Twelve of Scotland’s best known folk groups and musicians have teamed up to present digital performances and send greetings from across the country to audiences at leading festivals around the world.
During what would usually be the peak of the summer festival season, a host of Scottish artists - including leading names such as Blue Rose Code, Niteworks and Skerryvore, and recent award-winners Elephant Sessions, Zoë Bestel and Fara - have each recorded a five-minute ‘Postcard from Scotland’, which will be broadcast as a 60-minute special via a number of festivals’ online programmes.
World-renowned festivals including the Hebridean Celtic Festival, Festival Interceltique Lorient, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, Towersey Festival in England and Finland’s Kaustinen Folk Music Festival - amongst many more - will present the films, created to enable artists to connect with international audiences when they are still unable to tour.
The first of its kind project was brought together by Showcase Scotland Expo in 2020 when no live festivals were able to go ahead. It was so well received that the decision was made to do a second edition since Scottish artists are still unable to travel the world playing to global audiences. Postcards from Scotland will showcase not only a diverse range of Scottish artists, but also a range of locations throughout Scotland to international audiences – from Galloway to Orkney.
The 12 postcards feature newly filmed greetings backed by iconic Scottish landmarks representing the artists’ home locations, each followed by a set of tunes or a song - altogether creating a stunning programme of Scottish music, song and scenery.
The full Postcards from Scotland programme will feature: Blue Rose Code, Eabhal, Gnoss, Iona Fyfe, Elephant Sessions, Ryan Young, Skerryvore, The Jellyman’s Daughter, The Outside Track, Niteworks, Fara and Zoë Bestel.
Supported by Creative Scotland, Showcase Scotland Expo works to promote the international export of Scottish-based musicians working in the genres of folk, traditional and world music. Most often this is via targeted industry showcases and presentations at key conferences worldwide. During the Covid pandemic Showcase Scotland Expo has pivoted to a number of online initiatives in a bid to ensure that Scottish artists’ profiles remain high amongst international markets with both audiences and bookers.
Showcase Scotland Expo Executive Producer, Lisa Whytock said: “We are immensely grateful to all of the festivals and venues for working us to present Postcards from Scotland. Now more than ever, it is vitally important that we are able to support artists in connecting with audiences, and - going by the feedback from our international community - this certainly seems to be a great way to do that.”