Other Music Festival have revealed the line-up for a four-day world music event featuring 15 artists across selected venues in Aberdeen, which takes place from Thursday 19^th April 2018 – Sunday 22^nd April 2018.

The festival is presented in conjunction with several local music associations, established promoters, venues and community groups to offer a cross-cultural and diverse selection of contemporary folk, jazz, rap, literature, spoken word and music from around the world and Aberdeen talent – featuring exclusive UK performances and several Aberdeen debuts.

Highlights include a spoken word, rap and comedy performance piece by Darren McGarvey (aka LOKI the Scottish rapper) inspired by his best-selling book “Poverty Safari: Understanding the Anger of Britain’s Underclass” and a “Celebration of the Fiddle”, inspired by Scottish and Eastern European traditions, which also includes the launch of the internationally-renowned North Atlantic Fiddle Convention (NAFCo).

Friday evening features award-winning Polish folk duo, Hanka Wojciak and Susanna Jara sharing the earthy sounds of Poland and the Carpathian region in seven dialects and languages. The night also includes a performance from local world-jazz youth group Hamlet in collaboration with Aberdeen-based Swedish singer Nadya Albertsson and local Aberdeen rapper Jackill. Glasgow’s world-jazz fusion improvisation collective Mezcla concludes the evening blending soulful, danceable grooves and rhythms from West Africa to Latin America.

Saturday night features Irish singer-songwriter Heidi Talbot - with her exquisite take on folk, Americana and classical pop music alongside fiddler, producer and composer John McCusker. The two will collaborate with Swedish folk virtuosos Vasen in a double-headline performance.

London-based Bollywood Brass Band, who recently featured on the BBC’s World on 3 will close the festival on Sunday playing hits from the Bollywood film tradition in a colourful, riotous and compulsively danceable performance.

Festival Co-Director - and pianist with the award-winning World Music group, Salsa Celtica - Simon Gall said, “Two things have been clear to us for some time: firstly, that the diverse make-up of the city was not being reflected in its cultural programmes. Secondly, that there was a serious lack of high-quality contemporary traditional music in our venues. Together with partners, we have put together a programme to begin to address this and have created, we hope, a space where our diverse audiences and artists can come together to enjoy themselves and learn through music about the city, the country, their own heritage and the wider world.”

The pilot festival has been funded and supported by Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeen Performing Arts, Jazz at the Blue Lamp, The General Consulate of the Republic of Poland, The Elphinstone Institute and The Friends of the Elphinstone Institute. Our community partners are The Polish Association Aberdeen and the Aberdeen Multicultural Centre.

Check out our listings for the full line-up!