Scots singer of the year to perform at MOKFest
The MG Alba Scots Singer of the Year 2021 will rouse a Campbeltown crowd at this year’s Mull of Kintyre Music Festival (MOKFest).
Classical and folk musician Ellie Beaton will be joined by guitarist Gillie O’Flaherty to open this year’s Traditional Concert on Saturday August 20.
The Campbeltown Heritage Centre event, part of a packed five-day festival line-up, will be headlined by renowned fiddle and accordion duo Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham, who have become MOKFest regulars.
Hailing from Rothienorman in Aberdeenshire, Ellie is one of Scotland’s most exciting young singers.
Having been brought up immersed in the deeply rooted traditions of the northeast of Scotland, she has a varied repertoire of folk and bothy ballads.
In early 2021, she was a finalist in the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year contest and, in December, she was named Scots Singer of the Year at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards.
She will be joined on stage by Ullapool guitarist Gillie, alongside whom she studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, a world-leading academy of music, drama, dance, production and film.
The pair will tutor workshops in Campbeltown Grammar School prior to the event.
After they have warmed up the audience at the Traditional Concert, musical double act Phil and Aly will take over.
As well as offering a feast of musical talent, the pair, who have become a national institution with their incomparable mastery of fiddle and accordion, will bring with them their iconic witty banter.
Tickets for this year’s MOKFest concerts, which feature Elephant Sessions, Trail West, Fìobha Ceilidh Band, Brian McNeill, Calum Alex MacMillan with Ross Martin and Slainte Davaar Allstars, are available from AP Taylor, Main Street, Campbeltown, or online at www.ticketweb.com.
Anyone who would like to contact the festival organisers can do so by emailing mokfest@hotmail.co.uk.