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

Originally from the Lake George area of Upstate New York, Ben is currently living in Edinburgh, Scotland, having recently completed a post-graduate degree in the School of Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh. 

Ben's interest in Scottish and Irish music stems from his exposure to the bagpipes at a young age in his home community of Queensbury, New York, and his family's strong connection to it's Scots-Irish roots, through both his American mother and his Canadian father. He began studying the Highland Bagpipes at age eight. By twelve, he began to shift his focus the bellows-blown Scottish smallpipes and picked up the Border pipes a few years later. Ben has played with several competitive pipe bands during his career, including the internationally acclaimed Scotia-Glenville Pipe Band, who recently took the world title in the Novice Juvenile division at the World Pipe Band Championship in Glasgow.

At age 18, Ben left the competitive pipe band scene to pursue traditional Scottish and Cape Breton dance music. Since then, he has performed a number of concerts in the Northeastern USA and Canada, and has travelled extensively to Scotland, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breton to further develop his own unique style. 

As an academic, Ben has focused on music theory, musicology and Scottish ethnology, at both the undergraduate and post-gradutae level. He writes regularly for Piping Today magazine, and continues to enjoy exploring the intricacies of his own musical tradition in the ethnomusicological context.  

Ben is currently involved with several musical projects including the Edinburgh-based quartet, Larsa (http://www.facebook.com/larsamusic), and can often be found collaborating on Scottish step-dance programs across the country with dancer, Sophie Stephenson of Fort Augustus (http://www.sophabulous.co.uk/).  

Alastair Caplin - Fiddler/Composer/Arranger
Phone: 07794 185086
Email: <a href="mailto:caplinalastair@hotmail.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">caplinalastair@hotmail.com</a>
Bethnal Green Road, Hackney
www.alastaircaplin.com
	In the last three years Alastair Caplin has performed with the likes of Abigail Washburn, The Incredible String Band, Dave Swarbrick and Richard Thompson. He has accompanied singer/guitarist Alasdair Roberts on numerous tours and recorded two albums with him; ‘Too Long in this Condition’, released last year by Drag City, and an album of Gaelic song to be released on Drag City next year. The most recent projects Alastair was involved in was recording the solo fiddle music for the film 'Burke &amp; Hare' with Simon Pegg and Bill Bailey, and writing and performing the live score for the Gaelic play Roghainn nan Daoine. Praise for Alastair’s playing includes:
“The Fiddle from Caplin charts the songs' emotional depths with an icy beauty” (Dusted magazine)
“Alastair Caplin’s live fiddle score had the air of an exquisite Polish passion play” (Scotsman)
“The live fiddle playing of Alastair Caplin was superb and evocative, whether signing a change of scene or underpinning the emotional tone of dialogue.” (Hi-Arts Review)
“Caplin shone as fiddler. Never has a musical instrument been made so overtly sexual. Caplin’s masterful technique combined with the wonderfully physical acting of Mairi Morrison, who played his on-stage wife, positively oozed sensuality.” (Stornoway Gazette)
Alastair is currently playing with The John Langan Band, Alasdair Roberts, Brooke Sharkey, Adam Beattie, Garance Louis, and as a solo act amongst other projects.


Ewan McLennan has come to be known as a guitarist at the very forefront of his generation; a troubadour, balladeer and storyteller cut in the old style; a singer that can move audiences with his passion and pathos; and a songwriter for whom social justice is still a burning issue.

From a BBC Horizon Award for his debut album to his recent performances on the acclaimed Transatlantic Sessions, recent years have been marked by numerous awards and accolades for his music. Ewan McLennan's new album, 'Stories Still Untold', is already attracting critical acclaim and is sure to further cement him as "one of the bright lights on the folk scene today".

Root & Branch play the traditional music of Britain, Ireland and the Appalachian mountains. The band consists of five musicians from both sides of the Atlantic, whose diverse influences and backgrounds create their distinctive and energetic sound.

Not everything has been done before. At least not in music. Which is something of a marvel.

The debut album from Marit Fält and Rona Wilkie melds tunes and songs from their separate geographical backgrounds to create a new music that’s uplifting, daring and harmonious.

Turas explores the rarely probed similarities between Scandinavian and Scottish Highland tunes – colouring them with songs from both traditions. But this isn’t academia. Marit and Rona’s music is playful, borderless and thrilling. It glides from evocative near-classical movements through elegant polskas to buoyant reels, brought to life by Rona’s multi-personality fiddle virtuosity and Marit’s breath-ta king mastery of the versatile låtmandola.

The duo fell into playing together when they were studying in Newcastle. In 2012 they won the coveted Danny Kyle Award at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections Festival and Rona was named BBC Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year.

While the musical relationship between Scandinavia and the Northern Isles of Scotland has been investigated before, there were fewer creative unions between those countries and the Highlands. And it’s that which fused Marit and Rona’s collaboration.

“The way that the Gaelic and Norwegian and Swedish languages are sung is very similar, and the melodies of the languages are similar as well,” Rona explains. “But we’re also exploring the differences in the music – in the tempos, time signatures and even the tone of the instruments.”

The låtmandola (or Nordic mandola) was created for both accompaniment and melody. This inspired Marit and Rona to take the same approach to the cittern, violin, viola and Hardanger fiddle (to name a few) – at times turning their traditional usage upside down. Similarly their voices add melodic and rhythmical layers, and contrasting tones – instruments in their own right.

Joining them on several tracks is the bewitching percussion of Allan Òg MacDonald and the deliciously sweeping strings of the Cantilena Quartet – playing Marit and Rona’s own arrangements. The album was produced by the renowned musician, singer and broadcaster Mary Ann Kennedy.

The title – Turas – means the same in Swedish as in Gaelic: to take turns. It was chosen for its ease of pronunciation in English too. Because the music of Marit and Rona translates simply and poignantly to all audiences, no matter their nationality, background or experience.

It’s something of a marvel.

Dallahan
Larsa
Adam Holmes and the Embers
Jack Badcock and Ciaran Ryan
Burach

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