The first ever Shetland – Orkney Music Inter-county is due to be held at the end of March in ‘Fusion’, Kirkwall.

Three, perhaps four, Shetland bands including Syzmik Klive, Bitumen River and the Juvenile Delinquents, plus a number of local DJ’s including DJ Alex, will join their counterparts in Orkney for three days and nights of music making during the inaugural event, promoted in a partnership between Shetland Arts Trust and Fusion, Kirkwall.

Unlike their sporting equivalents this event will be non-competitive, taking the form of a showcase and celebration of the best contemporary music created across both sets of islands.

The event will kick off on Thursday 24th March when all the Shetland and Orkney bands will play a live set in Fusion. Shetland bands and DJ’s only will feature on the Friday night and Shetland and Orkney DJ’s will trade licks on both floors of Fusion on the Saturday night. Ticket prices etc have yet to be finalised, but will be advertised in the local press very shortly.

Shetland Arts Trust Music Development Officer Davie Gardner and Neil Stevenson the owner of Fusion said “We came up with the idea as a way of bringing together musicians from across the islands for a weekend of great music making. Orkney and Shetland bands seem to play everywhere else, but exchange trips between the two sets of islands are pretty rare. This will hopefully put that to rights and bring us closer together musically in the future. We thought that making it exciting and fun for musicians and audience alike was preferable to a competitive element”.

Davie added “Fusion is a top quality, new venue and is attracting a fair bit of national interest, so it seemed appropriate to hold the first music inter-county there. It would be great though if music fans from Shetland would consider making the trip down to support our bands and DJ’s and hear the Orkney bands and DJ’s too. We will also be trying to attract people from the national music industry to make the trip to Orkney to see what’s on offer in the most northern regions. It promises to be a great long- weekend all round”.

The promoters plan to hold the event every two years, with Shetland playing host to Orkney bands and DJ’s in 2007 although, if successful, it may yet become an annual event. It is also hoped that, although this event is mainly aimed at the rock music world, there may be a traditional ‘fringe’ event that could open up in conjunction with it, so anyone of this persuasion will be encouraged to make the trip as well.

For further information contact Davie Gardner on 01595-697550.