Hi everyone!
As we do every year, Birnam will be closing our doors for a couple of weeks over the festive period so we can all take a collective breath and enjoy both Christmas and the New Year Celebrations.
Our final day of 2017 will be Friday the 22nd of December and we will re-open at 9:00am on Thursday the 4th of January.
We hope you all have a great time over the holidays and we look forward to working with you all in 2018.
Best wishes,
The Birnam Team
Help Musicians UK have launched a mental health support line and service for the music industry.
Music Minds Matter is a support line and service, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the whole UK music community. Launched in December 2017, Music Minds Matter is the industry’s most comprehensive service yet – linking advice, signposting, clinical pathways and professional therapeutic services to Help Musicians UK’s (HMUK) traditional grants for musicians in need.
You call also access Music Minds Matter by emailing, MMM@helpmusicians.org.uk (please note a 48-hour turnaround).
For more information please visit: musicmindsmatter.org.uk
Folk Film Gathering
For those of you near to or travelling to Edinburgh this month, have a look at the Folk Film Gathering programme which runs until 13th May.
This is the third year of the Folk Film Gathering which is a partnership initiative between Transgressive North, Filmhouse Edinburgh and Tradfest.
The 2017 theme is ‘Songs and Labour’ – looking at world cinema where depictions of folk community experience have focussed upon song traditions and the rhythms and weight of work. From Scotland to Brazil to Lithuania and beyond, the programme continues to explore the myriad ways world cinema has engaged with folk culture – as living tradition, as people’s history, and as working class culture and experience.
Many of the screenings are introduced by a storyteller or musician and explores the link between cinema and traditional Scottish arts.
Tickets are available from the Filmhouse Cinema or TradFest
Filmhouse Cinema | 0131 228 2688
TradFest @ Scottish Storytelling Centre | 0131 556 9579
Wishing all the nominees, including a large number of Birnam clients and friends (highlighted below) the best of luck for the 18th BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. The Awards celebrate Folk, Acoustic and Roots music, previous award recipients include Joan Baez, Bellowhead, Martin Carthy, Cat Stevens, Billy Bragg, Shirley Collins and Seth Lakeman. The categories include Folk Singer of the Year, Best Duo, Best Group, Best Album, Horizon Award, Musician of the Year, Best Original Track, Best Traditional Track, BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award. The awards also include Lifetime Achievement Awards and the Hall of Fame which recognises the special contribution of an individual to the world of folk music. The Lifetime Achievement award this year goes to Al Stewart and the legendary Woody Guthrie will be inducted into The Hall of Fame. Winners across all the categories will be announced on 5th April at the awards ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall… See category nominations…
FOLK SINGER OF THE YEAR
Daoiri Farrell
Jim Causley
Kris Drever
Shirley Collins
BEST DUO
Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker
Megson
O’Hooley & Tidow
Ross Ainslie & Ali Hutton
BEST GROUP
9Bach
Breabach
The Furrow Collective
The Gloaming
BEST ALBUM
Jarlath Henderson – Hearts Broken, Heads Turned
Jim Moray – Upcetera
Martin Green – Flit
Shirley Collins – Lodestar
Songs of Separation – Songs of Separation
HORIZON AWARD
Daoiri Farrell
Fara
Ninebarrow
Talisk
MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR
John McCusker
John McSherry
Mohsen Amini
Rachel Newton
BEST ORIGINAL TRACK
Fragile Water by Nancy Kerr
If Wishes Were Horses by Kris Drever
Roll Away by Martin Green feat. Adam Holmes
Sounds of Earth by Jim Moray
BEST TRADITIONAL TRACK
Courting Is a Pleasure by Jarlath Henderson
Echo Mocks The Corncrake by Songs of Separation
Van Diemen’s Land by Daoiri Farrell
Willie Taylor by Julie Murphy
BBC RADIO 2 YOUNG FOLK
Amelia Coburn
Charlie Grey & Joseph Peach
Eryn Rae
Josie Duncan & Pablo Lafuente
Scottish Album of The Year 2017
The 2017 SAY Award was launched on 1st March and is open until the 31st March. Artists, labels and the general public have the chance to submit albums for consideration. All genres and styles are welcome, from self-released albums to major label releases, from rock and pop to jazz and classical. Eligible albums must be commercially released between 1st April 2016 and 31st March 2017. For more details on the process and to register an eligible album, please visit www.sayaward.com.
The SAY Award is a prestigious and exciting arts prize produced by the Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA), the award celebrates and promotes the most outstanding Scottish albums released each year. The winner receives £20,000 and nine runner ups receive £1,000 each.
We ‘re finding it a bit hard to believe, but 2016 really is our 30th anniversary year.*
In the spare room of a farm cottage near Galashiels in the Scottish Borders, “Birnam Tapes” made a very humble start in 1986, armed with a reel-to-reel tape recorder + ten cassette decks. Our first job was to produce 250 cassette albums for the Scottish folk trio “Blackeyed Biddy”.
The independent music scene has grown substantially since then and we’ve grown with it. After a couple of name changes (Birnam Cassette Duplication, Birnam CD), we are now “Birnam CD Limited” and, to kick-start 2016, we have already made and delivered a total of 16,000 CDs just for clients launching new albums at January’s Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow.
And we have a great list of top-notch projects lined up for the months to come.
So, as we look forward to what is a special year for us, we would like to thank all of our clients, both past and present, for having entrusted us with their creativity, both musical and visual.
We’ll be looking back as well as forward in the coming year and, from time to time, posting some images from our early days right up to the present.
* To put this into a bit of context, the year we established the business was the same year that:
The UK & France announced plans to build a Channel Tunnel;
Argentina, helped by Maradonna’s “Hand of God” goal, went on to win the World Cup in Mexico;
Desmond Tutu became South Africa’s first black Anglican Church bishop;
The M25 was officially opened
and
Matt Groening created The Simpsons.
