 

and forth through a hooped scanner to generate moving funhouse collages that 

stretch and distort their own image, streaming and fading out in an unending 

chain. (10 - 20 March, Tramway) 

There Is No Point of No Return, a new work from Australian artists Madeleine 

Flynn & Tim Humphrey commissioned by the University of Melbourne’s Centre for 

Artificial Intelligence and Digital Ethics. Using technologies from the 1970s to the 

present – from classic analogue synthesisers to the latest in artificial 

intelligence – the thought-provoking work investigates how our physical actions 

and movements generate ‘second bodies’ – virtual selves, quantities of data that 

can be monitored and harnessed, environmental impacts and asks what these 

shadow selves amount to, and what world(s) they might be building. (10 - 20 

March, The Lighthouse) 

Vietnamese artist Linh Ha collaborating with Scotland’s Heather Lander in 

Silhouette / Hình Bóng, as a mysterious circular motif surrounded by fluxing and 

flaring light is accompanied by a whispering and clicking, slithering and soaring 

soundscape. (10 - 20 March Tramway) 

A collection of new work created for Sonic Bites, launched by Cryptic in the height 

of the pandemic in 2020. The sensory series of audiovisual appetisers were 

presented fortnightly online for 24 hours each, with an aim to invigorate and 

inspire, providing an escape from emails and online meetings. 40 artists 

presented work specifically for screen , including Diane Edwards, Lucian Fletcher, 

Sonia Killmann, MIRRY, Hammy Sgith and Marianna Wilson. (10 - 20 March, 

Tramway) 


Solareye 

www.facebook.com/SolareyeRaps 

:: photo by Cameron Brisbane 

Sing The Gloaming, a series of sound sculptures placed around the beautiful 

Hidden Gardens features new pieces sung by some of Scotland’s most renowned 

vocalists, including Aidan Moffat, Emily Scott and Hanna Tuuliki and is inspired by 

research that has shown that our ‘light words’ – words like ‘glimmer’, ‘gleam’, 

‘gloaming’ – all derive from a single wordform some five thousand years old. 

(10 - 20 March, The Hidden Gardens @ Tramway) 

Oscar van Heek’s video and photography of controlled explosions of World War I 

ammunition - which is still being dug up and detonated safely a century later, in 

what is termed an ‘Iron Harvest’- recalling not just the Great War, but other wars 

fought since and still ongoing, the lethal legacy of former and current battlefields. 

(10 - 20 March, The Deep End) 

France’s Collectif Coin asking us to question what Ataraxie (or ‘piece of mind’) 

could mean in a changed and still changing post-pandemic world. A room full of 

red beamed lasers builds up to complex, tesseract-like structures in an 

investigation of the void of the unknown and asks us whether we might fill it with 

the comforting and familiar, or find fresh ways to live. (10 - 20 March, The 

Engine Works) 

Cathie Boyd, Cryptic’s Artistic Director, said: “This year, Sonica celebrates 

its tenth anniversary, having presented 330 artists at 980 events to audiences of 

more than 180,000. Now more than ever, audiences are looking to have all their 

senses ravished and Cryptic couldn’t be more excited to be one of the first big 

festivals happening in Scotland in 2022, welcoming people back through the 

doors of 11 venues across Glasgow and beyond. 

For this edition, we shine a spotlight on contemporary French artists, - look out 

for Maotik, Annabelle Playe, Collectif Coin, Guillaume Cousin and Virgile Abela 

whose work is presented throughout the festival. 

In true Sonica style, we continue to support homegrown talent alongside 

international artists from 10 countries. In partnership with The Anglo Mexican 

Foundation & Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) commissioned 

by Cryptic, we’re proud to present the premiere of Earthquake Mass Reimagined 

by Kathy Hinde. Inspired by Brumel’s 16th century mass, Hinde creates a choral 

sonic installation at one of our new venue partners this year, The Pipe Factory in 

Glasgow’s East End – not to be missed. 

Other Cryptic commissions include performances by musicians Ela Orleans at 

Tramway and Alex Smoke at Paisley Abbey, plus a kinetic installation by visual 

artist, Robbie Thomson at CCA. 

We are thrilled to be back at Tramway with large-scale live performances as well 

as installations throughout the building and outside in the Hidden Gardens. We 

are also delighted that The Lighthouse will open for the duration of the festival 

where you can see the beautiful immersive work, Frozen Music. 

Sonica would not be possible without the generous support of our much-needed 

funding partners, venues, embassies, trusts and foundations. A massive thank 

you to Creative Scotland, PRS Foundation, People Make Glasgow, Institut 

Français d’Écosse, Anglo Arts, Tramway, The Lighthouse, CCA, and the many 

organisations and individuals who have helped make this event possible. 

I hope you will find Sonica Glasgow 2022 both inspiring and memorable and 

please share your experiences of the festival using #SonicaGlasgow on your 

social media channels.” 

All installations are free and non-ticketed. All performances, workshops and talks 

are ticketed @ https://sonic-a.co.uk/ 

www.sonic-a.co.uk 

www.twitter.com/crypticglasgow 

www.facebook.com/glasgowcryptic


www.glasgowmusiccitytours.com 

info@glasgowmusiccitytours.com 

www.hittheroad.org.uk info@hittheroad.org.uk www.facebook.com/hittheroadscotland 

Glasgow fb @ www.facebook.com/glasgowmusiccitytours/ 

Edin fb @ www.facebook.com/EdinburghMusicTours/ 

web @ www.hittheroad.org.uk 

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fb @ www.facebook.com/BrookfieldKnights 

web @ www.brookfield-knights.com 

fb @ www.facebook.com/deanowensmusic 

tweet @ www.twitter.com/deanowens1 

to advertise email Carol @ carol.musicnewsscotland@gmail.com

page 20 

music news scotland 

Read the latest MNS edition @ https://bit.ly/mns-jan22-19 

plus read MNS FESTIVALS! and MNS GIGguide @ http://wp.me/P12d6v-21 

ADVERTISE IN OUR 

3 WEEKLY DIGITAL 

PUBLICATIONS 

MUSIC NEWS Scotland - GIGguide - FESTIVALS! 

For details email Carol: carol.musicnewsscotland@gmail.com

music news scotland page 21 

Read MNS GIGguide @ https://bit.ly/mns-gigguide-nov21-17 

plus read MNS and MNS GIGguide @ http://wp.me/P12d6v-21 

ADVERTISE IN OUR 

3 WEEKLY DIGITAL 

PUBLICATIONS 

MUSIC NEWS Scotland - GIGguide - FESTIVALS! 

For details email Carol: carol.musicnewsscotland@gmail.com

ADVERTISE IN THE 

WEEKLY EDITIONS OF …... 

MUSIC NEWS Scotland 

Scotland’s weekly digital music newspaper with all the latest industry news from the Scottish music scene 

MNS GIGguide 

Our weekly digital gig guide giving a comprehensive snapshot of live music in every corner of Scotland 

FESTIVALS! 

Our weekly digital supplement looking at Scotland’s music festivals with the latest news and a full listings for the year 

To advertise in our 'MUSIC NEWS Scotland' titles 

email: Carol: carol.musicnewsscotland@gmail.com 

Read all our digital publications from links @

MNS FESTIVALS supplement (Jan22-24)

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