Scottish Culture Online

Inspired by his exposure to Appalachian music and dance whilst performing at the 2003 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Ian travelled extensively to The Blue Ridge Mountains in 2005 & 2006 to immerse himself in the music and culture of the old-time community. WESTRINGING resounds with that influence, on many newly composed melodies as well as tunes [...]

Martyn Bennett – Aye: The amazing Martyn Bennett lives on in this smashing album featuring some of his finest work plus previously unreleased tracks which will have Bennett fans everywhere waiting in eager anticipation.  Eleven tracks, brilliant examples of his experiments with traditional and world music, rave culture, remixing and much more besides. Martyn who passed [...]

As you listen to Eadarainn you will also get a sense of what a great character Rona Lightfoot is. Rona’s most immediate musical in influences were her mother Kate, who was one of the most remarkable singers and tradition bearers of her age and Eairdsidh Raghnaill, her father, a piper and seanachaidh of renown. Rona [...]

Junction Pool are a collection of twelve young musicians from the Scottish Borders brought together by Harris Playfair who is also Musical Director and pianist with the band. Junction Pool energetically merges musical styles in an uplifting fusion of folk, jazz and funk. Junction Pool are: Harris Playfair: keyboards, grand piano James Thomson: pipes, whistles, vocals Jamie Young: Pipes vocals, [...]

This unique and exciting album showcases emigrant songs presented in a variety of styles and both older and more recently composed songs depicting the experiences of Highland emigrants over the past 300 years. 18th & 19th Century emigrants had no other way of telling their stories other than in song and story and “A Good [...]

Fiona is keen that this album will appeal to all ages and tastes in music, not just those with an interest in Gaelic or traditional music. Whether your taste is for classcial carols; Ciuin an Oidhche (Silent Night), Anns an Dubhlachd Gheamhraidh (In The Bleak Midwinter), Country & Western, traditional Gaelic carols or rock, there [...]

This is The Occasionals’ sixth album and, as the title suggests, this one really is The Full Set. This is a fabulous package! A great audio CD featuring one of the best dance bands ever plus a DVD demonstrating the dances on the CD. Plus an hour-long film of the band as they take their [...]

Using voice archive recordings of singers like Lizzie Higgins and Sheila Stewart which he has married to electronic techno noise and dance rhythms he delivers a modern sounding album still true to its traditional roots. Amongst the passages of crunching beats there are contrasting almost peaceful interludes Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share [...]

“With a classical musical education that included one of the more difficult incarnations of the bagpipe as well as a solid grounding in traditional violin and piano, Martyn Bennet’s sudden discovery of the Glasgow rave scene brought about one of those happy cross-fertilisations that have been producing ‘genetically modified’ crops since time immemorial. Call it [...]

Despite his struggles with ill-health, multi-instrumentalist Martyn Bennett continued to be in the vanguard of those mixing traditional music and technology.This, his fourth album, features a cycle of Gaelic songs sung by his mother Margaret Bennett and the family connection is extended with sampled field-recordings of his grandmother and great-great grandfather. “This beautifully constructed fifteen-track [...]