Edinburgh Tradfest will release a brand new recording and video of the popular Scottish/Irish song Wild Mountain Thyme on 1 May 2020 – the day when the festival would have kicked off this year.
The 36 artists on the recording include acclaimed folk musician and this year’s festival headliner Eliza Carthy; Fiona Hunter (Malinky), Rachel Newton (The Shee), James Mackintosh (Shooglenifty), five leading Shetland fiddlers including Catriona Macdonald and Chris Stout, accordion player Phil Alexander (Moishe’s Bagel), and Irish folk-singer Daoirí Farrell among others.
The artists hail from Scotland, Ireland, England, California, Nova Scotia and Norway and recorded and videoed themselves at home for the project, under the expert guidance of Traditional Artist in Residence (University of Edinburgh) Mike Vass, who arranged and produced the recording.
Taking on the enormous task of editing all the videos into a well-synced whole is Edinburgh videomaker Ruth Barrie from Waltzer Films.
The song was selected by Jane-Ann Purdy, Producer of Edinburgh Tradfest and one of the founders of The Soundhouse Organisation, and Dr Lori Watson from the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh; a key partner of the Festival.
Jane-Ann Purdy of Edinburgh Tradfest said:
We were looking for an uplifting Scottish folk song with a summer vibe, no easy task! Wild Mountain Thyme is very popular and, like many other traditional tunes and songs, is claimed by both Scotland and Ireland. It’s also well known in North America and around the globe with many, many versions recorded over the years. However, ours is the first to include a mass band from Scotland, Ireland, England, California, Nova Scotia and Norway! We are hugely grateful to everyone who has united to create this new recording and hope that it will bring some joy to music fans worldwide, during these difficult times.
Mike Vass (Traditional Artist in Residence at University of Edinburgh) said:
This was quite an unusual but amazing project to work on. Like everyone else I was gutted to have my Tradfest performances cancelled but this has been a really positive thing to put my energy into whilst confined to my Glasgow flat.
The video will be released at noon on 1 May on YouTube and social media.
The Festival is currently supported by the Edinburgh Tattoo Fund, City of Edinburgh Council, the William Grant Foundation and receives open funding from Creative Scotland.
The dates planned for Edinburgh Tradfest 2021 are 30 April to 10 May.