Karine Polwart

Refugee Week Scotland 2013 - A vibrant celebration of community, diversity and heritage

Line-up features Kevin Bridges, Malcolm Middleton, carnivals and gardening projects

Not just for those new to Scotland’s shores, Refugee Week Scotland 2013 claims to be ‘a festival for everyone’. This year’s offering has some stonking highlights, with a programme that ranges from big music and comedy acts to little sparkling nuggets of…

Admiral Fallow, Emeli Sande and Django Django nominated for Scottish Album of the Year Award 2012

Dam Mantle, The Twilight Sad and Lau also in running for best Scottish album of the last year

Admiral Fallow, Emeli Sande and Django Django are among the artists who are in the running for the Scottish Album of the Year Award 2012. They are part of a longlist of 20 albums, whittled down from over 270 titles by a selection of journalists…

The newly-christened Tradfest presents 'feast of culture in the Festival city'

Traditional and folk artists taking part include Karine Polwart, Alasdair Roberts and Shooglenifty

Tradfest is a new 12 day festival bringing dance, crafts, folk drama and environmental celebrations to venues across Edinburgh. The first under this particular name, the festival is organised by the Scottish Storytelling Centre on behalf of Traditional…

Karine Polwart - Traces

The collaboration-friendly folk artist's latest solo effort reaffirms her striking reputation

For all of Karine Polwart’s unquestionable folk appeal (the multiple awards; the clarity of her voice; the history and humanity in her songs) it bears noting that she has stolen the limelight in three of our finest indie collaborations – The Burns…

Five picks from Celtic Connections 2012

Featuring Zoe Muth, Jack Bruce, King Creosote and Jon Hopkins and Vieux Farka Touré

Zoe Muth & The Lost High Rollers The year in Americana 2011 belongs to Gillian Welch and the release of her album The Harrow & the Harvest, but amongst a promising field of young female country singers, Zoe Muth stands out. With her ear for an instant…

Interactive children's shows at Edinburgh Fringe 2011

Our tips on the best shows to get children up and moving

The Enormous Turnip, Magic Porridge Pot, Peter Pan on Dinosaur Island, Robinson Crusoe the Lost Jedi Knight Spotlites Theatre Productions don’t just dabble in interactive theatre, it’s their raison d’être. ‘Little ’uns come onstage!’ is the…

Fruit Tree Foundation - First Edition

Astounding group collaboration from some of Scotland's finest

(Chemikal Underground) If you’re looking for proof that Scotland’s musical voices are far-reaching and brilliant, then we cordially direct you to First Edition. It’s a stellar, cohesive collaboration from Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison, The…

The Burns Unit and Broken Records set for Celtic Connections date

‘Scottish-Canadian Supergroup’ peform at Glasgow's Old Fruitmarket

Kenny Anderson is setting the record straight. ‘Karine Polwart is not a folkie – she wants to try other stuff. And Emma Pollock is not just the indie queen that everyone thinks she is. And I’m not the … whatever.’ (Whatever he is, he is King…

Music Like a Vitamin - O2 ABC, Glasgow, Sat 2 Oct 2010

Rod Jones, Emma Pollock, Jenny Reeve and Karine Polwart

For their Music Like A Vitamin event, Idlewild’s Rod Jones and The Delgados’ Emma Pollock have enlisted a Scottish musical dream team to create a fundraising album. Coinciding with the annual Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, The Fruit…

Fruit Tree Foundation launches new album tackling themes of mental health

Alasdair Roberts, James Yorkston, Scott Hutchison and others record album

Sons and Daughters. Frightened Rabbit. The Phantom Band. Norman Blake. Perhaps because it sets out to encourage discussion of problems nearly everyone has come into contact with at some point in their lives, the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film…

Autumn highlights: The best albums and gigs from Scottish bands

The Phantom Band, The Twilight Sad and Errors set for action

The Phantom Band Chemikal Underground’s finest, most eclectic and most likely signings of recent years return with the follow-up to last year’s debut Checkmate Savage. The Wants is released on Chemikal Underground, Mon 18 Oct. The Scottish…

Folk-pop collaboration The Burns Unit deliver new album Side Show

Burnsong project supergroup delivers folk-flecked pop album

This is perfect evidence that locking musicians in a room and letting them get on with it is the best idea ever. That’s what happened when the eight members of this ‘supergroup’ were picked for the Burnsong project, and the result is this sumptuous…

The Burns Unit plays the Queen's Hall

Folk supergroup springs out of the co-operative music project Burnsong

Out of co-operative music project ‘Burnsong’ springs The Burns Unit, a band best described as a ‘folk supergroup’ — although such a title conveys a false sense of egotism about the members involved. The roster includes some of the shining lights of…

Alasdair Roberts, The Low Anthem and Buffy Sainte-Marie set for Celtic Connections

With Alasdair Roberts, The Low Anthem and Buffy Sainte-Marie all featuring, the Celtic Connections festival just keeps going from strength to strength, says Ninian Dunnett

The Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival

Still breaking barriers and bigger than ever

It started in 2007, with 40 fairly low-fi events, mostly in and around Glasgow. Two years on, and the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival is collaborating with major Scottish artists, musicians and writers, co-running events with the Natioanl…

Hitlist: Music

Speech Debelle, Music Like A Vitamin, NME Radar Tour, Pixies

Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival 2009 launches

Singer Karine Polwart is just one of the many names putting her name – and voice – behind this year’s Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. Now in its third year, the festival explores mental health in its broadest sense with almost 200 events…

Women in Harmony

Out of the Kitchen

Women in Harmony is a self-described ‘girly trio’ consisting of three well-established Scottish singers and instrumentalists, Karine Polwart, Annie Grace and Corrina Hewat. The trio grew out of an informal get-together in Corrina’s kitchen back in…

Fence Collective's Homegame: Homeward bound

In the ever-growing Scottish music festival calendar, the Homegame remains something of a well-kept secret. Despite a steadily increasing profile since its inception six years ago, the weekend, run by Fence Collective head honchos Kenny Anderson (aka…

Malinky

CELTIC CONNECTIONS In many ways the ever-growing success of Scottish folk outfit Malinky mirrors that of Celtic Connections, a festival the band have become inextricably linked with over the last decade. The band formed ten years ago from the vibrant…

Edinburgh Hogmanay music programme swells

One of Edinburgh’s newest venues is set to play host to some of Scotland’s finest folk acts this Hogmanay. The Picture House on Lothian Road will showcase Shooglenifty, Annie Grace, Corrina Hewat and Karine Polwart; alongside the award-winning Malinky…

Celtic Connections add to line-up

Celtic Connections have announced two more impressive additions to their line-up. Martha Wainwright and Teddy Thompson will perform a double-bill at the Old Fruitmarket on 27 January. A host of special guests have also been added to the bill for the…

Women in Harmony: Annie Grace, Corrina Hewat and Karine Polwart

Good things come in threes

Three haunting voices, harp, guitar, whistle and pipes, beautifully blended. Annie Grace (pipes/vocals), Corrina Hewat (vocals/harp) and Karine Polwart (guitar/vocals), are three seriously talented musicians in their own right – each with their own solo…

Karine Polwart

FOLK Eastgate Theatre, Peebles, Fri 11 Apr; Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Sun 13 Apr; Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline, Wed 16 Apr; Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Thu 17 Apr; Tollbooth, Stirling, Fri 18 Apr The life of a self-employed musician can be complicated at the…

Ceilidh Culture

FOLK Various venues, Edinburgh, Fri 21 Mar–Sun 12 Apr Ceilidh Culture, Edinburgh’s spring fling of acoustic music and the traditional arts has this year moved from its council house, and is now being run by a team from the Usher Hall. Rather than…