After last year’s memorable success with the inaugural Islay Sessions traditional music event, it’s back for 2012 with a line up and a programme to sing for and dance to.

Running over three days, from Friday 16th to Sunday 18th November, the event will feature traditional music sessions in hotels across Islay, a workshop on the Saturday morning and a grand concert ceilidh in Bruichladdich Hall on the Saturday night.

The musicians playing in the sessions include:

Rura -  This is a band [above] that manages to include no less than three Young Traditional Musician of the Year finalists as well as an All Ireland Bodhran Champion.  Their collective talent was recognised in the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards where they won Best Up and Coming Artist in 2011.  Since then, their debut album ‘Break it up’ has created a buzz throughout the traditional music scene with its tight instrumentals and stunning vocals.

Maeve MacKinnon – After the success of her first album and award of Best Up and Coming Artist in 2007, Maeve [below right] has gone from strength to strength.  Her repertoire spans Gaelic and English-language material; both traditional and contemporary.  She’s won acclaim for the eloquent emotional connection she forges with every song and for her music’s dynamic interplay of boldness and sensitivity.  Her eagerly-awaited follow-up, Once Upon an Olive Branch, marks her first public foray into songwriting.

Findlay Napier and Gillian Frame – These two [above left] are a very exciting addition to the line-up.  Findlay Napier is heavily influenced by the music of Elvis Costello and Loudon Wainwright III.  He delivers upbeat musical vignettes on a host of subjects that range from love sick librarians and dumb struck magicians to peeping toms and guilty johns all dispatched in his native accent.  Nominated as Songwriter of the year in the 2010 MG Alba Music Awards, he is a writer and performer of increasingly impressive stature.

Gillian Frame is a fiddle player and singer from the Isle of Arran with a passion for performing and teaching.  She was the inaugural winner of the Young Scottish Traditional Musician Award and a founding member of the band Back of the Moon with whom she toured for seven years, seeing them win various accolades including Best Up and Coming Act followed by Best Folk Band at the Scots Trad Music Awards.  As a performer Gillian has worked with acts such as The Unusual Suspects, Deaf Shepherd and Breabach.

The Maverick Angels  – The band [above] is returning again this year  having enjoyed last year’s Islay Sessions so much.  This year it will be performing at the grand concert ceilidh and promises a distinctive style of modern ceilidh music which is sure to get everyone up on the dance floor. They will be have well known faces from around Islay with them on the programme.

• Friday 16th November – PM Sessions in Bars/Hotels across Islay
• Saturday 17th November – AM Workshops (fiddle, whistle, accordion, guitar)
• Saturday 17th November – PM Grand Concert followed by Ceilidh at Bruichladdich Hall
• Sunday 18th November – Lunchtime Sessions in Bars/Hotels across Islay