Ticket bookings for the UK’s biggest fiddle and dance festival, NAFCo 2006, are up a massive 60% on the previous festival as traditional music lovers from across the world prepare to gather in Aberdeen to see the biggest names in the international fiddle and dance scene perform.
Organised by the University of Aberdeen’s Elphinstone Institute, in partnership with SCaT (Scottish Culture and Traditions Association), NAFCo 2006 is set to attract thousands of visitors to the region next week. Festival organisers are looking forward to the busiest NAFCo yet with over 4,000 people expected to take part in events – breaking the previous box office record for the festival.
The line-up for the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention 2006 (NAFCo) is the most international to date with musicians and dancers participating from as far afield as Canada and the US, to Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Lithuania, Ireland, and all over the UK.
NAFCo is one of the world’s biggest events of its kind and takes place over five days from Wednesday, July 26, to Sunday, July 30 at the University of Aberdeen and other arts venues around the city and beyond.
This year, big international names in traditional music and the cream of local talent will be participating in a packed programme of concerts, ceilidhs, fiddle and dance workshops, and musical sessions. There will also be a series of talks, busking tours, and visits to local hospitals and businesses to bring the spirit of NAFCo all over the city and North-East.
Bookings have soared right across the diverse programme and organisers are urging those who would like to attend to book quickly to avoid disappointment.
Dr Ian Russell, Director of the Elphinstone Institute, and co-organiser of NAFCo 2006, believes the second NAFCo is the best festival of its kind anywhere in the world. He said: “We are really excited about how popular this festival’s programme has proved – people have booked from Australia to Auchterless!
“Aberdeen is the ideal setting for a celebration of fiddle and dance music and the city will be buzzing with musical influences from all over the world. The North-East of Scotland is renowned for its fiddle tradition and we will be sharing our own distinctive and captivating sound with international performers and audiences.”
NAFCo 2006 Highlights
A talented line-up of traditional musicians participating at the festival includes:
· Alasdair Fraser – a master Scottish fiddler whose dynamic fiddling and engaging stage presence have created international demand for his solo appearances and concerts. Alasdair has been a major force behind the resurgence of traditional Scottish fiddling in the US and his recent critically-acclaimed album, Fire & Grace, with cellist Natalie Haas, received the Scots Trad Album of the Year Award in 2004.
· Natalie Haas – vibrant young Julliard-trained cellist who has a worldwide following.
· Jerry Holland – outstanding Canadian fiddler and recording artist. Many of his own tunes are played in traditional repertoires around the world.
· Liz Doherty – traditional Irish fiddler, renowned teacher and academic.
· Fromseier Rose – one of the biggest traditional groups in Denmark whose album, Contradiction, won international acclaim.
· Annbjørg Lien is the star of fiddle music in Norway. Described by Pop Matters magazine as “moody, sometimes dark, folk music, punctuated by beautiful musicianship and artistry” and as “hauntingly absorbing” by The Washington Post, Lien is a truly world-class musician.
· Paul Anderson, based at the Elphinstone Institute where he is AHRC Research Fellow for the Creative and Performing Arts, is considered to be an outstanding fiddler in the North-east style and among the finest in Scotland.
More highlights from other countries include: Lithuania, Sweden, England, and Wales. The Scottish line up includes: Pat Ballantyne, Elizabeth Durness, Iain Fraser, Aonghas Grant (Senr), Christine Hanson, Carmen Higgins, Douglas Lawrence, Catriona Macdonald, Pete McCallum, Lauren McColl, Mats Melin, Sara Reith, Karen Steven and Lori Watson, and Claire White, as well as the Cullivoe Fiddlers from Yell in Shetland, Fochabers Fiddlers, the Orkney Traditional Music Project, and Aurora.
Other confirmed artists are available by visiting the NAFCo website at: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/nafco/
NAFCo will link up with a number of local, national and international arts and cultural organisations and has received the support of the City of Aberdeen, Scottish Arts Council, MacRobert Trust and Scottish Enterprise Grampian. The arts venue the Lemon Tree, will be the official NAFCo Festival Club where concerts, workshops and dance events will be held every day of the festival.
In conjunction with the festival, a conference will be held on the theme “Connecting Cultures” during which enthusiasts and researchers will explore the role of fiddling, fiddlers and associated dance in social, ethnological and musical contexts in the past, present and future. Several keynote speakers at the conference are both eminent scholars and outstanding performers in the field of fiddle music and dance.
Tickets for NAFCo 2006 are still available by contacting The Elphinstone Institute on +44 (0) 1224 272996 or email@ NAFCo@abdn.ac.uk or visit: www.abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/nafco/