Headline acts revealed for annual Solas Festival
Those behind an emerging Perthshire cultural showpiece have unveiled a series of eyecatching headline acts ... writes Craig Angus.
Solas Festival takes place from June 23-25 at The Bield at Blackruthven, near Tibbermore.
Lauded folk trio Lau top the bill for what has been described as the showcase’s largest programme of events to date.
They will be joined by Mary Ann Kennedy, Radio One favourites WHITE and Mercury Prize-nominated C Duncan – a former student at Glenalmond College.
Booker Prize-winning novelist James Kelman, Green MSP Andy Wightman, Scotland’s leading playwright David Greig and recently-appointed UNESCO chair Professor Alison Phipps lead a series of talks, debates and readings.
A new focus on performance, bringing more dance and theatre to the festival, will be headlined by the expressive Claire Cunningham.
Africa in Motion curate the film programme – a pop-up festival-within- a-festival celebrating a diverse range of shorts, feature and documentary films created in Africa.
And Solas organisers are also delighted to announce two major new international collaborative projects, pairing Scottish musicians with artists in Palestine and Ghana.
Last year, the festival sent Scottish artists Declan Welsh and Louie Bhoy to Palestine to perform at Solas’ sister festival Bet Lahem Live.
They toured the West Bank, and collaborated on a series of performances with a host of Palestinian artists.
Both musicians will talk about their experiences and perform the work created, and a film of their trip – by BAFTA-winning filmmaker Iain Hendo – will also be screened at the festival.
More acts are still to be confirmed, joining the likes of The Ha Orchestra, the UK’s only pan-African symphonic orchestra, The Spook School and The Van T’s.
Early bird tickets are available now and cost £95 for the weekend.
For more information and to see the full line up visit www.solasfestival.co.uk.