PRESS RELEASE

15/01/04 for IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Young traditional musicians fight it out for prestigious award.

BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award Finals 2004

On Sunday 25th January at Celtic Connections festival, 6 young traditional musicians from all over Scotland will compete to be the new BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician 2004. Each musician will perform for 15 minutes and will be judged by 5 experts in the field of traditional music and media.
This prominent event in the traditional music calendar goes from strength to strength each year and all of the past winners (Gillian Frame, Emily Smith and Anna Massie) have gone on to be successful artists in their own right.

This year's six finalists are Shona Donaldson - Huntly (voice, fiddle), James Graham - Lochinver (Gaelic song), Sarah Naylor - Skye (fiddle, voice), Rosie Morton - Edinburgh (clarsach), Tom Orr - Lanark (accordion), and Jenna Reid - Shetland (fiddle, piano, voice).

The winner of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award will be provided with an opportunity to visit three Canadian Festivals including Vancouver Folk festival, a CD with Foot Stompin' Records, £1000 of in-house internet strategy, design and development provided by Tangent Multimedia, One year's membership of Musicians Union and one year's membership of TMSA. Flights for the Canadian trip are paid for by British Council Scotland.

Frank McAveety, Minister for Culture, Tourism and the Arts has

"passed on his best wishes for the event which he is confident will be as well received and successful as in previous years."

ENDS

For further information contact:

Simon Thoumire @ "Hands Up For Trad"
w: www.handsupfortrad.co.uk. e: info@handsupfortrad.co.uk t: 01899850658 m: 07775854572

Notes to the Editor

For more details check out www.handsupfortrad.co.uk/youngtrad
Sponsors are South Lanarkshire Council, Foot Stompin' Records, Celtic Connections festival, Musicians Union, British Council Scotland, Feisan Nan Gael, Traditional Music and Song Association, Clydesdale Folk Club, Tangent Multimedia.