Vast selection of Local acts and final Visiting act 2016 announced

It will soon be time to start planning your Shetland Folk Festival weekend of music and sleep-deprivation as the committee has just announced a vast and varied selection of local bands performing at the 36th annual event.  To complete their visiting artiste line-up, the committee is also announcing the addition of one final act from Scandinavia.

Fromseier Hockings from Denmark are a lively and impulsive husband and wife duo full of virtuosity.  They are two of the most well-known Danish roots musicians – Ditte Fromseier on fiddle and vocals, and Sigurd Hockings on guitar.  Drawing influences from Danish, Swedish, Irish, English and American music, they play old swingy traditional tunes and songs combined with Ditte and Sigurd’s own compositions.  Ditte has recently been awarded Musician/Singer of the Year at the Danish Folk Music Awards

Around 50 local acts will be featured during the festival, either playing at concerts all over the isles or entertaining the late night revellers at the Festival clubhouse in Islesburgh.  Concerts will be taking place in the local community halls at Cunningsburgh, Sandwick (Carnegie Hall), Tingwall, Whiteness & Weisdale, Walls, Voe, Sullom, Burravoe and Baltasound.  The Lerwick concert venues will be the same as last year: Clickimin, Islesburgh Community Centre, Mareel and the Shetland Hotel.

A specially formed and as yet un-named ‘Shetland Super-group’ will be playing at a standing gig at Clickimin on the Friday night alongside Scottish bands Talisk, Elephant Sessions and Manran (the latter performing for this night only).  The cunningly named ‘Scots on Da Rock’ gig will certainly be energetic and entertaining, and will have the audience ‘spanging’ until their soles are sore!

While children are welcome at all concerts, families will find even more opportunity to attend the festival this year with the addition of a dedicated ‘Peerie Spang’ standing gig for bairns on Sunday afternoon at Mareel. Adults will be very welcome at this fun afternoon session featuring The East Pointers and Elephant Sessions – as long as they are accompanied by a child!  This year will also see a continuation of afternoon concerts on the Friday and Saturday, which proved to be hugely popular additions to the programme last year.

Early memberships are only available for a few more days (until 29th February) at www.shetlandfolkfestival.com.  As well as getting a significant discount on concert ticket prices, early members will be able to book their concert tickets online from 6pm on March 21st – two weeks before sales open to the general on 4th April.  The Festival now operates exclusively with an online system for the purchase of memberships and concert tickets.