LISTEN TO THE YOUNG FOLK AWARD FINALISTS 2008

  • More than 70 talented young musicians from all over the UK entered this year’s BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award. Competition organisers Mrs Casey Music  had the unenviable job of choosing just 12 acts to go through to the semi-final - a weekend of workshops, sessions and socialising centred around a Saturday evening competition concert, which took place on 20 October. The standard of performances in the semi-final concert was exceptional, but the judges were forced to pick six acts to go through to the final at London’s SouthBank Centre.

    Listen to the finalists' perform below (requires RealPlayer)

Jeana Leslie and Siobhan Miller
JEANA LESLIE AND SIOBHAN MILLER
  • Listen to Jeana and Siobhan perform
  • Listen to Jeana and Siobhan's encore

  • Jeana and Siobhan are third year students on the BA Scottish Music course at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. Both have been performing since their early teens. 19-year old Jeana comes from Orkney and was a semi-finalist in the Scottish Young Traditional Musician of the Year Award in 2004 and 2005.

    Siobhan is 20 and from Penicuik. She has been booked annually at the TMSA’s Auchtermuchty Festival since first appearing there at 13 and has won both the children’s and women’s singing competitions. She has appeared as a solo singer at several festivals including Celtic Connections and guested with Jock Tamson’s Bairns at Edinburgh’s Queen's Hall last year. Since meeting at the RSAMD, Jeana and Siobhan have enjoyed composing, arranging and performing music together.

Dogan Mehmet
DOGAN MEHMET
  • Listen to Dogan Mehmet

  • 17-year-old Dogan is from Brighton and plays - amongst other things - violin, guitar, bouzouki, melodeons and percussion, as well as singing. He was born in the UK but his family are from Cyprus so he grew up steeped in Cypriot music and culture and is bi-lingual.

    Both cultures have a huge influence on the music he plays and his passion for the traditional music of the world continues to grow rapidly. He cites Eliza Carthy and Bellowhead as being among his main influences.
Ryan Young
RYAN YOUNG
Fiddle player, from Loch Lomond.
  • Listen to Ryan Young

  • Ryan Young is 16 years old and has been playing the fiddle for 7 years. He was a winner of the “Danny Kyle open stage” at Celtic Connections 2007. He has also won the young folk musician at the Lomond Folk Festival on three occasions. He currently attends the RSAMD junior academy for which he won the associated board of the royal schools of music scholarship. He was also offered a full-time place at the RSAMD for session beginning October 2008. This November he will be playing as a soloist in the grand concert of the Edinburgh Fiddle Festival and will also be appearing at Celtic Connections in January 2008. Ryan would describe his greatest influences as being Aly Bain and Martin Hayes.

One String Loose
ONE STRING LOOSE
  • Listen to One String Loose

  • One String Loose began as a duo seven years ago when Scott (20, fiddle/banjo) and Jack (15, twice All-Britain bodhran champion) came together to play tunes through a local Celtic music and dance group. They later joined forces with whistle player Joe (15) from Weston and were joined by Mathew (15) in 2005 on bass guitar. In the past year they have played over 50 shows to audiences in England, Wales and Europe.

    Some of the highlights include playing Gwyl Pontardawe, Chippenham and Swanage Folk Festivals and, in September of this year, they headlined the Zamek Celtic Festival in Poland and were immediately rebooked for next year. They have appeared twice on BBC Radio Wales' ‘A Celtic Heartbeat’ hosted by Frank Hennessy.

Emily Hoile
EMILY HOILE
  • Listen to Emily Hoile

  • Emily began playing the clarsach at the age of five. After playing for two years she joined local folk band Southwind, with whom she recorded a CD, and at the age of twelve became the youngest member of Folkestra, the Newcastle-based folk band led by Kathryn Tickell. Four years ago she gained a place at the City of Edinburgh Music School and at the same time began pedal harp, the instrument with which she recently competed in the Cardiff European Harp Competition where she reached the semi-finals. She now studies clarsach and pedal harp with Catriona McKay at St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh.

Jack McNeill and Charlie Heys
JACK MCNEILL AND CHARLIE HEYS
  • Listen to Jack McNeill and Charlie Heys

  • Jack and Charlie are students at the Birmingham Conservatoire. Jack is a prolific singer-songwriter and is keen to show off his music wherever possible. He has performed opening support for the Wailin’ Jennys and Po’ Girl. Charlie has played in several folk bands including Sonas and Rubber Chicken, and plays fiddle in her dad’s band. As a duo Jack and Charlie played support for Dave Swarbrick and Martin Carthy at Birmingham’s Red Lion Folk Club and they plan to release an album next summer.

SEMI-FINALISTS
Twelve promising and gifted acts performed at the semi-final concert on 20 October and great performances were given by all. Congratulations for reaching the semi-final go to Richard Fitzmaurice, Casta, Kit Hawes, Cairde, Fiona Black and MAK.

    LISTEN AGAIN
    Listen to your favourite shows anytime.
    Pirate Johnnie Walker
    Recreating the era of pirate radio
    Third Reich & Roll
    Presented by Stephen Fry
    From Edison to iTunes
    The rise of the record labels
    Dermot O'Leary
    With Bat For Lashes in session
    More showsAudio help

    LINKS

    within network

    More Folk & Acoustic

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites

    BBC © 2014The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

    This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.