Cultural Connections are back with another historical drama with music for this year’s Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival.  Dumfriesshire’s African Explorer is written and directed by Ayrshire’s Craigie Folk Club joint organiser Dave Dewar who has teamed up with esteemed folk musicians. The musical director is singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ian Walker who has written nine songs … Continued

Once again, TradFest folk will be taking part in the Edinburgh May Day parade. This event is less about massed Labour movements than it was, and it is trying to develop as a new force for bringing together progressive organisations, political, social and cultural. Everyone is warmly invited to join the TradFest part of the … Continued

The Adam Sutherland School of Fiddle returns to Sloans in Glasgow city centre on April 22nd and 23rd 2017. Join Adam for a weekend school that emphasises creativity, tune writing, technique and fun! Adam has years of experience working with fiddlers of all ages and ability.  This course is suitable for intermediate and advanced fiddle players. All tunes … Continued

Following on from discussions at Celtic Connections and Tradfest on Gender Inequality across Traditional Music, Eileen Penman has shared with us her reflections and concerns on this issue published in 1983 in Edinburgh Folk Club newsletter. You can read this HERE Eileen has been a longstanding champion of women’s rights, women’s issues and has been … Continued

Trad Talk is the annual gathering of the Traditional Music Forum, its members and all interested in traditional music. Our most recent one which took place on March 11th at the Tolbooth in Stirling has ‘Shaken the Tree’.  A write up of the discussions will be posted soon. But in the meantime thanks to Jen Hill for … Continued

Tens of thousands of people in Scotland, the equivalent of thirty secondary schools, are learning traditional music in Scotland. Those are the findings of a report, compiled by the Traditional Music Forum. The report also finds that community organisations deliver great value for money. However, much of the activity is supported by thousands of volunteers … Continued

The Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) is currently undertaking a research project to identify skills gaps and training needs of practitioners working in Scotland’s music industry in 2017. The purpose of this research is to enable the SMIA to understand what the development needs of the industry are, allowing us to then take relevant actions … Continued

We are saddened to report the recent death of TMF Board member, and chair of our member, Edinburgh Folk Club, Eberhard ‘Paddy’ Bort. Just over a week ago Paddy attended the TMF quarterly board meeting, making his usual considered and valuable contribution. A week later he died suddenly, leaving a void in our lives, in … Continued

The Merlin Music Academy was founded in 2011 and is based in the very attractive Borders town of Melrose. The Academy teaches traditional folk, blues and acoustic music to all age groups and abilities. They first started teaching Fiddle, Guitar and Accordion but have now grown considerably and offer music tuition over a huge range … Continued

The late Dundee-born singer, songwriter, actor and artist Michael Marra’s entire recorded back-catalogue is being made available digitally for the first time from February 3 through Amazon and other outlets. His albums include his first release, The Midas Touch, the experience of recording which made him concentrate on the idiosyncratic style that produced songs such as … Continued