Shooglenifty
Sunday 21st August 2022
Shooglenifty was formed in 1990 by musicians from the Scottish Highlands, Orkney and Edinburgh. Its bright spark was the idea of fusing traditional and traditional-sounding melodies with the beats and basslines of a mixed bag of more contemporary influences. As happy playing a small highland village hall as they are on an outdoor festival stage playing to tens of thousands, the Shoogles (as they’re known to their fans) have promoted Scottish music all over the world for three decades.
In 2015, Shooglenifty celebrated their 25th Anniversary by playing venues in Sarawak and Stornoway, Lorient and London, Adelaide and Aberdeen, Bangalore and Bristol, and released their seventh studio album The Untied Knot. This featured the first ever collection of Shoogle songs and introduced their newest member, puirt à beul vocalist Kaela Rowan. It received a 5* ‘Top of the World’ rating in Songlines, among many other favourable reviews. Songlines also nominated the band for Best Group in early 2016. The Untied Knot was nominated for Best Album at ‘Na Trads 2015’ – the Scottish Traditional Music Awards.
In February 2018, Eilidh Shaw joined the band as permanent fiddle player. Eilidh is a West Highland fiddler with a playful, infectious energy who was taught by Aonghas Grant (our Angus’s father).
Shooglenifty reached the ripe old age of 30 in 2020. Hopes that they would finally settle down to the quiet life were dashed when they accepted an invitation to start the year in style by performing at midnight for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay. The band played gigs in the north of Scotland in February 2020 before all dates for the rest of the year were cancelled, postponed or put on hold due to the Coronvirus pandemic.
A few crazy promo videos were made during lockdown and an online album launch in September 2020. In Summer 2021 the band returned to live performance at some open air festivals, but also managed to produce yet another crazy promo. This time they were all in the same location. For 2022 they are keeping everything crossed for getting on the road again with dates in the calendar from May.
