Shooglenifty are a Scottish,

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

-based six-piece

Celtic fusion Celtic fusion is an umbrella term for any modern music which incorporates influences considered "Celtic", or Celtic music which incorporates modern music. It is a syncretic musical tradition which borrows freely from the perceived "Celtic" music ...

band that tours internationally. The band blends

Scottish traditional music Scottish folk music (also Scottish traditional music) is a Music genre, genre of folk music that uses forms that are identified as part of the Scottish musical tradition. There is evidence that there was a flourishing culture of popular music in ...

with influences ranging from

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

. They contributed to

Afro Celt Sound System Afro Celt Sound System is a British musical group who fuse electronic music with traditional Gaelic and West African music. Afro Celt Sound System was formed in 1995 by producer-guitarist Simon Emmerson, and feature a wide range of guest artists. ...

's 1996 album '' Volume 1: Sound Magic''. The band have performed in countries including Australia, Austria, Cuba, Belgium, France, Norway, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, New Zealand, Indonesia, South Africa, Lebanon, Spain, the US, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, India, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Russia, Luxembourg, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Switzerland, Portugal, Mexico and the UK. They have performed for a number of notable fans, including

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

, and

Emperor Akihito is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan from 7 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. He presided over the Heisei era, ''Heisei'' being an expression of achieving peace worldwide. Bo ...

of Japan. Several of the band members had previously played together in

Swamptrash Swamptrash were a Scottish bluegrass/psychobilly band formed in 1987 in Edinburgh. They split in 1990 and several of the members went on to form Shooglenifty. The band has been recognized as crucial to the development of experimental Scottish aco ...

. Angus R. Grant, the band's fiddler and frontman, died in October 2016 at the age 49. Eilidh Shaw joined the band on fiddle after Grant's death.

Albums

* ''

Venus in Tweeds ''Venus in Tweeds'', an album by Shooglenifty, was released in 1995 on the Greentrax Recordings Greentrax Recordings are a Scottish record label that specialises in Scottish traditional music. History The label was founded in 1986 by forme ...

'' (

Greentrax Greentrax Recordings are a Scottish record label that specialises in Scottish traditional music. History The label was founded in 1986 by former police inspector Ian Green, who played the bagpipes and was responsible for arranging folk music ...

) – 1994 * ''

A Whisky Kiss ''A Whisky Kiss'' is the second studio album by Scottish Celtic fusion band Shooglenifty. After releasing their first album ''Venus in Tweeds'' in 1994, the band toured, and then began work on ''A Whisky Kiss'' in late 1995. Some of the album's ...

'' (Greentrax) – 1996 * '' Live at Selwyn Hall'' (

Womad WOMAD ( ; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance. History WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, ...

) – 1996 * ''

Solar Shears ''Solar Shears'' is the third studio album and fourth album overall by Scottish Celtic fusion band Shooglenifty. After the critical acclaim given to their underground second album ''A Whisky Kiss'' (1996), the band left Greentrax Recordings and ...

'' (

Compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with ...

/ Verical) – 2001 * ''

The Arms Dealer's Daughter ''The Arms Dealer's Daughter'', an album by Shooglenifty, was released in 2003 on the Compass Records Compass Records is an independent record label founded in 1995 by musicians Garry West and Alison Brown that specializes in folk, bluegras ...

'' (Compass) – 2003 * ''

Radical Mestizo ''Radical Mestizo'', a live album by Shooglenifty, was released in 2005 on the Compass Records Compass Records is an independent record label founded in 1995 by musicians Garry West and Alison Brown that specializes in folk, bluegrass, Cel ...

'' (Compass) – 2005 * '' Troots'' (Shoogle) – 2007 * '' Murmichan'' (Shoogle) – 2009 * '' The Untied Knot'' (Shoogle) – 2015 * ''Written in Water'' with Dhun Dhora (Shoogle) – 2018 * ''Acid Croft Vol 9'' (Shoogle) – 2020

Current members

* Eilidh Shaw –

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

* Garry Finlayson –

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

and banjax * James Mackintosh –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, drum machines and

darabuka The goblet drum (also chalice drum, tarabuka, tarabaki, darbuka, darabuka, derbake, debuka, doumbek, dumbec, dumbeg, dumbelek, toumperleki, tumbak, or zerbaghali; arz, دربوكة / Romanized: ) is a single-head membranophone with a goblet- ...

* Ewan MacPherson –

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

and tenor banjo * Quee MacArthur –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

* Malcolm Crosbie – acoustic and

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

s * Kaela Rowan –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Former members

* Angus R. Grant –

* Iain McLeod – mandolin * Conrad Ivitsky – bass * Luke Plumb – mandolin

References

External links

*
Shooglenifty at Foot Stompin’ Free Scottish Music Podcast
Musical groups from Edinburgh Celtic fusion groups Real World Records artists Vertical Records artists Compass Records artists {{Edinburgh-stub