We are very excited to announce that Karine Polwart will return to the Orkney Folk Festival in 2020!
Last seen at the festival back in 2009, Karine is a multi-award-winning Scottish songwriter and musician, as well as theatre-maker, storyteller, spoken-word performer and published essayist.
Her talent for crafting enduring melodies, her gift for saying just enough without overstating her case, the game and dynamism of her arrangements, all come together in songs of powerful contemporary relevance. Hers is also the most approachable of singing voices, drawing the listener towards her as if a fireside storyteller.
In October 2019, her song I Burn But I Am Not Consumed – from the heralded 2018 album, Laws of Motion – earned Karine her eighth BBC Radio 2 Folk Award, this time for Best Original Track.
She has also recently completed a tour of her acclaimed Scottish Songbook project – folky reimaginings of beloved songs from across fifty years of Scottish pop, from artists as diverse as Deacon Blue, Chvrches, Frightened Rabbit and John Martyn – whilst in March 2020 she will, by popular demand, reprise her five-star theatre show, Wind Resistance, at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. First produced for the 2016 Edinburgh International Festival, the exquisite piece has become a favourite with audiences all over the country, and inspired a record shortlisted for Scottish Album of the Year.
Karine returns to Orkney with her trio, featuring long-time musical collaborators Steven Polwart and Inge Thomson.