This years ‘Shetland Fiddle Frenzy’ (Shetland Fiddle School and Festival) will be held from the 8th – 14th August.

Promoted by Shetland Arts Trust as part of their Music Development Project, ‘Fiddle Frenzy’ will again feature a Shetland traditional music fiddle school at the core of the event, delivered by some of the best fiddlers and fiddle tutors from Shetland, both young and slightly more mature.

The event not only delivers fiddle and music tuition, but also delves deeply into the cultural and social aspects of Shetland’s traditional music and dance. The emphasis is firmly on instructive informality and ensuring the ‘students’ have a unique, informative, personal, first hand experience of Shetland and it’s musical culture, according to Davie Gardner one of the organisers of the event. “Our aim is to increase visitor access to, and knowledge of, Shetland music, and for our students to leave the islands with a wealth of new tunes, new experiences, new friends and a much greater understating of Shetland and its musical heritage, not to mention the characters who shaped and still shape it” he went on. “Everyone who took part last year seemed to have a great time and learn a lot, so we will be aiming to deliver even more of the same this time around” he said.

Among the tutors taking part this year will be Jenna Reid (Filska) Chris Stout (Fiddlers Bid) Kevin Henderson (Fiddlers Bid) Margaret Scollay, Violet Tulloch, Alan Gifford, Bernadette Porter, Steven Spence, Brian Nicholson and Maria Leask (Shetland Folk Dance) to name but a few.

There will be special workshops on the music of Tom Anderson and Shetland’s great traditional music composers of the past including Ian Burns, Ronnie Cooper, Arthur Scott-Robertson, Willie Hunter, Frank Jamieson and Gideon Stove. Another workshop entitled ‘Isles Styles’ will study the music of Yell, Unst and Whalsay.

In addition to the tutorial element of the event there will be a series of concerts, dances, musical ‘lectures’ and unlimited informal sessions. The event will now also feature an annual international context. This year the ‘Frenzy’ will feature the traditional music of Norway, with 10 young fiddlers from the country expected to visit Shetland especially for the event.

Among the concerts being promoted will be an opening ‘Tutors Shin Ding’ in the Garrison Theatre on the 9th August where Quarff fiddler Jenna Reid will also be launching her new solo CD and there will be a concert and dance in the Cullivoe Hall, Yell on the 11th August headlined by ‘Shoormal’ also featuring the Cullivoe Fiddlers and Steven Spence.

The following evening there will be another concert in the Hillswick Hall, where the emphasis will be on the music of Tom Anderson and Norway. The main concert of the event will be held in the Clickimin Centre on Saturday the 13th August with a great line-up featuring Fiddlers Bid, Filska and the Norwegian Fiddlers. Any student signing up for the event will have the chance to perform live on stage with these groups during the concert to show off what they have learned during the week.

As well as the musical elements of the festival there will be a number of very informal workshops each day entitled the ‘Escape Plan’, where anyone who feels the need to escape the sound of fiddle music, for a while at least, can select from a range of other cultural entertainments including story telling in the Dunrossness Croft House, traditional dance tuition, a visit to the Cunningsburgh show or a visit to Unst including the boat haven and the heritage centre. Other ‘Escape Plan’ sight-seeing trips and tours will be available on request.

The event will be rounded off with a private ‘Survivors Party’ for all the students, musicians and tutors upstairs in Shetland’s legendary home of traditional music the ‘Lounge’ on Sunday 14th August. A number of local bands will be performing and there will be chances for informal sessions galore with all the local musicians and tutors who have been involved during the week.

Aly Bain, the main patron of the event, along with Violet Tulloch and Peerie Willie Johnson, said “There is a growing interest around the world in areas that have a rich traditional fiddle heritage, so where better than Shetland to promote an event of this kind. By all accounts the students who took part in the inaugural event last year had a great and very informative time and this year will almost certainly deliver more of the same, while again bringing through a number of new and entertaining elements”.

Shetland Arts Trust Music Development Officer Davie Gardner agreed saying “This year we already have students coming from America, Ireland, Scandinavia, Germany and the UK to name but a few places, so it would appear that we may have an international event on our hands here that will get bigger and hopefully more important as time goes on. There is an incredibly interest in the history of Shetland music and its musicians and this is a fun, informal while very informative way of providing interested parties with a first-hand taste of our musical heritage and what Shetland has to offer as a visitor destination”.

Again this year the Fiddle Frenzy will be happening all over Shetland. Anyone interested in taking part or registering as a student can obtain a full programme or further information from Jacqui Clark, Kathy Hubbard or Davie Gardner at Shetland Arts Trust on (01595) 694001 or by e-mailing david.gardner@shetland-arts-trust.co.uk  or admin@shetland-arts-trust.co.uk

Tickets for the various concerts will go on sale in July. Watch the press for further details of all Fiddle Frenzy events.

For further information contact Davie Gardner or Jacqui Clark on (01595) 694001.