The BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician competition has run annually since 2001. It exists to encourage young musicians to keep their tradition alive and to provide performance opportunities, tools and advice to help contestants make a career in traditional music. Former winners include

Hannah Rarity Hannah Rarity is a Scottish singer and songwriter from Dechmont, West Lothian. In 2018, she was the winner of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician award, and her debut album ''Neath the Gloaming Star'' was nominated for Album of the ...

, Mohsen Amini, Robyn Stapleton, Shona Mooney and Emily Smith.

Competition

The competition was started in 2000 by

Simon Thoumire Simon Thoumire is a Scottish musician and an English concertina virtuoso. Thoumire has played all over the world. A winner of the BBC Radio 2 Young Tradition Award in 1989,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 trad ...

festival.

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish national radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 N ...

started to support the award the following year, and has continued to do so. The award is organised and run by

Hands Up for Trad The Scots Trad Music Awards or Na Trads were founded in 2003 by Simon Thoumire to celebrate Scotland's Music of Scotland, traditional music in all its forms and create a high profile opportunity to bring the music and music industry into the spo ...

on behalf of

. The usual format of the award is a residential weekend in October at Wiston Lodge,

South Lanarkshire South Lanarkshire (; ) is one of 32 unitary authorities of Scotland. It borders the south-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains some of Greater Glasgow's suburban towns, as well as many rural towns and villages. It also shares bor ...

for twelve semi-finalists. From there, six are selected to go on to a final concert, where the winner is chosen by a panel of judges. Since 2007, the final concert has been held in

Glasgow City Halls Glasgow's City Halls and Old Fruitmarket is a concert hall and former market located on Candleriggs, in the Merchant City, Glasgow, Scotland. History The City Halls are part of a market complex designed by John Carrick in 1882, but the grand ha ...

on the last day of the

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 trad ...

festival, and broadcast live on BBC Radio Scotland. Between 2012 and 2015 the final concert was also televised on

BBC Alba BBC Alba is a Scottish Gaelic-language free-to-air public broadcast television channel jointly owned by the BBC and MG Alba. The channel was launched on 19 September 2008 and is on-air for up to seven hours a day. The name ' is the Scottish Gae ...

. The presenter was initially Mary Ann Kennedy, replaced in 2016 by Bruce MacGregor. From 2020 the final concert was again televised on BBC Alba with Joy Dunlop giving Gaelic commentary alongside MacGregor. The semi-finals of the 2021 competition took place in October 2020 during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Instead of the Wiston Lodge weekend, the entrants performed in the foyer of the

BBC Pacific Quay BBC Pacific Quay is the headquarters of BBC Scotland, serving as its main television and radio studio complex, situated at Pacific Quay, Glasgow, Scotland. Opened by then Prime Minister Gordon Brown on 20 September 2007, the building was des ...

building, with no audience. The eligibility criteria are that the contestant is aged between 16 and 27, and is normally resident in Scotland or has lived in Scotland for five years. This age range is more extended than the similarly titled

BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award The BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award is an annual competition for young folk musicians in the United Kingdom. It was first awarded in 1988 as the Young Tradition Award, taking its present name in 1998. Recent winners of the award include Maddie Mo ...

. That award is open to all

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

residents, but its age range is just 16 to 21. Hence the contestants for the Scottish award are usually more advanced musicians, often students or graduates of one of the degrees in traditional music such as the

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama () is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and film in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a member of the Federation of Drama Schools. Founde ...

's BMus with Honours (Traditional music), and already established in a professional career in music. While the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award uses the umbrella term "folk", the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician award is specifically for a Scottish musician performing the music of their own tradition, though not necessarily Scottish traditional music. The TMSA Young Trad Tour is an annual tour of Scotland by the finalists and the previous year's winner, organised by the Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland, and supported by

Creative Scotland Creative Scotland ( ; ) is the development body for the arts and creative industries in Scotland. Based in Edinburgh, it is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the execut ...

. The destinations include the

festival and the hometowns of each of the finalists. The musicians also make an album together.

Award winners and nominees

Winners are listed first and marked with a blue riband ().

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bbc Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician BBC Radio Scotland programmes BBC Alba shows Awards established in 2001 Folk music awards Annual events in Glasgow Music competitions in the United Kingdom 2001 establishments in Scotland Scottish folk music Scottish awards Early career awards Recurring events established in 2001 Annual events in Scotland Young Traditional Musician

Competition

Award winners and nominees

See also

Notes

References

External links