'The quality of musicianship in the work of Archie and Farquahar is matched only by the honest sense of fun and energy which comes only from having the heart of your music rooted in the community. For anyone who has not had the experience of hearing them live it is not to be missed. High enegy, melodic and suitably irreverent !' - Donnie Munro.

Keep a lookout for Farquhar's tractor.

Burach

Their unusual and imaginative fusion of electric Scottish ceilidh, pop and modern dance rhythms is extremely effective - played with skill and brio, it's good to listen to and great bopping music to boot. Deeper is that "difficult" third album, and probably their best yet.' - Bob Walton, Folk Roots

Croft No. Five

Croft No. Five have gained a reputation as one of Scotland's highest energy live acts. The bands intense fusion of funk and dance grooves with original tunes has created one of the freshest sounds on the British music scene. This year Croft No. Five have performed in New York City, Denmark, Italy as well as festival dates in England and toured with the Lush Rollers and DJ Dolphin Boy as part of the touring club 'Northern Odyssey'. Live broadcasts have included BBC Music Live, Blue Peter and Radio Scotland. Winter will see "THRUST", a club in Edinburgh and Glasgow injecting live music back into the central belt of Scotland.

Donald Dhu Ceilidh Band

'The Donald Dhu Ceilidh Band is always busy with festivals, parties, weddings, -anything that needs a cracking band to get people on the floor. Recently they were flown over to Moscow for the St. Andrew's Night Ball, have played at Glasgow's Celtic Connections Festival, the Orkney Festival and the Highland Festival. With four of the best musicians in the Highlands, whether in a dance or concert situation they will assure you of a great night of Highland music.

Ellen Mitchell

Glasgow born Ellen Mitchell, grew up with music and has had a lifelong interest in folk music and Scottish songs. She won a her first singing competition at the Keith festival in 1978, and then went on to win further competitions at Auchtermuchty and Glasgow. She has performed extensively at festivals such as the National Festival, Loughborough, Sidmouth and Whitby, and Glasgow's Celtic Connections. She has tutored singing with children, working with The Celtic Connections Schools Project in Glasgow and with The National Trust for Scotland.

Gadelica

Clarsach, box & fiddle. These youngsters, all pupils at the traditional music school in Plockton and each from well known musical families in the district have been making a name for themselves.

The Incredible Fling Band

A local Lochaber band who have stood the test of time and are always in high demand. The Fling Band are about the best bunch you could ever find for a great foot stomping Ceilidh. Many a local marriage has made good use of their talents.

Jock Tamson's Bairns

Jock Tamson's Bairns is one of our country's most respected bands, having carried the torch for true Scottish music since their inception at the end of the 1970s. Their 'Lasses Fashion' album of the 80s is still regarded as one of the finest expressions of the great revival of traditional music that helped shape and create the contemporary Scottish identity, and was chosen as one of the all-time top ten albums - and the only 'folk' recording - alongside Elvis Presley, the Platters and the Smiths, by Richard Thompson for "Q" magazine!

Les Miseres

"the most infectious dance music gumbo imaginable" -Wester Ross Festival 2002

Les Miseres (pronounced Lay-Me-Zair) is red-hot band from Edinburgh that brings the exuberant, sizzling Cajun sound of Louisiana to Scotland.

Les Miseres was formed in Edinburgh in 2001 by Deaf Heights Cajun Aces accordionist Kim Tebble, guitarist Riley Briggs, and Cajun-style fiddler Brian Tipa from North Carolina. The band now performs as a rockin' 6 or 7 piece with funky rhythm section, two fiddlers, accordion, rubboard, vocals in French and guest soloists.

The band now operates as an international collective involving around a dozen musicians. As well as playing as a small acoustic unit, the band performs for dancing as an amplified group with fiddles, accordion, bass, drums, rubboard, electric guitar and three or four vocalists. Our mission is to marry the hip-shaking groove of Zydeco music to haunting traditional Cajun melodies. Audiences have been packing dance floors and swinging out to waltzes, two-steps and Creole blues.

During the last three years, Les Miseres have appeared at festivals throughout Scotland and have toured in France - even playing at a maximum-security prison in the Alps. Back here, you'll find the band entertaining festival audiences in Mardi Gras style and appearing at community street processions, village dances and night clubs.

Live performances are often spiced with traditional Turkish Zurna-oboe trance numbers, some Klezmer music, a Tex-Mex medlay, or a mega-danceable Ska version of a Hank Williams song.

However, the basic Les Miseres sound is firmly rooted in Cajun and Zydeco styles. This music is the legacy of African-American accordionist Amédée Ardoin and the Cajun violinist Dennis McGee. Ardoin and McGee were recording pioneers of 1920's French Louisiana, who melded Acadian songs with the music of the descendants of African slaves. For more about this read our influences page on our website www.miseres.com

Malinky

Malinky's striking vocals and song-based repertoire, as well as their instrumental flair, define one of the most distinctive sounds to emerge from the Scottish folk-scene over the last decade. fRoots described the band's debut CD Last Leaves (Greentrax CDTRAX 190) as, "one of the most memorable and refreshing debuts to have passed this way in a long time", and the major Scottish Sunday paper, Scotland on Sunday, chose it as one of the outstanding international folk-roots CD releases of 2000.

The Peatbog Faeries

World renowned dance beat with bagpipes super group - The Faeries are based on Skye and have to be seen live. The Peatbogs released their second album "Faerie Stories" on May 1st 2001 on the Greentrax label. It has already received great critical acclaim and the band look forward to touring with it this year. Previous highlights for the band included a tour of Namibia and Botswana, playing the main stage at midnight at Glasgow's massive Millennium celebrations, televised appearance at Celtic Connections and festival dates in England, Denmark, Spain, Holland & Belgium, tours of the Czech Republic and Singapore and their first visit to the USA. They have also undertaken numerous TV and radio performances, as well as being commissioned by Scottish Ballet for an original piece performed for the first time in the Citizen's Theatre in Glasgow.More recently they have had storming gigs on the main stage at Cambridge Folk Festival, where they set the record for CD sales, the Lowlands Festival in Holland receiving great reviews, and the Edinburgh Festival where they were the only band to sell out at the Speigeltent

Pete Lawless

An excellent comic performer and a suitcase full of wonder stuff, a riotous entertainment that will explode in your funny bone.A Sidmouth folk festival favourite, a regular performer at West Yorkshire Playhouse and cabaret compere at Huddersfield Commedy Cellar, Pete Lawless came to Edinbane to work his magic!

Robin Laing

Distillery guides tell us that the whisky lost through evaporation is "The Angels' Share". ROBIN LAING tells a different story. Drawing on the finest whisky songs and poems in Scotland, Robin uses the "middle cut" to explore some of the fascinating and humourous aspects of the world of whisky. This is a journey into Scottish culture and an examination of the Scottish soul. It is a celebration of whisky to be savoured - like a good malt! Included Talisker Whisky tasting session. 'The show is not to be missed' Folkworld 'A thoroughly enjoyable evening' The Scotsman

Sara Grey

Sara Grey, one of the most gifted and knowledgeable artists working in the field of traditional music. Sara Grey's singing is both powerful and sweet, with a distinctive and lovely tremolo. It is a voice well suited to native American songs and ballads of Ireland and Scotland. "An evening in her company is akin to sitting in a friend's kitchen, drinking her wine and sharing her songs and stories. When it comes to an end, you feel at peace with the world." M. Tems, Taplas

Shooglenifty

As one of the key original matchmakers in the on-going romance between Scottish traditional music and contemporary dance sounds, Shooglenifty continue to set the standards by which prospective rivals are judged.
They're a band most naturally at home in the live arena, whipping up crowds into a rave-like frenzy from Bombay to Sydney, and The Arms Dealer's Daughter is only the fourth studio album of their decade-long career.

Following last year's line-up reshuffle, 22-year-old Luke Plumb steps up on mandolin and banjo with Quee MacArthur on bass, joining founder members Angus Grant (fiddle), Garry Finlayson (banjo/banjax), Malcolm Crosbie (guitars) and James Mackintosh (percussion).

The record ringingly reaffirms the acoustic and melodic heart of the band's music. It's not that samples, loops, programming and spacey digital effects have been abandoned, more that these approaches are integrated deeper within the fabric of the tunes, against a shifting backdrop of multi- cultural allusions: from a dash of fiesta-style brass to drum'n'bass beats; oriental sultriness to rock'n'roll belligerence. In some ways, the results are closest in spirit to the band's seminal debut release, Venus In Tweeds, while simultan-eously underlining how they've honed and developed their sound to stay ahead of the pack. Sue Wilson - The Herald

Skirler

The Skye contingent of the Peatbog Faeries plus another local maestro - need we say more!

Stramash

Stramash describe themselves as 'not so much a folk group - rather, a group of folk' and in the twenty or so years of their existence have championed the cause of traditional song whilst also allowing the occasional performance of Adam MacNaughton's own songs! They have performed widely at Folk clubs, Festivals and their affectionate tribute to McGinn of the Calton on STV is still fondly remembered. The line upfor the Festival was Finlay Alleson (fiddle, guitar, mandolin), John Eaglesham (song and concertina), Adam MacNaughton, Kevin Mitchell and Anne Neilson (song) - Bob Blair is unfortunately unavailable. Their performance at Glasgiow's Celtic Connections Festival this year earned the following reveiw: ' a big hearted outpouring of traditional music that shared memories with long standing followers yet speaks engagingly to the uninitiated.' and ' a bear-hug full of wit, wisdom and vintage music' Mary Brennan - The Herald

Trudge Euphoria

Trudge Euphoria bring you music that is what it is.Funky bass lines,chunky drums,electric guitar and rhythmic mandola back up melodic fiddle haunting flute and soulful fragile edged vocals creating a ‘Celtic tinged Indie Rock sound‘ that hits hard at the heart and feet. The album The Face That…was released in the spring of 2000.The summer of that year was spent promoting the album with various gigs throughout the Highlands and beyond,including supporting Kepa Junkera at the Arran folk festival,a slot at Eden Court Theatre Inverness as part of the Pan Highland 2000 festival;an appearance at the Lemon Tree in Aberdeen and supporting Donnie Munro at a large charity event on Plockton Airstrip.After several tracks from the album received airplay on Radio Scotland‘s Celtic Connections programme the band were invited to Glasgow for a live session on the programme in July.In November the band were approached by M.N.E.TV to shoot a video which was broadcast on BBC2 in May 2001. Summer of 2001 has seen the band play across the Highlands,including the opening gig of the Highland Festival and their first gigs in England.A tremendous reception was received at the gig in Cornwall,followed by an equally successful show at the first Roots,Boots and Hoots festival in Devon.This has led to the band being booked again for summer 2002.In late September the band are in Mull for the Sound of Mull festival.Gigs are currently being arranged in Ireland for October with venues confirmed for the Netherlands in late November.