No Sleep Till Yell - The Shetland Folk Festival

The Shetland Folk Festival

The tone for the Festival is set onboard the overnight ferry bringing the musicians to Shetland from Aberdeen.  Before the boat has even left the harbour the fiddles are out. By the time it has hit the open seas a session is in full flow. Chair of the festival Christine Fordyce says: “There are many, many times that musicians have gotten off the boat without being in their cabin except to pick up their bag again. There’s sometimes not very much sleep that happens on the boat.”

The Shetland Folk Festival demands great stamina from its performers. For four days the music doesn't stop.  As well as showing on -stage performances the film features performances on a roll-on roll-off ferry, on a bus, on staircases, in a living room and in a back garden. World class music and top-notch carousing aside, what makes this festival unique is the extent to which it is integrated into the wider community. The Folk Festival is part of the fabric of Shetland life. It is run entirely by local volunteers and all the visiting performers stay with local families in their homes rather than in hotels. Lasting friendships are formed between the performers and their hosts. Shetlander Davie Gardner is still in regular contact with former house guest Elvis Costello, who stayed with him as long ago as 1988.The film features Bluegrass, Country and Indian Classical, as well as folk music from Sweden, Shetland, Scotland and Ireland. It also pays tribute to the fiddling tradition of Shetland, largely nurtured by the festival’s co-founder Tom Anderson.

Seth Travins, from American band The Wiyos, says:  "'There are so many diverse groups …it’s not just Celtic music, Americana or swing… the diversity of all the groups really is inspiring.”