Scotland's biggest fiddle event! 
Fiddle 2014 dates are 21st - 23rd November in Edinburgh. 

Member of 'Larsa', 'Dallahan', 'Gallo Rojo' and duo 'Jack Badcock and Ciaran Ryan'

Eabhal came together while based on the Isle of South Uist in the Scottish Outer Hebrides. Playing traditional music the band draws inspiration from many different cultures. Eabhal were recently named Hands up for Trad, Battle of the Folk Bands 2018 winners at Edinburgh Tradfest.

“Full of energy and bold ideas but firmly grounded in the Scottish / Gaelic tradition, Eabhal are one of Scotland's brightest up and coming bands that continue to evolve our music.” - Angus Lyon

Blurring the lines between folk and bluegrass.

Assembly Lane brings together four young Newcastle-based musicians immersed in the shared folk traditions of The British Isles and North America. They have developed a reputation for performing dynamic arrangements of traditional and contemporary material from both sides of the Atlantic, effortlessly blending ancient ballads and progressive bluegrass with rich vocal harmonies and instrumental flair. Their debut album 'Northbound,' recorded by Josh Clark at Get Real Audio [Kate Rusby, Flook], is set for release on the 10th of November.

https://www.assemblylane.com/

www.facebook.com/JosiePabloMusic

www.facebook.com/JosieDuncanMusic

Traditional Gaelic songs and instrumentals.

AIDAN O'ROURKE

Aidan O’Rourke is a fiddler, composer, producer and curator. With his trio Lau, in multiple solo projects and in collaborations, he has pioneered a new sound in folk music and redefined traditional forms.

His roots are in Scottish and Irish folk music. He grew up in an Irish family in Argyll and studied fiddle in the West Highland tradition. By 14 he was touring with The Caledonia Ramblers; in 1998 he joined Blazin’ Fiddles; in 2010 he formed the quartet Kan with whistle player Brian Finnegan; in 2016 he formed a duo with the jazz pianist Kit Downes; in 2017 he joined the legendary Donal Lunny's new collective The Atlantic Arc Orchestra.

Lau came together in 2006 and their debut album set a precedent for new politically-charged folk music that expands the form and experiments with sound while staying rooted in tradition. Four further studio albums followed, plus a couple of live albums and a 2017 retrospective charting the band’s first decade. Lau collaborators include Karine Polwart, Fred Frith, Anais Mitchell, Joan as Police Woman, John Parish, Adem, Jack Bruce, Trilok Gurtu, Brian Irvine and the Royal Northern Sinfonia. The band have made multiple tours of the US and Japan and won Best Group at the BBC 2 Folk Awards an unprecedented four times.

As a solo artist, Aidan is always looking for new ways to articulate the tradition. He has released four solo albums – Sirius (2006), An Tobar (2008), Hotline (2013) and 365: Vol 1 (2018) – as well as the experimental EPs Music For Exhibition and Film (2015) and Imprint (2016). He was named Musician of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2014.

As a composer, Aidan threads his heritage into diverse settings. He is a three-time winner of the PRSF New Music Biennial commission at the Southbank Centre; other commissioners include the Scottish Ensemble, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Sage Gateshead, Celtic Connections, the Tolbooth in Stirling, An Tobar, Cottier Chamber Project and Capella Nova. In 2017 he wrote the official music for the opening of the Queensferry Crossing.

As a curator, Aidan has co-directed multiple editions of the Lau-Land festival featuring eclectic lineups, one-off collaborations and workshops. Other curations include Lucky Middlemass’s Tavern, recreating a hub of Edinburgh enlightenment music and debate.

As a teacher, Aidan is a regular tutor at Newcastle University and University of Limerick, and holds fiddle classes as part of Lau-Land.

As a producer, Aidan's interests are in stripping back to bare elements and appreciating the real qualities of instruments and voices – letting the nuances of the tune be at the forefront. In 2018 he produced Brighde Chaimbeul's debut album The Reeling.

His latest project is the immense tune-cycle 365. Aidan wrote a tune every day for a year in response to a short story collection by James Robertson. The result is a major new body of 365 tunes – a significant addition to the Scottish traditional music canon. Aidan’s fiddle tunes are sparse and emotive; his playing is renowned for its lyricism, here paired with bold harmonies from Kit Downes on harmonium and piano, guitarist Sorren Maclean and harpist Esther Swift. 365: Vol 1 was released in May 2018. 365: Volume 2 will be released in August 2019.

“Few contemporary musicians in any category can match either his artistic ambitions or his achievements in bringing them to fruition” (The Scotsman)

“O’Rourke’s music – both his writing and playing – is unfailingly strong and imaginative” (The List)

“Lau are a remarkable band - exquisite and hypnotic, musicianship at its best” (The Guardian)

Bella Hardy, the inimitable voice of modern folk, established her reputation as a songwriter when her first original composition Three Black Feathers earned a BBC Folk Award nomination in 2008.

Bella has since become a regular on radio and television, notably singing solo in a sold-out Albert Hall at the Proms. She’s written and recorded with everyone from Beautiful South founder David Rotheray to folk luminary Eliza Carthy, and performed with the great Mary Chapin Carpenter on her UK tours. She learnt the songs of Chinese farmers during her time as British Council Musician in Residence in Yunnan Province, spent a year in Tennessee as a ranch hand,  and sat on the moors of her beloved Peak District with only her fiddle for company. 

With the ability to conjure and twist stories that call straight to the heart, her themes of displacement and home, lost and found love, heartache and joy, are delivered with her unique, disarming honesty, and the acclaimed crystalline voice that won her BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Singer of the Year 2014.

“Brit folk's finest” – Mojo 
“A fine, no-nonsense interpreter of traditional music and an excellent songwriter” - The Guardian
“Few are as adventurous and intriguing” – Songlines 
“Stunning… there is an aura of sophistication that will win over listeners who never set foot in a folk club” - The Sunday Times

Scattering and sowing all the flickering verses, abandoned tapes, harmonic home for rustic adventures.

Assembly Lane is following