Category: Radio
2
Date: 06.12.2004
Printable version
Lauren MacColl has
won Radio 2Â’s Young Folk Awards 2004/5.
Ìý
Lauren is a solo fiddle player aged 18 from Ross-shire,
Scotland.
Ìý
The Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 2 Young Folk Awards final took
place on Friday 3 December in the unique setting of London's Union Chapel.
Ìý
Lauren's winning performance and highlights from the
event can be heard this Wednesday (8 December) on Mike Harding's
Radio 2 Folk Show (8.00-9.00pm).
Ìý
Lauren has now secured a special place at the 2005 Â鶹ԼÅÄ
Radio 2 Cambridge Folk Festival and Towersey festival and will record
a studio session for Mike Harding's Radio 2 Folk Show.
Ìý
Originally from the Black Isle and now studying fiddle
and Scots/Gaelic song at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Dance
in Glasgow, Lauren has been playing the fiddle for eight years, having
learned through the Gaelic Fèisean movement in Ross-shire.
The highlights of her career so far have been playing gigs in Italy
and Ireland and most recently playing for the British Ambassador in
Norway for the RSAMD.
Ìý
Among her musical influences have been the leading
exponents of Highland/Gaelic music such as Aonghas Grant and Iain MacFarlane
along with players from Shetland, Ireland, Cape Breton and the thriving
Irish music scene in Glasgow.
Lauren says: "It's still not sunk in, really! Everyone was so brilliant,
the bands and singers, I just don't know how they judged it at all.
They had a worse job than us, I think!"
Lauren, who also teaches fiddle playing, adds: "There were two
fiddles in my family and they both came from my mother's uncles who
I never met or heard play but there were two fiddles lying about.
Ìý
"I played the violin at school, the usual school
violin lessons. It was through the Fèisean movement, the week-long
summer school that I've been going to since I was - I think Primary
6 - quite young, anyway. That was just seen as holiday more than anything
but gradually got me into playing."
Ìý
Lauren is a full-time student but still finds time to
play in public: "We're actively encouraged that playing and even
going out to the pub for a tune is vital to what we're doing.
Ìý
"I think if we sat in studying books all the time,
that has nothing to do with musicianship.
Ìý
"So there's plenty of time for gigs and a lot of
gigs have come through the academy. I've been to Oslo, there's a Â鶹ԼÅÄ
tv programme that we all took part in for MME, that's on just now...
there's plenty of opportunity and they do all they can to make sure
that you've got the time to pursue your own interests."
Ìý
LaurenÂ’s prize also includes a concert spot at
the Association of Festival Organisers' Conference 2005 and a year's
membership to the Musicians' Union.
The awards are open to young artists aged between 15 and 20, who perform
traditional and acoustic music with roots in any culture.
Ìý
Radio 2 has been staging the Young Folk Awards since
1998.
Ìý
The other finalists this year were:
Ìý
Bella Hardy – a solo singer aged 20 from
Derbyshire. Bella has been singing since an early age, and started learning
the fiddle at the age of 11;
Ìý
Chillum – who are Thomas Wright (guitar),
Matthew Dean (flute & whistle) and Will Lang (bodhran), aged 17
to 20 from Newcastle and Leeds;
Ìý
Kathryn Davidson - a solo singer aged 19 from
Northumberland;
Ìý
Carly Blain and Rachel Cross –a fiddle duo,
both aged 18 from Kelso in the Scottish Borders;
Ìý
Kerfuffle - a four piece ensemble aged 15 to
17 from Derbyshire, featuring Sam Sweeney (fiddle & djembe), Hannah
James (accordion & vocals), Tom Sweeney (bass guitar) and Chris
Thornton-Smith (guitar).
