Tune Up Podcast
43 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 14 years ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingThe Tune Up podcast series accompanies the Tune Up tours. Before each tour, or just as it starts, the Tune Up podcast will bring you interviews and live music recordings from the musicians involved. Each tour presents something new as artists from around the world come together to take their music all around Scotland.
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Episodes
Tune Up Podcast 2008-2009: Episode 5: Graeme Stephen Septet
January 28, 2010 11:43 - 7 minutes - 3.68 MBGuitarist Graeme Stephen joins with some of the most creative and in-demand players on the UK folk and jazz scenes for this Tune Up tour. Born in Aberdeen and based in Edinburgh, Stephen is a sensitive and inventive player, influenced by the pre-bop guitar style of Charlie Christian as well as contemporary masters like Bill Frisell. He has won a number of awards including the Jazz Services Promoters Choice Award. In 2008 he was chosen for the Serious/PRS Take 5 initiative. Stephen currently ...
Tune Up Podcast 2009-2010: Episode 4: Breabach & Le Vent Du Nord
December 21, 2009 16:21 - 11 minutes - 5.43 MBBoth Breabach and Le Vent Du Nord incorporate classic instruments and take a fresh approach to traditional and contemporary folk music. Expect innovation in this not to be missed cross-cultural collaboration.
Tune Up Podcast 2009-2010: Episode 3: Frightened Rabbit and The Phantom Band
November 16, 2009 12:46 - 9 minutes - 3.5 MBTwo of the most exciting Scottish bands of recent years feature on the third Tune Up Tour 2009. The headlining act for the tour, Frightened Rabbit have been making waves globally over the last two years with memorable tours of the US and further afield. Joining them on the Dundee, Inverness and Stirling dates will be Chemikal Underground’s Phantom Band, whose Checkmate Savage album from earlier this year was met with critical acclaim. We chatted to Scott Hutchison, founder, songwriter, vocal...
Tune Up Podcast 2009-2010: Episode 2: Simon Thacker and the Nava Rasa Ensemble
October 22, 2009 17:53 - 15 minutes - 5.82 MBInner Octaves will feature specially commissioned chamber concertos by Indian composer Shirish Korde, whose music is an authentic presentation of his thorough Indian, Western classical and jazz training. Edinburgh based music therapy pioneer Nigel Osborne, one of the UK¹s finest composers, will also contribute with his masterful, modernist assimilation of non Western influences, notably Indian. The programme is completed by the music of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Oscar winner Tan Dun and ...
Tune Up Podcast 2009-2010: Episode 1: Edwyn Collins & 1990s
October 15, 2009 15:17 - 15 minutes - 5.82 MBIn 2005 Collins was due to take to the road with Tune Up when he had two life-threatening strokes. After an incredible recovery, during which he heroically battled the physical after-effects hindering his movement and speech he returned to the studio and finished the album he was working on, 'Home Again'. Within two years, he took to the stage again, having painstakingly relearned the lyrics to his songs. And in the last year alone, he has recorded six new songs due out in 2010, alongside win...
Tune Up Podcast 2008-2009: Episode 15: Alyn Cosker Trio
June 02, 2009 14:35 - 7 minutes - 7.32 MBOne of the finest up and coming Scottish Jazz musicians and composers takes to the road with Tune Up for his first ever nationwide tour - playing his own compositions with David Dunsmuir on guitar, Ross Hamilton on bass and a host of special guest appearances. Jazz musician Alyn Cosker has emerged as a regular on the Scottish jazz scene, known to most as the drummer with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and for his performances alongside numerous international jazz greats. Most recently,...
Tune Up Podcast 2008-2009: Episode 14: Session A9
May 14, 2009 15:49 - 8 minutes - 8.08 MBThis is a rare opportunity to see one of Scotland's folk super-groups featuring a phenomonal line-up of Charlie McKerron (Capercaillie), Adam Sutherland (Peatbog Faeries), Gordon Gunn, Kevin Henderson, Brian MacAlpine and Tim Egey... Named Session A9 because all of the artists originate from points along this road and in a fitting tribute to their heritage, alongside a real desire to bring the music home, the tour will follow the route of the A9 road, targeting less-established venues and tow...
Tune Up Podcast 2008-2009: Episode 13: Voyages De Nuit
May 12, 2009 16:03 - 9 minutes - 9.02 MBYet another inspired Tune Up collaboration, this tour will place Scottish-based flautist and singer Nuala Kennedy alongside the French flamenco-jazz group Azulejos. Featuring brand new material composed by Kennedy and Phillipe Guidat of Azulejos and tracks from Azulejos' new album La Fontaine Des Vignes on which Kennedy provides guest vocals, this is a rare opportunity for Scotland to witness the colourful, passionate and energetic music performed by international flamenco and world-jazz star...
Tune Up Podcast 2008-2009: Episode 12: Stairwell Sisters & John Sikorski
May 07, 2009 16:51 - 7 minutes - 3.52 MBThe very highly regarded US Appalachian Old Time band, the Stairwell Sisters hit the UK for their first full Scottish tour after a remarkable performance with Celtic Connections last year. With a knack for infusing the old music with intoxicating energy and soul, the Stairwell Sisters will play from new release Get Off Your Money and accompanying the music will be a unique step-dancing/clogging collaboration between Evie Landen and Scottish step-dancer JOHN SIKORSKI of the Scottish Step Dance...
Tune Up Podcast 2008-2009: Episode 11: Julien Arguelles & John Abercrombie
April 27, 2009 16:10 - 6 minutes - 2.81 MBAnother classically original Tune Up collaboration as one of the finest Scottish-based jazz musicians and composers Julian Arguelles teams up with the internationally renowned jazz guitarist John Abercrombie. Expect seven new compositions written by Arguelles alongside state-of-the-art improvisation delivered by four very powerful players and international jazz stars.
Tune Up Podcast 2008-2009: Episode 10: Going Across The Sea
April 15, 2009 10:58 - 5 minutes - 2.74 MBIt all started with a session. In August 2007, Betse Ellis and Tim Matthew sat behind the Famous Spiegeltent during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, trading Scottish and American fiddle tunes when Betse said to Tim "we ought to do this more often". These concerts will feature both traditional Scottish music and its American counterparts, and American music that influences current day Scottish musicians (and vice versa). Named for a traditional fiddle tune and song, "Across the Sea" celebrates...
Tune Up Podcast 2008-2009: Episode 9: James Yorkston & Lisa Knapp
April 01, 2009 16:41 - 7 minutes - 6.91 MBA collaborative tour bringing together two major names from the nu-folk field; James Yorkston from Scotland and rising star Lisa Knapp from England. Featuring work from new albums by each artist and with accompanying musicians drawn from the bands of both artists, this is their first Scottish tour. "A couple of my favourite aspects of being a working musician are visiting interesting places and collaborating with other musicians. Tune-Up allows for both - a great prospect. I've worked with L...
Tune Up Podcast 2008-2009: Episode 8: De Rosa
March 17, 2009 18:10 - 8 minutes - 3.78 MBDe Rosa's strengths lie in their ability to fashion unforgettable melodies from unconventional song structures; Martin Henry's contemplative, vivid lyrics - often referencing local areas from his native Lanarkshire – tend to linger in the memory long after the music has faded, which, given the scarcity of genuinely affecting music nowadays, ought to elevate De Rosa to the ranks of Scotland's finest songwriters. Following the critical acclaim heaped on their debut Mend (one of MOJO's Albums of...
Tune Up Podcast 2008-2009: Episode 7: Catriona Mckay
March 04, 2009 17:11 - 10 minutes - 4.93 MBNorway's leading Hardanger fiddler Nils Økland and Scottish harpist Catriona Mackay perform ancient and contemporary interpretations of traditional folk from Norway and the northern reaches of Scotland. Catriona McKay and Nils Økland have established themselves as two of the leading lights of the contemporary folk scene in the UK and Scandinavia. They are vital links between ancient musical traditions and the future; using the language of their heritage to create new sound worlds. There is a...
Tune Up Podcast 2008-2009: Episode 6: Hebrides Ensemble
February 11, 2009 14:24 - 9 minutes - 9.17 MBAs one of Scotland's most respected ensembles and foremost chamber group, the Hebrides Ensemble present On The Brink: a beautiful and powerful programme of music written in Nazi concentration camps that celebrates the flowering of the human spirit in the most inhumane of circumstances. On The Brink is a programme of music written between 1939 and 1941 that includes work by major composers Gordon Klein and Hans Krasa written when they were both held in the Theresienstadt Camp in Nazi Germany....
Tune Up Podcast 2008-2009: Episode 5: Rhumba Caliente
January 28, 2009 16:11 - 9 minutes - 4.17 MBRumba Caliente are one of the U.K.'s most exciting dance floor jazz groups with a unique and original Afro-Latin/Salsa-Soul sound. Led by Salsa Celtica's Toby Shippey and featuring Lino Rocha on lead vocals, the group were formed around the Edinburgh and Glasgow club scene bringing their mix of roots Afro Cuban, New York Latin jazz/soul, South American salsa and UK jazz to a normally DJ led club audience. Combining musicians from the heartlands of salsa (Venezuela, Cuba and New York) with s...
Tune Up Podcast 2008-2009: Episode 4: Arild Andersen, Paolo Vinaccia and Tommy Smith
November 28, 2008 15:43 - 9 minutes - 8.63 MB"The trio of Arild Andersen, Tommy Smith and Paolo Vinaccia is one of the most exciting new groups to appear on the European jazz scene in years. Anchored by the massively sonorous, muscular double bass playing of Andersen, who has been one of the major figures in Scandinavian jazz since his early 1970s work with Jan Garbarek, the group marries melodic invention with crisp rhythms and rich colouring. Scottish saxophonist Smith's tough yet tender tenor playing and Italian-born, Norwegian-based...
Tune Up Podcast 2008-2009: Episode 3: Under One Sky
November 21, 2008 16:17 - 14 minutes - 13.3 MBFirst premiered at the Cambridge Folk Festival in 2007 this Tune Up sponsored tour utilizes the myriad of styles currently within folk music and features instrumental arrangements, folk-rock ballads and a new Gaelic lament from Julie Fowlis, who lends her pure precise voice to the Scottish leg of the tour. The Under One Sky line-up also includes Idlewild front man Roddy Woomble, Iain MacDonald on bagpipes, flute and whistles, guitarist Ian Carr, award-winning musician of the year accordionis...
Tune Up Podcast 2008-2009: Episode 2: Catriona Macdonald
November 06, 2008 16:21 - 6 minutes - 5.75 MBCatriona Macdonald is a proud bearer of one of the world's great fiddle traditions, that of the Shetland Isles, and widely respected as both a member of Blazin Fiddles, founder of String Sisters and a gifted fiddler in her own right. This Tune Up tour brings a rare chance for Catriona to play many of the traditional venues which support the vibrant folk scene in Scotland. The concerts will be based around the new material found on Catriona`s long awaited new album Over the Moon with David M...
Tune Up Podcast 2008-2009: Episode 1: The Injuns and Claes Cem
October 09, 2008 14:45 - 16 minutes - 7.44 MBInjuns (originally from Skye) have an illustrious history of doing it for themselves: having self-released three singles and an album, joined up with the Kopparberg Collective for a vinyl release, and written and performed a musical based the love of a ghost for a still living woman, they now embark on a tour of the towns and islands that gave birth to their remarkable and inventive sound. They will be taking with them an equally outstanding emerging talent from Denmark. Claes Cem is a songw...
Tune Up Podcast 2007-2008: Episode 13: Best of Season Omnibus
October 06, 2008 12:36 - 52 minutes - 24 MBFor the 2007 to 2008 season we featured 12 tours: Brebach, Optical Identity, Shooglenifty and Tanya Tagaq Gillis, Roddy Hart and Leeroy Stagger, Fraser Fifield Band with Nedyalko Nedyalkov Quartet, Eska Mtungwazi Band, Reinventing The Reel, Aye, An Affirmation of Martyn Bennett, Club Tromolo, Burnsong and Differences in Demolitions.
Tune Up Podcast 2007-2008: Episode 12: Difference in Demolitions
August 13, 2008 16:40 - 8 minutes - 7.63 MB"Differences in Demolitions" presents a powerful story of conflict, greed and desire in a world surrounded by destruction and demolition. Hassan, a building worker, cherishes a secret love for Sevda. His family Han (an inn) is cursed. A mythical woman embroiders love, life and fate into a scarf which becomes torn. Sevda begins her journey which unravels, like the scarf, to reveal a tale of love, longing and revenge.
Tune Up Podcast 2007-2008: Episode 11: Burnsong
July 23, 2008 15:36 - 11 minutes - 8.33 MBBurnsong is a national project dedicated to promoting, encouraging and nurturing songwriting in Scotland. Established writers from a variety of genres are invited to live and write together for 5 days in the beautiful Dumfries and Galloway Countryside. The brave writers this time included: Karine Polwart, Emma Pollock, Sushil K Dade (Future Pilot AKA), MC Soom T, Kenny Anderson (King Creosote), Chris Difford, and Michael Johnston (all the way from Canada).
Tune Up Podcast 2007-2008: Episode 9: Club Tromolo
July 01, 2008 17:35 - 8 minutes - 6.38 MBClub Tromolo takes its brand of wonky cabaret, music and dancing on the road around Scotland. The List dubbed it 'The most original club night in years'. Witness amazing acts such as eccentric trombone-playing toff Sir Clifton Sainsbury who amazes with his cabaret within a cabaret and recitals of horror theme tunes on trombone; Miss Leggy Pee who charms her audience with easy listening classics and fashion circa 1933 and star pupil of Cirque du twattes scarey Belgium mime artiste Le Coq Sorb...
Tune Up Podcast 2007-2008: Episode 8: Aye, An Affirmation of Martyn Bennett
June 04, 2008 18:46 - 6 minutes - 5.72 MBMr McFall's Chamber is a flexible ensemble of mostly classical players for whom the lure of other musical styles has proved irresistible. They are well known for their eclectic mix of musical genres, programming classical and contemporary composers alongside rock, tango, klezmer and jazz. This effortless blurring of music's pigeonholes makes for an ideal partnership with gifted composer and multi-instrumentalist Fraser Fifield, who successfully combines traditional music with Scottish folk a...
Tune Up Podcast 2007-2008: Episode 7: Reinventing The Reel
June 03, 2008 14:49 - 7 minutes - 5.91 MBReinventing the Reel brings together an explosive mix of talent from Scotland's current wealth of world class traditional musicians. As well the unique repertoire of these two thrilling trios they will join as one magnificent ensemble to perform some brand new music with a contemporary slant on Scottish traditional music. Lau are Kris Drever (guitar and vocals), Aidan O'Rourke (fiddle) and Martin Green (accordion). They have quickly established themselves as a major force in modern tradition...
Tune Up Podcast 2007-2008: Episode 6: Eska Mtungwazi Band
April 23, 2008 12:12 - 8 minutes - 6.41 MBEska Mtungwazi brought her acclaimed band to Scotland for a series of performances around the country. Merging the boundaries between soul, jazz, folk and world music, Eska's unique vocal style and impeccable musicianship has guaranteed her fans around the globe after collaborations with artists as diverse as Nitin Sawhney, Tony Allen, Ty, Cinematic Orchestra and Courtney Pine. Her band consists of some of the most in demand players in the UK: Julian Ferraretto (Violin), Anselmo Netto (Mando...
Tune Up Podcast 2007-2008: Episode 5: Fraser Fifield Band with Nedyalko Nedyalkov Quartet
March 26, 2008 12:33 - 6 minutes - 2.78 MBFraser Fifield Band is one of the most distinctive sounding groups working in Scotland today and comprises: Fraser Fifield on low whistle, soprano sax and bagpipes, Graeme Stephen on guitar, David Robertson on percussion and Guy Nicholson also on percussion. The band grew out of the successful earlier line-up, The Fraser Fifield Trio which had been performing since March 2003 headlining concerts at important music festivals such as Celtic Connections, The Highland Festival, Rootin Aboot at th...
Tune Up Podcast 2007-2008: Episode 4: Roddy Hart and Leeroy Stagger
March 12, 2008 15:59 - 8 minutes - 6.66 MBIn a relatively short time, Roddy Hart has established himself as an important and influential emerging talent on the Scottish musical scene. At only 26, and with his eyes fixed firmly on re-igniting the merits of classic songwriting, his already prolific work has generated a substantial fan base. Following in the wake of artists like Dylan, Springsteen, Browne, Young and Finn, his guitar, harmonica and piano-driven songs impact on all who hear them and have subsequently earned him much respe...
Tune Up Podcast 2007-2008: Episode 3: Shooglenifty and Tanya Tagaq Gillis
February 27, 2008 08:51 - 7 minutes - 5.83 MBShooglenifty and Tanya were first thrown together at during a workshop in Yellowknife Music Festival, Yukon territory, Northern Canada. Since then they have collaborated onstage and on record, at The Salmon Arm Blues and Roots Festival, and during Celtic Connections 2007, where Tanya and the band stunned a capacity audience at the Old Fruitmarket. As well as recording two television shows, one for the BBC and the other for Mac TV, Tanya also features on Shooglenifty's latest CD Troots. Shoog...
Tune Up Podcast 2007-2008: Episode 2: Optical Identity
February 12, 2008 13:01 - 6 minutes - 4.81 MBOptical Identity is a daring work that combines chamber music repertoire with new music and visuals, creating music to be looked at... not just listened to. "flashes of inspired synchronicity that fired the senses into overdrive, even euphoria." The Scotsman The show features some of the best contemporary music from across the globe; Kevin Volans' White Man Sleeps with its South African influence; Franghiz Ali Zadeh's Mugam Sayagi focusing on a secret 16th century Islamic language, Rolf Wal...
Tune Up Podcast 2007-2008: Episode 1: Breabach
January 23, 2008 14:49 - 7 minutes - 2.96 MBBreabach blend double bagpipes, whistle, fiddle, song and Scottish stepdance to create an innovative Celtic style full of flare, excitement and diversity rarely seen in such a young group. Winners of the Danny Kyle Award Open Stage Award at Celtic Connections in 2005 the group have recently released their debut album The Big Spree on Vertical Records, produced by Capercaillie's Donald Shaw. In October 2007, Breabach set off around Scotland in a trusty old van with bags of instruments and ent...
Tune Up Podcast: Episode 11, Best of Tune Up 2006-2007
December 19, 2007 11:44 - 43 minutes - 31.2 MBThe last episode in the 2006-2007 season on Tune Up podcasts is an extended omnibus edition. Series producer Bobby Perman is joined in the studio by Stuart Thomas from the Scottish Arts Council as they reflect on highlights from all ten episodes. Hear words and music from King Creosote and Jeremy Warmsley, Dom Trio, Hebrides Ensemble and Scottish Dance Theatre, Burnsong, Bellows and Bows, Julie Fowlis and Jenna Reid, Tinariwen, Aberfeldy, Paul Towndrow Sextet and Shadowed Spaces.
Tune Up Podcast: Episode 10: Shadowed Spaces
December 05, 2007 15:12 - 6 minutes - 5.34 MBThere are places in the towns and cities where you live that exist not by planned design, but by circumstance. Their elusive ambience attracts those with nowhere else to go, and those who wish to go elsewhere. Shadowed Spaces is a tour of nooks and crannies like these, in your towns and cities: forgotten steps that lead nowhere, alleyways, old railway tunnels. They placed musical performances in these spaces that helped spectators to think about the continued need for a sense of privacy in ...
Tune Up Podcast: Episode 9, Bellows and Bows
October 18, 2007 16:02 - 5 minutes - 4.13 MBAly Bain and Phil Cunningham, who will embark on their 20th touring year together in 2007 are best summed up in the words of Mike Russell, who wrote in The Glasgow Herald "They are simply the best traditional musicians you are ever likely to hear" The Savoy Doucet Cajun Band Marc and Ann Savoy, along with Michael Doucet create and interpret authentic old-time Cajun music, from popular dancehall tunes to soulful ballads, drawing upon each member's rich historical connection to their native so...
Tune Up Podcast: Episode 8, Paul Towndrow Sextet
October 18, 2007 15:28 - 8 minutes - 7.01 MBPaul Towndrow Alto and Soprano Saxophonist, Composer, Educator, World Saxophone Competition finalist 2003 & 2004. Paul currently leads his own group, The Paul Towndrow Quartet, is a member of The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and has also performed with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. The Sextet took off around Scotland in summer 2007 with Tune Up. This episode captures some of their unique, quirky, character.
Tune Up Podcast: Episode 7, Tinariwen
August 01, 2007 16:42 - 8 minutes - 5.69 MBFeaturing spiritually uplifting melodies, beguiling guitar patterns and insinuating rhythms, Tinariwen's desert blues is at once bang up to date and timeless. Forged in the heat of the Southern Sahara, this nomadic people's songs reflect the daily lives of the Touaregs, a landless tribe scattered across the Sahara and into Libya by political change and conflict during the 1980s. Tinariwen formed ten years later, creating a new music based on their own traditions and incorporating western and...
Tune Up Podcast: Episode 6, Burnsong
July 18, 2007 15:42 - 7 minutes - 5.59 MBWhat would happen if you put 8 songwriters into a house for five days? Well, there was only one way to find out... In November 2005, Burnsong invited 8 writers from the worlds of jazz, pop, rock, folk and traditional music to write together in a Georgian Mansion deep in the heart of the Dumfries and Galloway Countryside. Boo Hewerdine, David Scott, Niki King, Emily Smith, Geoff Martyn, Marc Pilley, Riley Briggs and Sophie Bancroft picked up the gauntlet but with some trepidation – Who were t...
Tune Up Podcast: Episode 5, Aberfeldy
July 04, 2007 17:53 - 19 minutes - 13.9 MBAberfeldy are an indie pop band formed in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2002. The band are named after the Scottish town of the same name, Aberfeldy. Band Members: a.. Riley Briggs - songwriting, vocals, guitar, organ b.. Murray Briggs - drums c.. Ruth Barrie - keyboard, vocals, glockenspiel d.. Sarah McFadyen - fiddle, vocals, mandolin, banjo, glockenspiel e.. Ken McIntosh - bass In 2004 Aberfeldy signed to Rough Trade Records before releasing their first album and several singles. As well as t...
Tune Up Podcast: Episode 4, Jenna Reid and Julie Foulis
May 24, 2007 16:27 - 6 minutes - 4.94 MBHailing from Shetland, Jenna grew up immersed in the islands rich fiddle tradition. At the age of nine, she began to learn the fiddle, and was taught by the late Dr Tom Anderson. When fiddle tuition became available in schools, Jenna studied with the late Willie Hunter and was under his direction until the age of 13; during that time she was a prominent prize-winner in the 'Shetlands Young Fiddler of the Year Competition' and by the age of 14 had won both the intermediate and open sections of...
Tune Up Podcast: Episode 3, The Hebrides Ensemble and Scottish Dance Theatre
December 23, 2006 15:01 - 6 minutes - 4.74 MBHebrides Ensemble has built a reputation as Scotland's foremost chamber group, touring frequently throughout Scotland, appearing at international music festivals and broadcasting regularly on BBC Radio 3. Its concerts are acclaimed for their imaginative and innovative programming and for the outstanding quality of performance. For its work in 2005 Hebrides Ensemble was nominated for a Royal Philharmonic Society award. The Ensemble has commissioned and premiered new works by more than forty c...
Tune Up Podcast: Episode 2, Dom Trio
December 04, 2006 17:38 - 6 minutes - 4.93 MBThe Dom Trio, aka Omar Sosa, Dhafer Youssef and Marque Gilmore, enlighten us as to some of the things that drive them while on their Tune Up tour, with extracts of live performances (recorded by BBC Scotland) and photos (by Stuart Thomas).
Tune Up Podcast: Episode 1, Twisted Folk
November 20, 2006 15:16 - 6 minutes - 4.61 MBKing Creosote and Jeremy Warmsley share some moments from their Twisted Folk Tune Up tour, with extracts of live performances (recorded by BBC Scotland) and photos (by Sean Purser).