Barry Nisbet is a songwriter, fiddler, and guitarist whose music draws on language, history, and the sea — and how these relate to a modern, changing world.
His writing explores the lost Norn tongue alongside his native Shetland and an isles‑accented English; he recently researched and reconstructed the mediaeval Hildina ballad in both Norn and Shetland. As one of the Cullivoe Fiddlers, his fiddle style is distinctive and deeply rooted in place.
Open ocean, story, and atmosphere run through his work; nature’s power threads through shared human experience on albums such as The Springbank Voyage (2022).
When not touring, or travelling the seas as skipper and founder of the ‘Sessions and Sail’ project, Barry records and produces from his home in Cullivoe, Shetland. He performs solo or as half of Aespeniða, a new fiddle–voice–marimba duo.
