Sustainable storytelling | Life in focus
A new single about learning to live life in recovery from alcoholism has inspired a groundbreaking songwriting project for people in recovery to be trialled in Glasgow next year. ‘Yesterday’s Promises’ by Americana-Indiepop trad band The Tumbling Souls, from Lewis, is a part-biographical look back at the early musical career of Willie Campbell and the …
Continue reading "Groundbreaking songwriting pilot for people in recovery inspired by new music"
“It just felt so… cringe,” blushes Laura Silverstone. “It just felt so, I don’t know, girly.” The singer-songwriter is sitting cross-legged in the trusty van she has called home for the past eight years or so. It’s strewn with plants, pictures, instruments, cosy blankets, vegan food and hand-crafted mugs. She’s talking, of course, about her …
A top Scots songwriter turned up to the Scottish Album of the Year Awards styled as a futuristic android pop star - in a dramatic warning against the rise of AI use in music. SAY Award nominee Stephen McAll, of experimental folk group Constant Follower, attended the £20,000 prize ceremony at Dundee’s Caird Hall with …
Continue reading "Constant Follower’s shock android warning at music awards over AI"
This year’s HebCelt Festival was the most successful in the event’s 28-year history as its investment in new technology, infrastructure and enhanced sponsorship packages paid dividends. Tickets for Saturday’s headliners Skerryvore sold-out, as did local fringe events, with Lulu only a handful of tickets away from achieving the same. More than 18,500 attended the festival, …
A group of acclaimed Scottish songwriters and performers has warned musicians risk being ‘AI-brushed’ out of existence unless urgent action is taken by the music industry and government to protect human creativity from artificial intelligence. Tumbling Souls - a Scots supergroup featuring members of 90s indie darlings Astrid, trad favourites Hò-Rò, and festival stalwarts Boys …
For HebCelt’s Michelle Shields, the road from sparkly wristbands to programming the main stage has been as natural as it’s been extraordinary. Born and raised just a short walk from Lews Castle Green, her connection already ran deep. Looking back at what has been her coming-of-age wrapped in music, it seems obvious now that she’d …
Continue reading "Stage by Stage: Michelle Shields on leadership, legacy and the sound of HebCelt"
Cultural leaders in the Outer Hebrides are urging the music industry to make gender balance a fundamental requirement for live events. HebCelt’s Operations Co-Ordinator Carol Ferguson, the festival’s Artist Programmer Michelle Shields, and An Lanntair art centre’s Head of Performing Arts and Cultural Projects Alex Macdonald, say more opportunities are needed. Ahead of the Isle …
Organisers of the award winning HebCelt Festival have hailed a new three year funding deal announced by Creative Scotland as “game-changing”. It has been awarded £270,000 over the next-three years - the first time multi-year funding has been allocated to the festival this way. They will receive allocations of £90k each year, taking them to …
Continue reading "HebCelt Festival welcomes ‘game-changing’ Creative Scotland funding"
A van-living travelling troubadour who came within just a few votes of winning TV show Spain’s Got Talent will make her debut at Celtic Connections tomorrow (Tues). Laura Silverstone wowed judges with her singing and guitar playing including her trademark technique of using lap chords, making it all the way through the live grand finals …
The award-winning Hebridean Celtic Festival has provided a vital £12 million economic lifeline to the Western Isles over the past three years since the COVID-19 pandemic while helping secure dozens of jobs, organisers have revealed. Analysis highlights a £4.1 million boost to the local community from the 2024 festival alone, marking an increase of £600,000 …
Skog Media Associates 