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Burns Night Ceilidh
Take your partners please for our Burns Night Ceilidh!
Join the Craigievar Ceilidh Band our Courtyard Theatre for a sociable evening of music and dancing. The seats will be taken out - meaning there's plenty of room for dancing!
Guaranteed to have you stamping, reeling and birling – their on-the-floor caller will guide you through the Dashing White Sergeant, Strip the Willow and other dances.
Featuring musicians from the acclaimed film Four Weddings and a Funeral this lively, fun event is not to be missed!
Event Note
If you have been to one of our Burns Night Ceilidhs before, this is a slightly different event. There’s no food this year and tickets are cheaper. You can buy a dram of whisky or other beverage from the bar to toast the haggis.
Courtyard Theatre
£16
Craigievar Band website
@nordenfarm
Photo credit: Andrew Scotland
Cara Dillon
This extraordinary, multiple award-winning Irish folk singer is joined by acclaimed musician and producer Sam Lakeman.
They captivate with their exquisite and enthralling live performance. Every note and word is sung with a passion and confidence earned through a life of experience singing traditional songs.
Their enviable career has seen them explore opportunities to tread many different paths – from releasing folk crossover albums on indie label Rough Trade, recording on Disney soundtracks to collaborations with orchestras and even leading dance DJs.
Cara has continuously chosen to firmly plant herself within the landscape of her Irish cultural heritage and that’s something to celebrate.
The pair's enduring partnership has ensured they have remained at the very pinnacle of the folk genre for well over two decades. This performance will feature a selection of acoustic songs from previous releases and may also include material from Cara's latest release Coming Home.
An intimate evening full of exceptional music and the genuine warmth they bring to the stage.
Courtyard Theatre
£27.50
Ainsley Hamill
Mix Heather Small and Julie Fowlis and you've got singer songwriter Ainsley Hamill.
One of the UK’s leading and most diverse singers, Ainsley has a long list of nods including the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year Finalist and Gaelic Singer of the Year Finalist at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards.
She represented Scotland at Eurovision in Gothenburg and has appeared at folk festivals the world over, including The Festival Interceltique de Lorient, Celtic Connections and du Bout du Monde for the last 10 years. Hamill has recently been included in The List’s 2024 Hot 100, of the most influential Scottish cultural contributors.
With the release of her debut feature album Not Just Ship Land. Produced by BBC composer Malcolm Lindsay, Ainsley showcases her songwriting ability, inspired by the surroundings and unsung heroes of Govan and Glasgow. Ainsley’s new album will be released in Summer 2024 and centred around trad Scottish Gaelic, Scots and self-penned songs that are inspired by the Scottish landscape and people.
Hailing from the West Coast of Scotland, Ainsley specialises in song writing and songs in Scottish Gaelic and English. Her love of Gaelic song was nurtured whilst studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Trad roots are close to her heart. With this new album however, Ainsley is exploring new sounds and ideas as she pushes out from these roots to create personal material that encompasses big topics close to her heart, including feminism and equality, while unearthing forgotten stories and places that deserve a voice.
For many years Ainsley performed and toured with folk bands Barluath and made appearances with The Unusual Suspects. During this time, her accomplished song writing skills were evident in Barluath’s two studio albums; Source and At Dawn of Day as well as various singles including Touch the Gate and At the Fair.
Ainsley is a current member of folk band Fourth Moon, performing Gaelic, English and her own material, as well as step dancing.
‘Her voice thick with velvet and mirk…hovering between the comforting warmth of The Breath and the whip-smart forlorness of early Adele…Hamill has a big intriguing voice, it’s Scottishness ever present’ The Guardian
‘One of the best of her generation’ RnR Magazine
Studio
£16 I £14 (Supporters)
Christina Alden and Alex Patterson
Rich music with intertwining harmony, sensitive accomplished musicianship and a creative song-writing style that is both delicate and moving.
Christina Alden and Alex Patterson are multi-instrumentalists and songwriters from Norwich.
Deeply inspired by the world around them, they have a keen environmental eye to craft stories with the natural world at its heart, reflecting on the relationship between humans and the wild.
They have enjoyed touring extensively in the UK and Europe; including a twenty three date concert hall tour with Show of Hands (including Union Chapel and St David’s Hall Cardiff). A show at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall for Celtic Connections, headline and main stage performances at some of the UK’s most prestigious folk festivals and performances in Norway, Belgium, France and Ireland.
They have written and self-released four albums, composed music for a BBC Radio 4 documentary series and have had over a million streams on Spotify.
‘A milestone for contemporary folk song writing’ Bright Young Folk
'A bright, lively collection of songs that plays so sweetly it evokes the sensation of
a summer folk festival' The Guardian
‘Perfectly matched harmonies...at times it’s hard to tell them apart, you could be
listening to a single voice’ Folk Radio UK
'Gorgeous harmonies and lush melodies...a beautiful album that transports the
listener to wild landscapes and wild lives' BBC Countryfile
'Alden’s voice is hauntingly beautiful' Folk London
‘Alex would give even the great Swarbrick himself a run for his money in terms of
sheer feeling and passion' At The Barrier
Studio
£16
Insta christinaaldenalexpatterson
Fb Christina Alden & Alex Patterson
Honey and The Bear
This British folk and roots duo bring folklore to life with delicately interweaving vocal harmonies inside a dynamic world of song writing.
With a diverse range of sounds and textures, and rhythms that flow from the fast and furious to gentle ballads, their live performances are spirited and enthralling. Conjuring stories in song, they tell tales of Suffolk folklore, courageous people they admire and their passion for nature, enchanting audiences up and down the country.
Honey and The Bear have been a tour de force on the UK festival circuit in recent years.
The multi-instrumentalist pair, comprised of songwriters Jon Hart (guitar, bass, bouzouki) and Lucy Hart (guitar, ukulele, bass, banjo, mandolin and percussion), are joined on-stage by band guests Evan Carson (percussion) Archie Churchill-Moss (Melodeon) and Toby Shaer (FiddleFlutesWhistles) who also feature on both Honey and The Bear studio albums. Together they have played at many revered venues and festivals across the UK as well as travelled across the channel for European shows. They played Sold out back to back shows at the world famous Snape Maltings Concert Hall to launch their 2nd album in 2021. Third album Away Beyond The Fret was released 3rd November 2023 with a UK tour and another sold show at Snape Maltings.
Studio
£16 I £14 Supporters (applied to basked once logged in)
X HoneyAndABear
Insta honeyandthebearmusic
Fb Honey & The Bear
Old Time Sailors
Ahoy there! You are invited to board the Sailorette and join the plentiful crew, 'The Old Time Sailors', for a night of footstomping, dancing and singing!
You will be sailing back to the 19th century for an immersive experience of traditional seafaring music performed in a way you have never seen before. The Motley Crew and their plethora of traditional and eclectic instruments will take you back to the time of clashing tankards, and drunken debauchery.
Sing and dance along like a drunken sailor as the band perform centuries old folk and shanty songs. Fancy dress is encouraged, so pull out your best seafaring garments me hearties and join the festivities!
Courtyard Theatre
£17
Insta oldtimesailors
Fb Old Time Sailors
Imar
Presented by RM Promotions.
The Irish / Manx / Scottish quintet are BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winners. They are amongst Glasgow’s hottest folk property.
They have a wide reaching fanbase throughout the UK, Europe, USA and Canada. The quintet have fast become one of the trad scene's most talked about group. It's thanks in no small part to their debut video L’Air Mignonne becoming a viral smash in 2016. It catapulted the group to the attention of audiences and media worldwide.
Their two albums - Afterlight and Avalanche - have since amassed a devoted listenership. Live audiences are transfixed by their collective and individual technical prowess.
The line up includes Adam Brown (bodhrán), Adam Rhodes (bouzouki), Mohsen Amini (concertina), Ryan Murphy (uilleann pipes) and Tomás Callister (fiddle). They all share a strong background in Irish music. It is a grounding that underpins many of Ímar’s distinctive qualities, in both instrumentation and material.
The shared cultural heritages between Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man are well documented: all three once shared the same Gaelic language, and a similar, clearly potent, kinship endures between their musical traditions.
'Striking musicianship, artful arrangements and sheer absolute delight' Songlines
'Genuinely jaw-dropping collective virtuosity supplied frills to burn' ★★★★★ The Scotsman
'The energy that’s seemingly bursting to let loose is tempered by a variety of instrumental formations and an attention to pacing that showcases the tunes’ melodic strength, and even when the floodgates open the effect is all the more exhilarating for the underlying control and musicality' The Herald
Courtyard Theatre
£20
Sorrel Nation
Travelling troubadour Sorrel Nation brings a soulful mix of folk-rock to country and engages audiences with emotive lyrics, 70s inspired style and a voice full of soul that can truly open the heart.
2024 saw multiple new releases from Sorrel including a single featuring Steve Balsamo in May, the delicate and beautiful live EP Thirty Summers in July and the critically acclaimed debut studio album Lost En Route in October. Sorrel performed at Black Deer, Isle of Wight and Cambridge Folk Festivals amongst others and continues to tour the festival circuit over summer with The Magic Teapot music venue in her beloved campervan, Dory.
Sorrel accomplished two successful UK wide tours in 2024, including her first ever solo tour in April and first full band tour in October to accompany the release of Lost En Route, an album Sorrel is immensely proud of. 2025 will be no different as Sorrel embarks on three tours and exciting festival appearances to promote her debut album and its release on vinyl in March.
And yes…Sorrel Nation is her real name.
'You have a signature voice, when I hear you sing I will know it is Sorrel Nation' Richard Elkington, Owner The Drawingroom Chesham
'Sorrel’s voice is off the scale stunning' Gill Tee, Co-founder Black Deer Festival
Studio
£16 I £14 Supporters (applied to basked once logged in)