Fiddlers' Bid are a
Shetland based instrumental group known for playing contemporary arrangements of traditional
Shetland fiddle tunes. The seven piece line-up consists of four
fiddles,
acoustic guitar,
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
and
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
/
Clàrsach
The Celtic harp is a triangular frame harp traditional to the Celtic nations of northwest Europe. It is known as in Irish, in Scottish Gaelic, in Breton and in Welsh. In Ireland and Scotland, it was a wire-strung instrument requiring grea ...
.
The band have performed at some of the largest folk festivals in the world including the
Smithsonian Folklife Festival
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, launched in 1967, is an international exhibition of living cultural heritage presented annually in the summer in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is held on the National Mall for two weeks around the F ...
,
Cambridge Folk Festival
The Cambridge Folk Festival is an annual music festival, established in 1965, held on the site of Cherry Hinton Hall in Cherry Hinton, one of the villages subsumed by the city of Cambridge, England. The festival is known for its eclectic mix o ...
,
Festival Interceltique de Lorient
__NOTOC__
The (French), Emvod Ar Gelted An Oriant (Breton) or Inter-Celtic Festival of Lorient in English, is an annual Celtic festival, located in the city of Lorient, Brittany, France. It was founded in 1971 by .
This annual festival takes ...
and
Celtic Connections
The Celtic Connections festival started in 1994 in Glasgow, Scotland, and has since been held every January. Featuring over 300 concerts, ceilidhs, talks, free events, late night sessions and workshops, the festival focuses on the roots of tra ...
, and have toured extensively including performances at
Melbourne Concert Hall and
Sydney Opera House.
Several members of the band play
Ewen Thomson
Ewen Thomson is a Scottish luthier, specialising in violins, violas and cellos.
Thomson was born in Fair Isle, Shetland, on 10 October 1971 and grew up in a musical family. At the age of 16 he began studying at the Newark School of Violin Makin ...
violins
Discography
* ''Around The World'', Fiddlers’ Bid Recordings (1994)
* ''Hamnataing'', Greentrax (1998)
* ''Da Farder Ben Da Welcomer'', Greentrax (2001)
* ''Naked and Bare'', Greentrax (2005)
* ''All Dressed in Yellow'', Hairst Blinks Music (2009)
Awards and achievements
* Band members
Chris Stout
Chris Stout (born 1976) is a Scottish fiddle/violin player from Shetland, now based in Glasgow. Stout grew up in Fair Isle and lived there until 8 years of age before moving to Sandwick on the Shetland Mainland, then on to Glasgow in the 1990 ...
and Andrew Gifford have both won the Shetland
Young Fiddler of the Year
Shetland's Young Fiddler of the Year is an annual competition held over two days organised by the Shetland Folk Society.
It is open to fiddle players 16 or under from Shetland with around 80 entrants each year. The most entries ever received we ...
competition
*
Festival Interceltique de Lorient
__NOTOC__
The (French), Emvod Ar Gelted An Oriant (Breton) or Inter-Celtic Festival of Lorient in English, is an annual Celtic festival, located in the city of Lorient, Brittany, France. It was founded in 1971 by .
This annual festival takes ...
, France, Winners of “La Trophe La Bolee de Corrigans” (1994)
* Scottish Folk Awards “Best Live Act” (2003)
[
]
* Australian Entertainment Industry Association's
Helpmann Awards nomination “Best Contemporary Music Concert Presentation” (2003)
* Band member
Catriona McKay won "Instrumentalist of the Year" in the
Scots Trad Music Awards
The Scots Trad Music Awards or Na Trads were founded in 2003 by Simon Thoumire to celebrate Scotland's traditional music in all its forms and create a high profile opportunity to bring the music and music industry into the spotlight of media an ...
(2007,2014)
*
Scots Trad Music Awards
The Scots Trad Music Awards or Na Trads were founded in 2003 by Simon Thoumire to celebrate Scotland's traditional music in all its forms and create a high profile opportunity to bring the music and music industry into the spotlight of media an ...
nomination "Best Live Act" (2005)
*
Scots Trad Music Awards
The Scots Trad Music Awards or Na Trads were founded in 2003 by Simon Thoumire to celebrate Scotland's traditional music in all its forms and create a high profile opportunity to bring the music and music industry into the spotlight of media an ...
nomination "Scottish Folk Band of the Year" (2007)
*
Scots Trad Music Awards
The Scots Trad Music Awards or Na Trads were founded in 2003 by Simon Thoumire to celebrate Scotland's traditional music in all its forms and create a high profile opportunity to bring the music and music industry into the spotlight of media an ...
winner "Album of the Year" for ''All Dressed in Yellow'' (2009)
References
External links
Official website
{{authority control
Shetland music
1991 establishments in Scotland
Musical groups established in 1991
Organisations based in Shetland
Scottish fiddling
Shetland fiddlers