Scots trad music awards are Dundee's chance to shine

The biggest awards in Scottish traditional music are happening in Dundee on Sunday, and it’s going to be a hell of a showcase.

BBC Alba broadcasts the Scots Trad Music Awards every year, as the glitzy night rattles through awards for outstanding singers, up and coming musicians, innovative bands and all the people within the culture and country who keep the trad music scene buzzing with vibrant life.

The whole thing is punctuated with performances from outstanding acts.

I’m presenting it in Scots, alongside the BBC Alba stalwart and brilliant singer in her own right Mary-Ann Kennedy, who’ll be doing the Gaelic segments.

Between the two of us we’ll slip in some begrudging lines in the Queen’s English too.

Image shows the writer Alistair Heather next to a quote: "Na Trads coming to town gives the city a chance to reckon with this national cultural renaissance. It’s also a chance to show off Dundee to a wide audience."

But no too much.

The event is yet another example of the positive economic impact of Gaelic on Tayside.

Just a month or so ago, the leading Gaelic competition, the annual Mòd came to Perth and livened up a sleepy week in the Fair City with evening gigs, daytime workshops and regular ceilidhs and sessions in the pubs.

That’s a lot of money through the tills of pubs – the Gaelic mob are a drouthy enough bunch when the moment arises.

photo shows torch light procession through the streets of Perth for the opening concert of the 2022 Royal National Mod — Torch light procession through the streets of Perth for the opening concert of the 2022 Royal National Mod. Image: Sandy McCook.

But the event also generated bodies in hotel beds, taxis, cash to caterers, to temporary venue staff, employment for local sound engineers, lighting engineers, and all the rest besides.

Scots Trad Music Awards are a big deal for Dundee

Na Trads – which is the shorthand for the Scots trad music awards – is even bigger. A lot of real money will roll into Tayside for these awards.

And frankly, anyone who hopes to reduce the value of our indigenous languages like Gaelic down to a mere profit-and-loss spreadsheet is already so base and mercantile, so devoid of spirit and soul, that they arnae worth bothering with ..

photo shows Alistair Heather and Mary-Ann Kennedy in front of a sign saying Trads — Alistair Heather and Mary-Ann Kennedy will be presenting the Scots Trad Music Awards from Dundee this weekend. Image: Chris Watt.

It’s just useful that we remind ourselves (when so many froth at the mooth aboot polis cars haein Gaelic on them) that there’s a huge amount of money produced when big cultural events come along

There’s layers of excitement for me of these awards being in Dundee.

One is obviously that I get to present them.

I will roam the boards of the Caird Hall introducing acts, smiling inanely, and applauding heartily.

I’ll be on the same stage David Bowie trod, just a few decades later. Some buzz.

black and white photo showing David Bowie on stage at the Caird Hall in 1973. — David Bowie playing the Caird Hall in 1973.

Another layer is just the tremendous quality of the musical talent that will be on display

NaTrads gets the best.

If you arnae plugged in to the traditional music scene – and many of us arnae – then you’ll likely no be familiar wi the names on stage.

Dundee, a big party this Sunday 🎉

The Scots Trad music awards return to Caird Hall

Tickets very limited, snap them up now! 🎟️https://t.co/7Mt78jCria pic.twitter.com/pUcl8p8YYd

— Alistair Heather (@Historic_Ally) November 28, 2022

But you’ll absolutely be blown away by what they can do.

Old traditions, new talent – and a prime platform for Dundee

For decades, an increasingly confident, rejuvenated and experimental tide has been turning within the traditional music scene.

Nae mair are we limited to foostie auld boys strumming oot wistful anthems of yesterday as the sum total of our national art.

Now the scene is youth-led, and super talented.

Groups like the The Shee and Kinnaris Quintet are doing things you just wouldnae have imagined.

And Dundee has, to date, missed out on this.

Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow have really buzzing sessions every single night of the week, where deeply talented musicians from all sorts of backgrounds meet and share tunes.

A few wee gatherings aside, we lack the real engine-room sessions that liven up the other big cities.

This is a bit of a shame in my book because we have such a tremendous musical and song heritage.

The poems of Marion Angus and Violet Jacob, for example. Or the singing of Jim Reid.

The recorded ballads from across the centuries demand fresh generations of singers.

Photo shows the musicians in Scots trad band Breabach. — Scots trad band Breabach.

photo shows singer Steve Byrne playing guitar at a microphone. — Arbroath born musician Steve Byrne.

Arbroath’s Steve Byrne won Scots Singer of the Year in 2019.

Monifieth’s Calum MacCrimmon has won four awards over the years with his outstanding band Breabach.

Na Trads coming to town gives the city a chance to reckon with this national cultural renaissance.

It’s also a chance to show off Dundee to a wide audience.

And none of this would be happening if it wasnae for our indigenous languages, Gaelic and Scots, which are the mediums of the awards, and a great deal of the songs.