Our 40th Anniversary

Hi everyone,

It's been far too long since we've seen you all and we hope you're all doing fine just now as we look forward to brighter days ahead.

While there may be no Shetland Folk Festival this year, we will be marking next week and our 40th anniversary (first festival was in 1981) in a number of ways. We would love people to join in virtually, despite not being able to come together in person as many of us are craving.

On Thursday 29th April at 18.00 (GMT) BBC Radio Shetland will broadcast a special programme hosted by Caroline Moyes marking the last four decades  of the festival, with music and interviews from the Radio Shetland archive. Locals can listen on 92.7FM while the show will be broadcast online through BBC Sounds.

Friday 30th April is the official 40th anniversary and we are delighted to announce a special night of live music in association with Edinburgh Tradfest. Titled 'Shetland Springs', the concert celebrates the distinctive and rich fiddle tradition of our isles and features notable players, Margaret Robertson (Edinburgh Military Tattoo), Chris Stout (Fiddlers Bid), Ross Couper (Peatbog Faeries) and show curator, Catriona Macdonald (String Sisters).  

For ticket info please see this link: https://edinburghtradfest.com/schedule/2020/5/10/shetland-springs

From Thursday 29th April to Sunday 2nd May we are teaming up with Promote Shetland to capture what the festival means to you. 

Here’s how to get involved: 

  1. Gather your favourite memories, photos, or videos of the Shetland Folk Festival. (Or for the more musical among you, get out and about and gie wis a tune).
  2. Share them and what the festival means to you on your own Facebook, Instagram or Twitter account along with the hashtag #ShetlandFolkFestival. 
  3. Tag @PromoteShetland and @ShetlandFolkFestival on your Facebook/Instagram stories and we’ll share some to our audience over the Folk Festival weekend.
  4. On Twitter, tag @promoteshetland and @ShetlandFolk, and we’ll retweet some there too. 
  5. We’ll also share some of your #ShetlandFolkFestival memories on a blog on the Promote Shetland website.

Please keep an eye on our social media throughout the weekend for more festival content and memories.

Aa da best and tak care!

Da Committee x