Funding is music to ears for Tunes in the Hoose
Five months and 400 productions later, Tunes in the Hoose - launched on Facebook by Capercaillie founder Martin MacLeod, originally from Oban, and his son, also Martin - has been awarded funding from Creative Scotland to develop over the next year.
The 12-month development plan has two core aims: To enhance the appeal of Scottish music to the world market, and to allow all collaborators to gain and maintain extensive promotion of themselves and their craft, pending and beyond the worldwide exit from Covid-19.
‘Although the project will continue to be part-volunteered, the funding support has given us the time to really focus our efforts into the platform - something that I was struggling to set aside whilst also running my own business,’ explained Martin junior.
Tunes in the Hoose’ was inspired by Scottish musician, and family friend of the MacLeods, Peter Wood, who was posting videos of himself playing tunes in his home during self-isolation back in March.
Having seen the footage, Martin senior called his filmmaker son to ask if he had the technology and know-how to put a video together of him playing along to Peter’s video. The rest is history. To date there have been 411 productions and counting, 2.5 million views worldwide, 10,000 followers from 75 countries, and 800 traditional Scottish musician members.
‘We now have our own website (www.tunesinthehoose. com) which hosts all of our content, news and will act as a directory for musicians, bands and tutors to promote their talents and services for free - which will also be shared/ promoted through our social media on a weekly basis,’ added Martin.
‘Our Season One Tunebook is almost ready, hopefully the first in a collection of books that will coincide with our productions, allowing learners to play along with the existing videos and for pro/am musicians to play for dancing as the tunes are organised into sets.’
The productions will continue over the 12 months so long as there are willing musicians to share their talents, with competitions and virtual events planned for the near future.
‘One side-project that I am personally very excited about is Tunes TV, an online documentary series that is in development (self-funded),’ said Martin.
‘My hope is that we can produce a contemporary, cinematic and engaging series that captures fresh perspectives and turns the spotlight on Scotland’s hidden musical talents, all whilst introducing the world of Scottish traditional music to a new generation.
‘By the end of the 12-month development period, we hope to achieve all of our goals, whilst setting the foundations to create our very own Tunes in the Hoose Festival, so that the platform can be self-sustained and continue to grow.’
Visitwww.facebook.com/ TunesInTheHoose