Music

Jim Gilchrist and Fiona Shepherd report from the Edinburgh International Jazz Festival

WHEN Nicola Benedetti voices concern over the spiralling educational dilemma facing young instrumentalists in Scotland today, she knows it will make headlines. She knows she will be listened to by the movers and shakers. She also knows that she will be repeatedly frustrated by the subsequent lack of meaningful action. But what marks Benedetti out from many of the other vocal campaigners is her willingness to roll up her sleeves and do something tangible about it.

As if the two-night visit of Australian pop royalty Kylie Minogue to the prestigious surroundings of Edinburgh Castle – this first one bathed in sunshine for the occasion, no less – wasn’t enough, it came on the heels of her appearance in the Sunday afternoon ‘legends’ slot at Glastonbury, a moment reserved only for those with a substantial back catalogue and the ability as a performer to bring it to life.

Over the years, Glasgow five-piece Wojtek The Bear have played live on STV, secured airplay on KEXP in the USA, from Radio X, BBC 6Music, Radio 1, Roddy Hart, The Afternoon Show, and have a live session with Vic Galloway on BBC Radio Scotland on 22 July.

Rewind is a series of festivals which celebrates retro classics and legendary hit-makers of yesteryear.

A tribute to Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison shows what a massive talent we’ve lost

I think I always knew I was destined for music – it was easily the biggest thing in my life.” Cellist Philip Higham is pondering his musical beginnings as a child. And that intense focus on all things musical has continued into his adult life. He’s an accomplished soloist and chamber musician, an in-demand teacher and, since 2016, principal cellist of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. It’s as soloist and SCO player that he embarks on a four-stop tour across Scotland later this month, performing Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme with the orchestra in Stirling, Findhorn, Turriff and Forfar.

A Chewbacca mask worn by Lewis Capaldi at Scotland's biggest music festival has raised more than £5,000 for charity just 12 hours after going up for auction.

Scotsman music critic Jim Gilchrist reports from the opening weekend of the Edinburgh International Jazz Festival

In recent years the UK’s festival space has fragmented and diversified away from a sense of big, moment-defining, with Glastonbury, more than ever, solidifying its monopoly on this kind of conversation-leading. So it was a coup for TRNSMT that their Friday night headline booking of south London rapper, singer and grime provocateur Stormzy came just a couple of weeks after he ascended to a new level of fame after his attention-grabbing headline show at Glastonbury was televised to the nation.

Scotland’s biggest summer music festival lucked out once again in its third year with glorious sunshine contributing to the general good vibes and the slightly reddened faces of the main stage acts playing right into the glare of the afternoon sun.

Part two of the Edinburgh Castle concerts this week sees Melbourne’s finest pop export grace the esplanade.

The TRNSMT main stage welcomed big name home talent with Lewis Capaldi and Emeli Sande performing on the last day of the festival.

Grime star Stormzy has paid tribute to 'bad boy' Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi after covering the Bathgate singer's top-selling single Someone You Loved as part of his headlining performance at Glasgow's TRNSMT festival.

One of Scotland’s oldest inns, which has played host to General Wade who masterminded the building of barracks, bridges and roads across the Highlands following the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion, is threatened with closure.

Uncertainty surrounds Stormzy’s headlining set at Scotland’s largest music festival due to flight delays.

Speculation over the future of Scotland’s biggest music festival, T in the Park, has finally been put to rest after its organiser confirmed it will never be coming back.

Now into his very well-preserved sixties, Paul Weller has long since moved on from the days when reinvention seemed to be his stock-in-trade.