Scotland’s friendliest small arts festival returns for a weekend of live performances in the grounds of Scone Palace this month.
The Solas Festival will take place from August 21-22 with a carefully curated programme of music, workshops, family events, talks and discussions.
This return to live performance marks a significant turning point for Perth and Kinross’s festival sector by providing a platform for artists, makers and thinkers to return to the stage after 16 months away.
The programme features over 16 events over two days of music, performances and workshops across all art-forms as well as talks and discussions in the expansive green meadows of Scone Palace.
Audience safety was central to the planning of the 2021 festival, with measures including day-only tickets, scaled-back audience numbers, physical distancing, additional stewards and a breakout field.
Solas Festival chair Frank Strang said: “Wee Solas will be laid back and scaled down, but very much forward looking and dreaming big.
“We want to give everyone there a taste of what we know and love about Solas: the programme with our signature mix of music, talks, performances, workshops and discussions, with extra added effort to create a beautiful, relaxing environment where folk can feel safe and comfortable.
“It is brilliant to have the opportunity to try out something new and run a smaller event in the beautiful grounds of Scone Palace.
“A huge thanks to everyone involved in the festival and our supporters and contributors who have made this possible in the most extraordinary circumstances.”
Indie-folk singer/songwriter Rachel Sermanni, the Glasgow African Balafon Orchestra blending music, folklore and storytelling, festival favourites Randolph’s Leap, Europe’s hottest jazz trio Fergus McCreadie, classical Iranian singer Aref Ghorbani and Friends, Brass, Aye? an eclectic community brass band based in Glasgow and East Lothian based Suzanne Butler will be performing.
Emerging artists such as DLÙ - nominated for up and coming artist of the year at the 2019 Scots Trad Music Awards - and French-Cameroonian singer-songwriter Djana Gabrielle - who won the prestigious Celtic Connections Danny Kyle Open Stage in 2019, will also hit the stage.
There will be family events including a circus skills and performance workshop with Think Circus, storytelling with Mara Menzies and music with The Barrow Band.
Panels and discussions including ‘Climate: reflecting on what lies ahead’ which will focus on how best to re-engage with the climate crisis.
It will be followed by ‘Post pandemic: nurturing the green shoots of new ways of being’, which will reflect on a world going forward.
Spoken word performances will be enjoyed from Glasgow-based poet and performer Sean Wai Keung whose pamphlet won the Rialto Open Pamphlet Competition 2016, and multiple slam poetry winner Leyla Josephine.
And the festival’s commitment to wellbeing and spirituality will be reflected in Meditative Meanders, as well as yoga sessions and other movement workshops.
Tickets are available now from Brown Paper Tickets or the Solas Festival website.
For full programme details go to www.solasfestival.co.uk/wee-solas
