The musical connections between three of Scotland’s island groups – Orkney, Shetland and the Outer Hebrides – are to be celebrated at this year’s Orkney Folk Festival, with two collaborative concerts featuring celebrated musicians and singers from each of the areas.
Leading western Isles vocalists Julie Fowlis and Kathleen MacInnes will appear alongside Shetland’s Jenny Keldie and Orcadian duo Saltfishforty – Douglas Montgomery and Brian Cromarty – in two unique productions over the festival weekend.
The five musicians will present a Between Islands concert on Friday, May 24, in the Stromness Town Hall. They, and the theme of connections between island groups, will then form the basis of the 2019 incarnation of the festival’s highly successful Gathering event, on Sunday, May 26, which will also take place in the festival’s flagship venue.
The Between Islands artists join a stellar line-up already announced for the 37th annual festival, including Four Men and a Dog; Lau; Cara Dillon; Dermot Byrne, Éamonn Coyne and John Doyle; Kinnaris Quintet, The Poozies and Còig, amongst many more.
These two special concerts are the first of the Between Islands projects – an initiative headed up by Alex Macdonald, of the...