Home in on returning Solas Festival

A Perthshire festival that celebrates Scottish music and art is to return for its “biggest ever” event in June.

The Solas Festival will take place from June 23 to 25 at The Bield in Blackruthven. Festival organisers hope the event will “encourage discussion and debate around ideas of borders, international co-operation and migration”, and the festival’s theme will be on the subject of “home”.

Musicians White have been unveiled as the main headline act, alongside Mercury Prize nominee C Duncan.

Scottish rappers Hector Biserk will host a screening of a film they made while performing at Solas’ sister festival in Palestine last summer, directed by Bafta-winning film-maker Iain Minto.

The pair will discuss how their tour of the West Bank was received, and the collaborations they had with Palestinian artists. Organisers are also hopeful they will be able to bring Palestinian artists and musicians to perform over the weekend.

Scottish dance performer Claire Cunningham, whose criticallyacclaimed solo work investigates issues around disability and cultural difference, will headline the performance stage, and Booker Prizewinner James Kelman will read from his latest novel, The Dirt Road.

The weekend-long festival is open to children and adults of all ages, and has been running in Perthshire since 2009.

A full lineup of events will be unveiled over the course of the coming months on the festival website.

Tickets – which start from £95 per person – can also be booked on the website, solasfestival.co.uk.

The event aims to encourage discussion and debate around ideas of borders...