Shetland Arts has announced that it will present Battlefield Band live @ Mareel on Wednesday 27 August.
The band’s seamless fusion of the ancient and contemporary has continually evolved over the decades, confirming their position as vital composers and interpreters at the forefront of a living tradition.
Named after the Glasgow suburb of Battlefield, where the group was formed by four student friends in 1969, Battlefield Band have now been on the world's roads for over 40 years, distilling their own unique form of the Scottish spirit and bottling it in concert and onto disc.
Inspired by their rich heritage of Celtic music and fired by the strength and vibrancy of today's Scottish cultural scene, which indeed they have done much to create and fuel, they have led and been at the forefront of a great revival in Scottish music. Refusing to be limited by fashions, they have mixed the old songs and music with a new self-penned repertoire, all played on a fusion of ancient and modern instruments - bagpipes, fiddle, synthesiser, guitar, flutes, bodhran and accordion.
The band’s latest release, Room Enough For All (awarded Album of the Year at the prestigious MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards 2013), captures the fiery instrumental dynamics, intuitive interplay and understanding between world class musicians, while their plaintive ballads and tales of social history are as powerful and relevant as ever.
Shetland Arts Marketing Officer, Lisa Ward, said: “We are very much looking forward to welcoming Battlefield Band to Mareel. Their continued creativity, freshness and enthusiasm shine through in their live performances and they are one of the great institutions of Scottish traditional music. We expect they will be very popular in Shetland.”
Tickets go on sale on Friday 4 July. Booking is via Shetland Box Office at Mareel and/or Islesburgh, over the phone on 01595 745 555, or online at shetlandboxoffice.org and/or mareel.org.
