Simon Thoumire is a legendary Scottish concertina player, composer and the dynamic force behind the traditional music advocacy outfit Hands Up For Trad. A recognised virtuoso musician in his own right, Simon has performed all over the world, made many CDs with fabulous musicians including guitarist Ian Carr and pianist David Milligan.
As the Hands up for Trad founder, Simon will be presenting a showcase gig featuring a series of BBC Radio Scotland Young Trad Musician of the Year winners over recent years. And while we have one of the world's top concertina players here, it would be amiss not to have him perform for us too! Thoumire was himself winner of the prestigious BBC Radio 2 Young Tradition Award in 1989, and had established himself as a world-class performer by the age of 26 specialising in Scottish folk music but also demonstrating a real gift for both traditional Irish and jazz. Simon will not officially appear on the Sunday night Foys but who knows where he might pop up over Festival weekend. We are delighted to have him here and for all that he has done for young Scottish folk musicians. He will appear over the weekend with Mark Maguire from Deaf Shepherd and at Friday's Mareel concert, he will have some other friends in collaboration too!
“Saying Simon Thoumire is a concertina player is just like saying Lionel Messi plays a bit of football. There are just different levels that some people operate at. Simon is one of those that can conjure something beautiful out of the ordinary.”
Bruce MacGregor, Travelling Folk
Find out more at simonthoumire.com.
