Scotland’s first ‘Covid-safe festival’ up for a top award
Scotland's first “Covid-safe festival” is to compete with the Edinburgh International Festival and Celtic Connections for an event of the year honour at a major Scottish music industry awards.
Capers in Cannich, a smallscale music and glamping festival, was launched in May in response to Scotland’s strict Covid rules.
Staged on a secluded Highland farm, it was designed to allow music fans to spend their weekend in a sociallydistanced “bubble” and was the first festival to be staged in Scotland after lockdown was lifted.
Also nominated for an award is a single and video created in honour of Scottish rugby legend Doddie Weir and his fundraising efforts since being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease.
Five Capers in Cannich events were held over the summer at Invercannich Farm, near Beauly, in the Highlands, by Karl Falconer and his family.
The event, which is due to return in 2022, is in the running at next month’s MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards, alongside a traditional music showcase the EIF staged at Edinburgh University’s Old College Quad and this year’s Celtic Connections, which was staged entirely online.
Also in contention for the same award are Under Canvas, an outdoor festival staged by Eden Court, in Inverness, and the National Association of Accordion and Fiddle Clubs festival.
The awards, also known as Na Trads, will be staged at the Engine Works in Glasgow and broadcast by BBC Alba on 4 December. Public voting on the awards begins today.
Capers in Cannich director Karl Falconer said: “As a brand new event, it feels fantastic to be nominated.
“Bringing our Covid-safe concept to life for the first time was an incredibly exciting challenge and this nomination is testament to the hard work and vision of the team. "It’s very humbling to be in such esteemed company alongside some of the most iconic events in Scotland.”
Highland fiddler and broadcaster Bruce Macgregor put together a new “Scottish Folk Orchestra” to create Doddie’s Dream, which featured violinist Nicola Benedetti, his bandmates in Blazin’ Fiddles and trad stars Julie Fowlis, Duncan Chisholm, Aly Bain, Phil Cunningham, Ali Levack, Gary Innes, Douglas Montgomery and Brian Cromarty.
Inverness-based Macgregor said: “The tune actually came to me on Hogmanay. It felt almost like a hymn and quite optimistic, despite everything that was going on at the time.
“I was out cycling a couple of weeks later and nearly fell off. I just thought to myself: ‘Why am I mucking about when I could actually make some music to raise funds for Doddie’s charity?’
“The single and the video took around three weeks to record. They got so much support when they came out and Doddie's Dream got to number nine in the UK charts.
“People are now playing it on all sorts of instruments and it’s being played before Scotland’s games at Murrayfield this month.”