AS this weekend's pub-based Selkirk Sessions Traditional Music Festival gets under way, organisers have confirmed times for tomorrow's popular workshops and competitions.
The first two workshops are upstairs in O’Malley’s. Davey Darling leads the fiddle workshop at 10am followed at 11.15pm by Dougie Knox on the spoons. At 11.15am upstairs in the Town Arms, Bruce Hogg leads a workshop on steel and slide guitars. All wo
rkshops cost £2.
All the afternoon competitions – entry fee £1 – are upstairs in O’Malley’s. They start with the Chorus Cup at 1.30pm followed by the new Open Junior Under-16s at 2.30pm
The Instrumental competition gets under way at 3.15pm followed by the Scots Song/Poem competition at 4.15pm.
The winner in each competition receives an engraved quaich.
The evening concert at O’Malley’s is at 7.30pm – £6/£4, pay at the door. It features Shankend Mac, the Edinburgh-based Irish singer/writer Jennifer Concannon, local skifflers the Bogie Close Stompers, Riddell Fiddles, Owen Tierney, Jimmy Gibb and Carlenjig.
On Sunday at 2pm there will be a Still Standing concert featuring the competition winners and guests. Entry is £3.
The festival will centre around sessions in the Town Arms, O’Malley’s, the Cross Keys and Selkirk Bowling Club.
Festival chairman Davie Scott told The Wee Paper: “We hope everyone has a great weekend. It is not just for musicians, it is a weekend for anybody who enjoys traditional music.
“There is an upsurge in folk-type music across the Borders and it is great that Selkirk is playing a major part in that.
“The workshops went down a treat last year and we hope they will attract even more people this year.”
z A plea has been made for metal thimbles for this weekend. Bogie Close Stompers washboard man Bob Burgess has lost a few as a result of overzealous playing. Anyone with spares can leave them at The Wee Paper office or the Town Arms.
The full article contains 338 words and appears in Selkirk Weekend Advertiser newspaper.
