Where has the time gone...
It's been a while since I've had time to attend this blog. A lot of things have happened in the last few months. One of the main things is that the Scots Trad Music Awards is going to be on the telly! The new Gaelic Channel (BBC) which is launched in September has come on board and will broadcast the show in December. The Awards are on the 6th December in Glasgow's Fruitmarket and the show will go out the following week. We're also filming a 'Winners' concert on the Sunday night (no venue as of yet) and having a ceilidh on the Friday (Fruitmarket).
The guests so far for the Saturday night are Capercaillie, Karine Polwart, Lau, Breabach, Session A9, Jimmy Shand 100th Birthday tribute, St Rochs Ceilidh Band and more to come. Should be great fun. We're still waiting to announce the inductees for the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame.
The Young Trad Award first stage closes this week. I'm looking forward to seeing the many entries this year and getting the process underway.
We've been doing lots of updating on Foot Stompin' (www.footstompin.com) and we've now added audio clips to all of the CDs. It looks amazing and we've fixed it that when you do a search for a band/performer etc you can automatically hear a clip of all the CDs. The site is now audiotastic and there can't be many like it! It was exhausting work though but it is definitely worth it.
I attended the launch of Homecoming Scotland 2009 (http://www.homecomingscotland2009.com/default.aspx) a couple of weeks back. This is a great intiative from the Scottish Goverment that was created to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns birth but has been widened to look at all things Scottish. It lasts from the 25th January to the 30th November and its aim is to bring back as many Scots and their relatives (the diaspora) to Scotland throughout the year. The Scots Trad Music Awards are part of the final weekend where we'll be in Dumfries for the final weekend of the event.
I'm writing this from Tinto Summer School. It is always great to see the kids coming back year on year, a year older. We're very lucky to have a great bunch of kids and tutors. Hopefully the weather will stay good and tonight's rain will be the last!
