BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award 2005
Semi-finals 8-10th October 2004

On Friday 8th October 2004, 12 of Scotland's top young traditional musicians will convene to take part in this year's prestigious BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award semi-finals at Wiston Lodge, South Lanarkshire. This is an Award that exists to encourage young musicians to keep their tradition alive and to maximise their musical potential by the pursuit of a career in traditional music. The musicians will take part in a weekend of industry workshops and on Saturday 9th will perform in a concert where 6 musicians will win through to the final at Celtic Connections festival in January

Hands Up for Trad feel that it is now time for the BBC Young Musician of the Year to recognise that they are not the only competition out there and they should change their name to the BBC Young Classical Musician of the Year. The current title suggests that in winning their competition the performer is the best in the land when actually they are only the best young classical performer. This needs to change pronto as it is sending out all the wrong signals to the public.

Our sponsors are South Lanarkshire Council, Foot Stompin' Records, Celtic Connections festival, Musicians Union, British Council Scotland, Fèisean nan Gàidheal, Traditional Music and Song Association, Clydesdale Folk Club, Tangent Multimedia, Stringmail. Please support them where possible.

RUNNING ORDER FOR SEMI-FINAL CONCERT.

19:30 Introduction
19:32 James Graham (2004 winner)

19:34 Jeana Leslie
19:46 Donal Brown
19:58 Maeve Mackinnon
20:10 George Smith
20:22 Rachel Newton
20:34 Mike Vass

20:46 Interval

21:06 Raffle

21:11 Sarah Naylor
21:23 Stuart Cassells
21:35 Kirsty Cotter
21:47 Catriona Price
21:59 Darren MacLean
22:11 Paul Godfray

22:23 Thanks
22:26 END

SEMI-FINALISTS:

Donal Brown - Huntly (highland pipes, whistles)
Donal graduated from the RSAMD Scottish Music course in 2002. Here he studied with Allan MacDonald and gained an insight into new repertoires of older traditional music. Donal also plays with the Scottish Stepdance Company as a dancer and musician and has performed in Russia and Norway. He is just back from Canada playing withthe current 2004 award winner James Graham where they very successfully performed at Winnipeg, Vancouver and Mission festivals.

Stuart Cassells - Falkirk (Highland pipes)
Originally from Falkirk, Stuart started playing at the age of 8 years old and went on to play in grade one pipe bands by the time he was 13, firstly with Torphichen and Bathgate Pipe Band, then with the famous MacNaughton's Vale of Atholl. He also won numerous solo piping prizes, including two gold medals at the National Mod for juvenile piping and the Scottish Pipers' Assoc. amateur champion. This lead to him being featured on the Greentrax recording Young Pipers of Scotland. Stuart is now in his honours year at the RSAMD on the BA Scottish Music - Piping degree.

Kirsty Cotter - Glasgow (fiddle)
Originally from Suffolk, Kirsty came to play Scottish music through her parents great love of it, and thanks to some very inspiring fiddle lessons from Catriona MacDonald. Kirsty was the first English person to graduate from the BA (Scottish Music) Hons from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Kirsty is currently based in Glasgow and is working as a performer and teacher all over the UK. She is also a peripatetic fiddle teacher in North Ayrshire and Director of the Scottish Music Ensembles at the RSAMD Junior Academy.

Paul Godfray - Edinburgh (fiddle)
Paul studied classical violin at school and achieved Grade 8 with Dustinction in 1998. He was also introduced to Scottish traditional music at school and attended both Catriona MacDonald's Stirling University summer course and Alasdair Fraser's course at Sabhal Mor Ostaig on the Isle of Skye. He has won four tropies at Kirriemuir festival and reached the final of the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award with his band 'Celtica'.

Jeana Leslie - Orkney (fiddle)
Jeana hails from Deerness in Orkney and loves going to local ceilidhs and playing tunes with her neighbours including Jennifer and Hazel Wrigley. She has many varied influences and has visited the east coast of Canada (PEI & Cape Breton) many times where she has played with the local musicians. Jeana is a also a keen tune writer and has played at Orkney Folk Festival both as a soloist and band member.

Maeve Mackinnon - Glasgow (Gaelic song)
Maeve is a Gaelic singer with Skye and Swedish ancestry. Maeve first decided to be a gaelic singer when she heard Capercaillie's top 40 hit "Coisich a ruin". She studied on the Scottish Music course (RSAMD) and toured Denmark and Germany with her year group alongside course head and fellow musician Brian McNeill. Maeve has recently appeared on Radio Scotland's Take the Floor and STV's Beolach, a documentary-style showcase of young talent for Gaelic TV.

Darren MacLean - Skye (Gaelic song)
has been singing since he was 3 years old and won his first competition at his local
mod when he was 5. When he was slightly older he went to study at the
RSAMD's BA Scottish music course. During the three years that he was there
he won the 2003 Mod Gold Medal in Oban and the Traditional and Contemporary
competitions at 'Seo Seinn' in Stornoway during the years of 2003 and 2004
respectively.

Sarah Naylor - Skye (fiddle, Gaelic song)
21 year old Sarah is from Uig, Isle of Skye. She began playing at the age of nine, and is in her honour's
year in BA Applied Music at Strathclyde University. Runner-up at the GlenFiddich Fiddle Championship, she
is the winner of the Oban Fiddle Masters 2004. Sarah enjoyed two visits to the States last year where she
performed as a soloist in NewYork and Chicago.

Rachel Newton - Edinburgh (clarsach, Gaelic song)
Despite being a born and bred Edinburgh girl, Rachel has spent a lot of time in the Highlands. This has meant she has been brought up with influences from a diverse range of musics and cultures whilst gaining a strong grounding in traditional music and song. Rachel attended the Gaelic medium school in Edinburgh where she first started singing, but her interest in traditional music really began after participating in Feis Rois for the first time at the age of nine. Since then, music has taken Rachel across Europe and her involvment with the Feis in Edinburgh has meant many performances including Sidmouth Folk Festival and the opening of the Scottish Parliament.

Catriona Price - Orkney (fiddle)
Catriona started playing the fiddle when she was seven years old, at primary school as a result of seeing her aunts play. She is taught by Douglas Montgomery (Saltfish Forty) and plays in an exciting young traditional group of about twenty youngsters from Kirkwall High School called 'Hadhirgaan'. Catriona writes her own tunes and some have been featured on Hadhirgaan's CD "Keep it Up" which was released in 2002.

George Smith - Forfar (fiddle)
George has been playing the fiddle since the age of nine, intially playing classical music, and then with his family learning and playing Scottish and Irish tunes for family concerts (this group was called Haud Yer Lugs!). George plays with the Tayside Young Fiddlers and leads the Angus Schools' Orchestra. He has won the Fiddle Masters in Oban and came third in the Glenfiddich Fiddle competition.

Mike Vass - Nairn (fiddle)
Mike intially learned trad music at home from his father, who was very keen on the music of Scotland and especially north east material. He receive tuiton from Ian Hardy who was a big influence on his playing. Mike performed and recorded as part of the "Vass Family" playing in diverse venues such as Durness Hall to the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. He is currently performing with "Dusk till Dawn" (Norman MacKay, Rosie Morton) in around Edinburgh.