Shetland Fiddle and Accordion Festival kept feet tapping till the 'wee smaa oors'
The 36th Shetland Fiddle and Accordion Festival has taken place in fine style at venues across the isles.
Here, committee member Alan Gifford has shared some of the audience reviews, while photographer Austin Taylor has captured the action on the stages and dance floors.
Opening: 'Well and truly under way'
Room 16 in Islesburgh Community Centre, the festival hub, was buzzing prior to the official opening, when chairman Peter Leask welcomed the packed hall and introduced Maggie Adamson who had ben invited to say a few words.
She highlighted what the festival had meant to her since her first festival involvement in 2001, when as a very young fiddler she was in awe of all the musicians around her. However, she enjoyed their company and how they encouraged her, and the fellowship and camaraderie over the years meant the festival was always one of the musical highlights of her young life.
After declaring the 36th Shetland Accordion and Fiddle Festival officially open, she was presented with a memento by committee member Alan Gifford.
Robert Whitehead and the Danelaw Band who had been waiting on stage then struck up with four lively sets to set the mood for he afternoon ahead.
Although not in the original plan, by popular demand e Adamson came back on stage to play, accompanied on guitar by Brian Nicholson. The festival had now gone full circle, as everyone, audience and musicians alike, were in awe of the talents of this brilliant young fiddler.
One of the most popular guests on the Accordion and Fiddle Club scene is the Nicola Braid and Gordon Haddow accordion duo. They were accompanied by Margaret Robertson on piano and Kevin Milne on drums. It is difficult to believe that they had each given up their instruments for 25 years before meeting up musically on-line about seven years ago. They have a unique style and and their harmonies keep them in great demand.
American fiddler Charlie Walden accompanied by his wife Patt Plunkett on piano played a few sets including some swingy rags, before Michael and Joanie Garvin on accordion and fiddle rounded off the afternoon with some swinging marches and reels. The tone was now set, and the festival was well under way.
Hamnavoe: 'Bringing the house down'
Hamnavoe was the venue for one of the rural Thursday night concerts, and to set the feet tapping we had the Callum Irvine Band kick off proceedings with, what else, a lively two-step.
He ended his spot with a set of Shetland reels, including The Laird of Gulberwick, written for the late Andrew Ridland.
Accordion champion Gary Blair from Glasgow was next, and his first medley started off with a well known Shetland fiddle tune, The Hen’s March Ower The Midden!
A versatile accordionist, he played continental numbers, and the ever popular Whistling Rufus, before finishing his set with an American medley.
Bryden Priest from Unst and Yell lass Megan Nisbet on fiddle and piano respectively then entertained with some great tunes including a beautiful air by Megan, and for one set they both played fiddle and were joined by Margaret Robertson on piano.
Their final set was a superb arrangement of piano and fiddle harmony, and received a great response from the audience.
The large stage was jam-packed for the next item which was the Shetland Fiddlers Society.
Originally formed some 65 years ago, they have a strong membership and their 17 fiddles produced a great sound with piano and double bass backing as they played a variety of old Shetland tunes.
Accordionists Nicola Braid and Gordon Haddow were the next to entertain, Margaret Robertson on piano and Kevin Milne on drums completed the line up as they included in their repertoire The Grace Renwick Polka with superb harmonies, before finishing with a set of reels including the crowd-pleaser, Ingram’s 35.
Fiddler Maggie Adamson with Kirsten Gifford on piano soon had the feet tapping with a set of Shetland reels to which she had added a modern influence.
She played The Isle of Innisfree with such feeling and empathy from the piano accompaniment, before bringing the house down with one of her show pieces The Hot Canary.
To bring the concert to a close Robert Whitehead and the Danelaw Dance Band took the stage, and they played a variety of tunes, including his tribute to Edith Malcolmson, The Dancing Granny, and the beautiful Eileen’s Waltz.
The festival bus then headed back to Islesburgh to allow any hub members to enjoy the dancing which would be continuing into the wee smaa oors!
Grand Dance: Many more youngsters get on the dance floor
The Grand Dance at Clickimin was once again a great success.
The two comperes for the evening, Charlie Kirkpatrick and Andy Philip, were introduced by chairman Peter Leask, and it was no time before the floor was full to the lively sound of local band Leeshinat as they kicked off with the first Boston Twostep of the evening.
As the night went on, local bands alternated with visiting bands, eleven in total, with dances ranging from the ever popular Boston Twostep, St Bernard’s Waltz, Dashing White Sergeant, and Strip the Willow, to dances maybe less common here but well known to the many visiting festival-goers.
These, like Postie’s Jig and the Virginia Reel, are now becoming much more popular locally. In traditional fashion the dance ended with a full floor to a Boston Twostep by Da Fustra.
Chairman Leask thanked everyone for attending, highlighting that, as in the last few years, many more young people are attending and dancing, as they are of course the future of the festival and the Grand Dance.
He also remarked on the resurgence of older Shetland dances like the Lancers, where nine sets filled the dance floor.
Then as the last notes of Auld Lang Syne died away, the band struck up with a final round of the Boston, and the crowd went off to catch up with some well earned sleep after a great night out.
Aith: Musicians leave crows 'spellbound'
Charlie Kirkpatrick, compere for the evening, in Aith welcomed everyone with his customary banter and introduced the first act, Langstrings, which comprised two fiddles and rhythm guitar.
They held everyone spellbound with some up-tempo tunes, as well as a beautiful rendition of David’s Waltz, before finishing off with a cracking set of toe-tapping reels.
Neil Galloway from Auchtermuchty, with Graham Berry on piano and Ian Adamson on drums, showcased their skills with a tight steady sound.
Their varied programme included jigs, marches, and a cheeky musette waltz.
Shetland Young Fiddler of the Year, Ami Grains, accompanied on piano by Kirsten Gifford, wowed the audience with a terrific variety of tunes.
She dedicated the lovely Over the Waves to her grandparents in the audience and demonstrated a first class talent which epitomised everything that’s good in Shetland music.
After the interval, the Cullivoe Band took the reins and gave a masterclass in dance band performance.
In time honoured fashion they started with a swingy two-step written by Callum Nicolson followed by a great mix of lively tunes.
Visitors from Chicago, fiddler Charlie Walden and his wife Patt Plunkett on piano, were a treat, playing a selection of Canadian and American melodies with a distinctive piano accompaniment.
The audience loved the different style from across the pond, responding enthusiastically to the classic Ragtime Annie.
The final act of the evening was the Wullie Scott Scottish Dance Band, who, with a full six-piece line up, played a few sets of jigs and reels as a warm up to the dance which was to follow.
Dunrossness: Bouncing jigs, swinging reels
The evening concert started in Dunrossness with Filskit, a lively young Shetland Band who bring a fresh vibrancy to traditional Scottish Music.
They blend fiddles, accordions, and rhythmic accompaniment to create their own modern flair, and the audience was soon caught up in their lively music.
Filskit were followed by a young duo, Bryden Priest and Megan Nisbet, who created beautiful harmonies on their fiddles, especially so in their slow airs.
Nisbet is also an excellent pianist, and this, along with the addition of Kerem Tekcan from Filskit guesting on accordion, produced a very special sound.
They talked about the inspiration they drew from Canadian fiddler Natalie MacMaster, and the influence of her style became apparent.
The last group before the interval was the Neil Galloway Trio, with Neil Galloway leading on drums and supported by Graham Berry on piano and Ian Adamson on drums.
Their individual talents blended to create a vibrant performance, incorporating reels, jigs, and soulful airs.
Local group The Heritage Fiddlers followed – their aim is preserve and celebrate the rich Shetland fiddle traditions. Their repertoire includes many of the older tunes which have been handed down through generations with their unique rhythms, and this is an excellent way to preserve Shetland’s musical heritage.
Da Gadderie are a lively six-piece traditional Shetland dance band whose members come from all over Shetland.
They comprise accordion, fiddle, and a strong rhythm section, and they certainly kept the audience’s toes tapping with a variety of waltzes, reels, and jigs that captured the true heart of Shetland dance music. An Irish fiddler who has performed here on many occasions is John Daly, and on this visit he was accompanied by Connor Connolly who is accomplished on both piano and button-key accordion.
They brought the full Irish experience to the audience with bouncing jigs and swinging reels.
The chemistry in their playing captivated everyone and kept the toes tapping.
To bring the concert to a close we had the Wullie Scott Dance Band.
Although a relatively young band, they have a wealth of playing experience, and their wide repertoire coupled with lively banter on stage made their spot one of the highlights of an excellent night’s entertainment.
Youth concert: Fifty musicians make for a 'cracking' concert
Saturday morning has featured a youth concert in the Islesburgh hub for many years and it is the opportunity for local music instructors to showcase their pupils.
Well over 50 players took part and it was good to sometimes see a pupil play piano accompaniment instead of the teacher.
The morning started with a young group of fiddlers and their instructor Kirsten Gifford.
Known simply as Kirsten’s Juniors; they were enthusiastic and one of their tunes involved a cup of tea and a custard cream – you had to be there!
Gifford explained that they were from different areas and this was the first time they had performed together – great playing from these young players.
Moving from a group to a duo, we had accordionist Ryan Johnson and fiddler Winnie Johnston to play three sets, starting off with the well-known twostep, Ronald Cooper.
Laldy were up next, with Ami Grains, Maisy Nicolson, and Sinead Jamieson on fiddles and Stella Manson on piano.
They included the catchy Pottinger’s Pineapple Polka, and a beautiful rendition of the slow air The Love o’ da Isles, which included beautiful harmonies and piano accompaniment.
Another fiddle group followed, this time the Forget-me Notes, with fiddlers Jayden Moore, Kristie Williamson, and Ellie Nicolson.
As part of their spot they played the slow air Quendale Bay with superb harmony.
They oozed confidence, and compere Alan Gifford remarked that their name might have been accurate at one time, but certainly not now.
They confirmed that this was their sixth festival.
Pauleen Wiseman’s group, Fierdy Fiddles were next on stage with twelve fiddles and their teacher on piano.
Their repertoire included a medley starting with the Dance o’ da Sooth Wast Wind and as with preceding groups the fiddle harmony was well thought out and performed – all credit to the instructors.
It was now the turn of the accordions and Alan Small had three pupils to play, starting with young Lowrie Nicolson, followed by Joe Robertson, and finishing up with Irvine Grains, who is the current under-12 Scottish accordion champion.
Another large fiddle group, the Treble Clefs, followed and included two Norwegian tunes in their set.
Accordions again, this time two players along with their instructor Bruce Peebles.
Ellis Johnson from Unst played The Carnival Waltz, and from North Roe, Willum Angus played some reels.
Instructor Kirsten Gifford then brought her Juniors back on stage as in the preceding hour they had been practising another item and were keen to share it.
Fiddles were set down, and to great support from the audience they proceeded to do The Macarena!
It was good to see young people so keen to perform in public.
Misanter, with Ryan Johnson on accordion and Christoper Brown on fiddle, played some lively sets, finishing off with the cracking reel, The Calgary Fiddlers Welcome to Shetland.
Three winners from the 2025 Shetland Young Fiddler competition played next, starting with junior young fiddler winner James Johnstone, and followed by intermediate traditional winner Zara Nicolson.
Last to play was Ami Grains who was both the traditional and young fiddler section winner, making her the 2025 Shetland Young Fiddler of the Year. Her slow air, Song for Paul, was outstanding. The final item in the concert was the fiddle group Stramash, who ended the morning on a high with some cracking music.
South Nesting: Finished with a flourish
A packed and sold-out South Nesting Hall was jumping with enthusiasm when compere Ewan Galloway opened proceedings for the second night of this year’s Festival.
First to take the stage were local favourites, The Callum Nicolson Dance Band, comprising Callum on lead accordion, Alan Nicolson on harmony accordion, Kirsten Gifford on fiddle, Victor Jamieson on bass guitar and Joe Hunter on drums.
This band are rightly revered, not just in Shetland, but throughout Scotland, for their dynamic playing. Indeed, almost their whole programme contained material from within the band, including tunes for this year’s guizer jarl, for fiddler Gifford and her husband Kevin’s recent wedding and a Scandinavian style Hambo , written for Norwegian accordionist Odd Arne Halas. A great set of reels finished off their programme.
Next to the stage were the farthest travelled participants to this year’s festival, the husband and wife team of Charlie Walden on fiddle and Patt Plunkett on piano.
They had travelled all the way from Chicago in Illinois to participate, having visited once before, a couple of years previously.
Highlights from them included the Buck Fever Rag, the Crooked Stove Pipe and the East Tennessee Blues to finish. As Walden quipped: “I may not be the best fiddler from the thousands there are in America, but I am the best in my price range.”
Next to take to the stage were Bruce Peebles on accordion with midi bass, ably accompanied by Graeme Garrick on drums. They rattled through some interesting local and Scandinavian tunes including a couple of original compositions comprising a Scandinavian style waltz, Sjofarsvalsen, and a tune for Peebles’ son entitled The Dalek’s Reel. The story behind that one is perhaps best related in person…. (sorry son).
The next act to take the stage were the popular and well known Ness Accordion and Fiddle Club which has players from all over the south end of Shetland. They comprised three accordions, three fiddles, bass guitar, guitar and drums.
Among the well rehearsed tunes they played were a nice old polka entitled Brasilia,
The Household Brigade and a grand set of Shetland reels to finish, concluding with the classic tune by Ronnie Cooper, Mickie Ainsworth. I
noticed the late Cooper’s wife Iris in the packed hall and I could tell that she approved. Murray Cowie from Aberdeenshire, via his current home in Orkney then took to the stage on completely solo midi accordion – again providing a different style of traditional music, with some interesting and well known older melodies.
Having heard him the night before, this correspondent noted he played a completely different programme on this occasion, so well done to him.
The next fiddle feature in the programme consisted of current Shetland Young Fiddler of the Year Ami Grains on fiddle, ably accompanied by her friend and Brae High School colleague, Stella Manson on piano.
Grains’ playing shows a maturity that belies her still teenage years, ably demonstrated by her sweet, yet powerful tone, in reels such as the Stomach Steinway Man. The highlight of her performance however, was her rendering of the beautiful slow air, Song for Paul by Joyce Reid.
This is quite an emotional piece and showed a maturity of playing far in excess of Grains’ actual age. Stella provided ‘stellar’ accompaniment throughout and also is going to be one to watch in the future. Well done lasses.
The final act of the night was the Ewan Galloway Dance Band consisting of Galloway on lead accordion with midi bass, Andrew Knight on fiddle, Alasdair Macleod on second accordion and Ian Graham on drums.
Galloway plays a lot of good tunes and included in this performance were well known reels by Iain MacPhail, some sing-along two-steps, and the original version of a Shetland favourite, The Sharpshooter’s March.
With a flourish, the concert came to an all-too-soon-end and the bus journey back to the Islesburgh Community Centre was as equally entertaining.
By Bruce Peebles
Sandwick: A comeback to revival Oasis
A good crowd gathered at the Sandwick Social Club on the first night of this year’s festival to hear a varied programme of music by a variety of different artists and bands.
First to take to the stage were the Westside Accordion and Fiddle Club, who all hail from, unsurprisingly, the West Side of Shetland.
They comprised four fiddlers, two accordionists, a guitarist, bass guitarist and piano player.
They gave us a good selection of tunes, starting off with a set of jigs, including well known tune The Astronaut (written long before there was ever any mention of a spaceport).
We also heard some Orkney polkas, a fine set of waltzes (whereby the guitarist swapped onto the saxophone to also play melody – which was unusual but effective), a set of marches and finished with a set of reels, including the grand old Shetland tune, Captain Peterson of Melby, by Frank Jamieson.
Next up was solo accordionist Murray Cowie. He made full use of the midi accordion, adding piano, bass and also drum sounds to what he was playing, which is pretty unusual and must put a bit of pressure on to make it all sound good and come together.
Cowie gave us a traditional selection of music, which he decided on just as he did it, saying he didn’t usually like to have too rigid a programme.
We had marches, Skinner waltzes, some popular sing-along two steps and finished up with a grand selection of dancey, traditional reels, which have stood the test of time .
Taking us to the break were local band Leeshinat, comprising Darren Stewart on lead accordion, his sister Dana Stewart on piano, John Leask on drums, Andy Kain on fiddle and Bruce Peebles on second accordion.
They launched into a modern Boston Two Step written by the second accordion player, The Johnston’s Golden Two Step, which is proving popular with some of the local dance bands.
What followed was a gutsy, good going selection of marches, jigs and reels, including cracking melodies such as The Duck, Tom McHaile’s March and Brenda Stubbert’s Reel.
Following a short interval , the next group on stage consisted of Liza Henderson on fiddle, May Gair on double bass, Alison Kay Anderson on guitar and the versatile Shareen Scollay on drums.
Henderson is a busy lady with a young family, who perhaps doesn’t play in public as often as she might. This is a real shame as she has a lovely tone and relaxed style, which is complemented very well by her musical colleagues.
She treated us to some very good, mostly local fiddle tunes, composed by the likes of Debbie Scott (Bouster Boy), Ronnie Cooper and Willie Hunter. A particular highlight was The Farewell Waltz, played with a real sweetness of tone.
Next to take to the stage were the Michael Garvin Trio, from Oban. Garvin plays lead accordion, with left hand midi, his wife Joan plays fiddle alongside him, while Steven MacInnes from Tobermory played drums.
The trio provided a predominantly west-coast based style of music, including the classic melody, Calum’s Road, which showcased Joan’s beautiful fiddle playing.
Michael showed how good an accordionist he is, using his left hand to great effect in the popular reel, Stomach Steinway Man. An absolutely beautiful set of well known Gaelic waltzes followed, and the group finished their set with a rollicking set of pipe jigs including one of this reporter’s favourites, The Famous Bar-a-Van.
The last local artist to take to the stage was George Spence on fiddle, accompanied by Tom Orr on piano.
Spence proceeded to treat us to some real fiddling fireworks, rattling through some great traditional Shetland reels and well known fiddle hornpipes such as The Fiddler’s Cramp and The Banks Hornpipe. He also showed a lovely, sweetness of tone in his rendering of a great slow air entitled Loretta .
In a poignant finish to his spot, Spence moved onto piano and played his slow air, simply called Iain. George composed this in memory of his late step-brother, who passed away in tragic circumstances in March last year.
This was the first time Spence had performed the tune in public and well done to him for both writing the piece and also being able to play such a personal tune in public.
The concert was brought to a close by a well-received turn from Sandy Leggat and the Carseloch Ceilidh Band. They comprised Sandy on lead accordion, Andy Kain on fiddle, Scott Nichol on second accordion, Steven MacInnes on drums and Tom Orr on keyboard.
Leggat hadn’t played with his band for a number of years at the festival and likened his comeback as something equivalent to that of Oasis! (Who apparently also did quite well recently.
Leggat does not hold back (never a bad thing) and we were treated to some great rollicking reels ,marches and two steps, which brought a nicely varied concert to a close, before the gear was packed into the bus and everyone headed back to Islesburgh.
By Bruce Peebles