The Shetland Young Promoter’s Group puts on musical events and workshops all around Shetland for young people. The group is responsible for the annual Battle of the Bands event where young bands of various genres compete for recording studio packages, music video packages and a slot at the well-attended Heavy Metal Buffet event that takes place every year in the summer.
After a long, rough trip on the Swan, the mayor of the Sund Kommune, Kari-Anne Landro, Cultural Minister Laila Klemetsaune and Nichlas Håvik representing the Sund Rock Club welcomed the group.
The young musicians performed in two venues, Nordsjøfartmuseet, a museum located in Telavåg, which held an exhibition on the Shetland Bus and the Glesvaer Kafe.
The museum performance started off with a band of young Norwegian musicians: Ingvill Spilde on vocals, Tobias Ekerhovd on guitar and Iver Kaldestad on drums who performed a cover of Riptide by Vance Joy.
Next in the lineup were Shetland musicians, Zak Coutts on vocals and guitar, David Mainland on second guitar and Eamonn Watt playing an acoustic set of songs including “Wet Sand” by Red Hot Chili Peppers and “Everlong” by The Foo Fighters.
Eamonn Watt, also known by his composer name “The Virtual Conductor”, came back on to present two of his original piano and orchestral compositions. One was a piano composition called “Goodbye Sweet Angel” which was a small but sweet sounding piano tune and “The Tale Of Buckaroo Bill”, a composition inspired by American and Scottish fiddle tunes. Instead of a live performance, the music was played through the speakers.
Lewis Hall was next up and played some very soothing selection of slow jazz music composed by himself on keyboard as well as a jazzy cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.
Finishing the event was a band of all the Shetland young musicians with Zak Coutts and Shaun Goudie on vocals, David Mainland on guitar, Neil Adams on bass guitar and Lewis Hall returning on keyboard. The songs performed from this band ranged from the jazzy “Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone” by Bill Withers to the heavy hitting “Take the Power Back” by Rage Against the Machine.
"The bondings between Shetland and Sund kommune are strong. I had a really good experience during the two concerts the Shetland Young Promoters Group had when they visited Sund kommune the first weekend in August. They showed us variation, high quality and passion for music. I was excited and I hope young people from Sund kommune can visit Shetland for some cultural exchange.
Kari-Anne Landro (Sund Mayor)
