British Music from the Shetland Folk Festival
2nd - 5th May 2013

Shetland Folk Festival 2013 Episode 1 of 2
First broadcast: Sunday 09 June 2013

Analogue FM>Philips Tuner FT565>SD>PC>Soundforge>Wave Editor (splits)>TLH>Flac (6)>Foobar>Dime

As part of Radio 3's celebration of British music, Mary Ann Kennedy visits the Shetland Folk Festival, an annual gathering of musicians from all around the British Isles and beyond, performing in venues spread across the UK's most northerly islands. With concert highlights from The Long Notes, whose members come from England, Scotland and Ireland; a session with Ireland's Rambling Boys of Pleasure; a set from English bluegrass banjo virtuoso Leon Hunt; and fast and furious dance tunes from Scotland's Skerryvore.

Total Play Time 59.07
1. Introduction from Mary Ann Kennedy
2. The Long Notes: Beoga on Ice / Rockin' the Boat / Quebec Reel
3. Interview with The Long Notes
4. The Long Notes: In The Shadow Of Stromboli / Trip To Trecastle
5. Intro to ...
6. The Leon Hunt N-Tet: Roll On Down The Road
7. The Leon Hunt N-Tet: Ground Speed
8. Interview with Leon Hunt
9. The Leon Hunt N-Tet: 99 Years (and One Dark Day)
10. The Rambling Boys of Pleasure: Pretty Fair Maid In The Garden
11. Interview with Rambling Boys of Pleasure
12. The Rambling Boys of Pleasure: For Rose
13. Interview with Skerryvore
14. Skerryvore: The Showman
15. Mary Ann Kennedy: Chat
16. Skerryvore: The Ginger Grouse Jigs
17. Outro

Rambling Boys of Pleasure
Bernard O�Neill was born in Dublin. In the past twenty years he has recorded on over 200 albums on double bass, bass guitar and cello for a diverse group of artists including Rufus Wainright, Sinead O�Connor, Jeff Buckley, Natacha Atlas, Little Axe, Temple of Sound and Rolf Harris, for whom he has been musical director and producer since 1993.

Gino Lupari �the king of the bodhr�n,� is the frontman of Four Men and a Dog. As a percussionist and vocalist he has recorded and performed with Sinead ӒConnor and Shane McGowan and the Popes, and appeared in the BBC drama The Passion. A man of enormous charisma, if he weren�t such a fine musician he�d undoubtedly be a comedian!

Alan Burke made his name as the lead singer, guitarist and bodhran player with Afterhours in the 80s and 90s. Born in the heart of the London Irish community and setting out in life as a drummer, Alan has lived in Belfast and is now settled back in Dublin. He has become a fluent Gaelic speaker, with an almost inexhaustible repertoire of songs and a driving guitar technique.

David Munnelly is the Irish button accordion wizard behind The David Munnelly Band. �They are a creative force at the true epicentre of Irish traditional music� (liveIreland.com). He has toured and performed with The Chieftains and DeDanaan. He received the Composer of the Year Award consecutively in 2004 and 2005.

Sean Regan has been playing fiddle professionally for over twenty years now. Sean has been fortunate enough to have played and recorded with some fantastic musicians and bands like Skidoo, Pauline Scanlon, Sharon Shannon, Andrea Corr, The Mike McGoldrick Big Band, Damien Dempsey. Sean comes highly regarded, securing his title as one of the finest fiddle players in the music business today, and is instantly identifiable for his versatile sweet fiddle playing. Not only is he at home in the world of native Irish reels and jigs, but he is also a player with fantastic improvisational skills and is in high demand for session and live performance in all areas of folk through to rock music.

The Long Notes
Almost six years together, The Long Notes uniquely represent Ireland, England and Scotland � not only in their music, but also in their heritage. The line-up includes Scottish fiddler Jamie Smith (Beneche, SBO Band), Irish-born accordionist Colette O�Leary (Bumblebees), London-Irish banjo/mandolin virtuoso Brian Kelly (Shane McGowan and The Popes) and Sheffield-based guitarist and singer Alex Percy (Beltane). They all met through the session scene in Camden Town, one of the great epicentres of live music in London.

Leon Hunt N-Tet
Leon Hunt � Banjo
As one reviewer once observed �being the best 5-string banjo player in the UK must be rather like being the fastest �fast-bowler� in Virginia�.
Leon Hunt has, for more than a decade, continued to confound that notion (and the many stereotypes that attempt to confine the 5-string banjo to Bluegrass music) by making his living playing alongside some of the world�s top musicians from a number of musical styles, backgrounds and disciplines.
Leon has taken part in several notable �transatlantic� recordings; Miles Apart (2004), Shuttle Diplomacy (2008) and Fishing Music (2009). These projects have included some of the biggest names in American traditional music; Viktor Krauss, Tim O�Brien, Stuart Duncan, David Grier and Matt Flinner to name a few.
Beyond proving his Bluegrass credentials, Leon has found himself in a diverse array of other musical settings; occasional live and/or recorded collaborations with Irish traditional music�s Michael McGoldrick and Flook, African Kora virtuoso, Sekou Kieta, Classical mandolin superstar, Caterina Lichtenberg and English Folk singer, Kate Rusby.
Leon has also enjoyed being part of several major theatre productions for The Royal Shakespeare Company, Birmingham Rep, and The New Vic (search the web hard enough and you�ll find a very funny picture of him in a powdered wig and tights!!!)
If all of the above name dropping means nothing to you then for the purposes of this biog we�ll have to resort to Anchor Butter�s major 2008 TV advertising campaign (the one with the fuzzy felt cows), that was Leon too!

Jason Titley � Guitar
Jason is arguably the UK�s finest Bluegrass guitarist, his flair for improvisation and deep understanding of rhythm (he also plays drums) always makes his playing unpredictable and exciting. Jason is a long-time on-off musical partner of Leon�s. Most notably was throughout the �90s with the band Daily Planet. Daily Planet toured extensively throughout Europe and in The US and left three �landmark� albums in its wake. More recently Jason was involved in the �new timey� trio Rabbi John and toured the UK with the US virtuoso Tim O�Brien.

Ben Somers � Vocal and Double Bass
Multi-instrumentalist Ben plays bass and sings with The Wagon Tales by night and by day plays saxophone for the likes of Dizzee Rascal, The Gareth Lockrane Big Band, Seal, The Fire-Eaters, Dr John and many more.

Joe Hymas � Mandolin
Essex�s worst kept secret. A burning mandolin player and altogether fantastic musician. Joe can be seen with many of the UK�s leading bluegrass groups.

Skerryvore
Skerryvore first formed on the tiny lsle of Tiree off Scotland�s west coast in 2005. Back then, the band consisted of Tiree-born brothers Daniel Gillespie (accordion) and Martin Gillespie (bagpipes, whistles & accordion) who bonded with holidaymaker Fraser West (drums & vocals) and friend Alec Dalglish (lead vocals & guitar) over a shared love of music: everything from traditional to rock and iazz. It was this mix of musical styles and sounds that set the path for the band�s 2005 debut album, �West Coast Life.� The more the fledgling band experimented with fusing together this mix of musical styles, the more their signature sound evolved, aided by the arrival of Barry Caulfield (bass & vocals) and Craig Espie (fiddle) in time for their second album, �On The Road�, in 2007.

But it was with the release of self-titled third album, �Skerryvore�, that the band found themselves catapulted into the musical limelight winning a string of prestigious awards, including SNMA Record of the Year 2011 and STMA Live Act of the Year 2011, and garnering much critical acclaim:
�Skerryvore are the most promising young band in Scotland today� Mick MacNeil, Simple Minds
In June 2012 the band released what is undeniably their most polished and radio-ready album to date. �World of Chances� weaves together the band�s spine-tingling musical talents with the award winning songwriting abilities of frontman Alec Dalglish (Frankie Miller Songwriter of the Year 2011). At times uplifting, at times reflective, the result is a brighter, breezier, feel good sound that looks set to broaden the band�s appeal even further.

When not touring the different corners of the globe, the band, now with bassman Colin Cunningham, can still be found performing relentlessly, contributing to projects by Live Music Now (LMN), The Royal Blind School, Artlink Central and HMP Cornton Vale as well as special needs schools throughout the UK. They also feature in a current VisitScotland TV commercial aimed at international audiences.

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