School band graduate named young trad musician of year
A former school ceilidh band player has claimed one of the most coveted prizes in the Scottish music scene.
Calum Mcilroy was named BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician 2024 in Glasgow on the final night of the city’s Celtic Connections festival.
The 26-year-old singer, guitarist and mandolin player, one of six contenders for the award, was named the winner four years after previously reaching the final.
A trio he plays in with Megan Macdonald and Chloë Bryce had earlier won the annual Battle of the Bands at Celtic Connections on the first weekend of the festival.
Mcilroy, who joined his school ceilidh band for “a bit of fun,” went on to play with local groups like the North East Folk Collective and the Cèol Mòr Big Band, before studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
The other contenders in the final, which was broadcast live on Radio Scotland and BBC ALBA, were singer and step dancer Evie Waddell, bagpipe player John Dew, fiddle player Matt Tighe, and singers Ruairidh Gray and Ella Munro.
Mcilroy started playing music at Westhill Academy in Aberdeenshire in the lunchtime rehearsals for its ceilidh band.
He said: “It’s really wonderful and overwhelming to win, mainly because of the overall standard of the musicians in the competition. It’s been really humbling.
“I last entered the competition in 2020, but everyone who was involved in it didn’t really get to reap the benefits of it. I wanted to re-enter now that things are back up and running again and bring my new music to people.the number of previous winners who have gone to do incredible things and are still working in traditional music is testament to how important it is.”
The annual competition, which has been running since 2001, is open to musicians aged between 16 and 27 who have been living in Scotland for at least a year. The prize includes a recording session with BBC Scotland as well as the chance to perform at the annual Scots Trad Music Awards in December.
Winning the award has been a launchpad for a host of Scotland’s best-known traditional
music stars. Previous winners include the singers Hannah Rarity, Claire Hastings, Robyn Stapleton, Catriona Watt, Emily Smith and James Graham, and musicians Mohsen Amini, Paddy Callaghan, Anna Massie, Stuart Cassells, Ali Levack, Benedict Morris, Eryn Rae and Amy Laurenson.
Meanwhile organisers of Celtic Connections have revealed that one in three shows for this year’s festival were completely sold out.
Ticket sales were up around 15 per cent on the 2023 event as fans flocked to see acts like Chris Thile, Lankum, The Bothy Band, Valtos, Talisk,
Kinnaris Quintet and Eddi Reader.
Thirty years on from the event’s launch, an overall attendance figure of 115,000 was notched up across around340 shows and nearly 30 venues.