A further 10 bands have been announced, today (27 August 2004), for the 2004/05 programme of the Scottish Arts Council's innovative Tune Up initiative.

Diversity is the key to this year's programme with Scottish audiences being offered a range of high quality live music including pop & rock, traditional, classical, jazz and world music.

The line up includes recent MOBO nominee for best UK jazz act Denys Baptiste and leading Scottish acts The Delgados, Battlefield Band, Dochas, Scottish Ensemble, Hebrides Ensemble and Phil Bancroft as well as international acts ranging from African guitarist Louis Mhlanga to Rajasthan's traditional group of musicians, Musafir.  The latest tours add to those of Eddi Reader and SLAM, announced earlier this year.

Collaboration is also a key part of this year's programme, with many artists working together on their tours.  Irish musicians, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, Sandra Joyce and Niall Keegan will perform with a Scottish Ensemble quartet to perform a mixture of classical and traditional irish music, while Battlefield Band will team up with musicians from Uzbekistan.  Award winning Michael McGoldrick's band will also perform with the bright new Scottish group, Dochas.

The final line-up was unveiled at the official launch event at the Arches in Glasgow where SLAM will kick off their tour that will see them playing to audiences throughout the Highlands & Islands.

Tune Up was established by the Scottish Arts Council in 2003 and provides funding to top musicians and artists to perform across Scotland with particular emphasis on including more remote locations that do not usually benefit from a varied range of high quality live music.  During the 2004/05 programme, there will be more than 60 gigs between now and August 2005 and the tours will visit venues ranging for Edinburgh's Queens Hall to Ullapool's village hall and from the Wynd Theatre in Melrose to Stirling's Tolbooth.  

Nod Knowles, Head of Music at the Scottish Arts Council, says: 'It is fantastic for Scottish audiences that there is such a strong line up for this year's Tune Up programme.  Tune Up is all about bringing a rich and diverse range of music to Scottish audiences wherever they live.  There are some real treats in the programme and there really is something for everyone.

'This year's programme looks set to continue the success of last year's, in which more than 14,000 people attended one of the Tune Up gigs.  Almost a fifth of people who attended the tours last year said that it was their first time at a live music performance and 90% of audiences said that they would go to another Tune Up event.  This is exactly what we hope to achieve with Tune Up in allowing more and more Scottish people to benefit from the experience of range of top quality bands from all musical genres.

The full line up consists of:

• Eddi Reader, September 2004
• SLAM, September 2004
• Louis Mhlanga, October 2004
• Hebrides Ensemble, November 2004
• Musafir, November 2004
• Denys Baptiste, January 2005
• The Delgados, February 2005
• Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, Sandra Joyce, Niall Keegan and the Scottish Ensemble Quartet, March 2005
• Michael McGoldrick Band & Dochas, March 2005
• Phil Bancroft Quartet, March 2005
• Battlefield Band and Uzbekistan musicians, May 2005
• Na Tri Seudan and Dannsa, August 2005

Full details of the tours including dates, venues and details on how to book tickets are available from the Tune Up website, www.tuneup.org.uk