Malin Lewis is a queer Bagpiper, fiddler, composer, instrument maker and BBC Young traditional musician of the year finalist 2022.

One of Scotland’s most exciting innovators, Malin melds tradition with electronics on a unique newly invented, self-made bagpipe. Hair tingling, philosophical and dance inducing melodies inspired by European folk traditions, humans, queerness and the universe.

Malin premiered their New Voices commission Halocline with a seven piece band at Celtic Connections 2023 to a sold out Strathclyde Suite, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Halocline will become Malin’s long awaited debut album named for the layer between salt and fresh water Halocline is a sequence of compositions reflecting on the liminal spaces between Malin’s outer and inner worlds as a trans person.

Malin plays a set of unique self-made two octave Smallpipes that help create their unique sounds. The trio will perform original music from Halocline as well as traditional music from Finland, Spain and Bulgaria.

Recently Malin has been touring the UK with Making Tracks international residency, recording film music in Berlin, studying folk music in Helsinki and learning the tradition of the extinct Finnish Bagpipes as well as writing and performing music for The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester.

Jon Doran is a Newcastle-based folk singer and multi-instrumentalist from Gloucestershire. He was a 2019 finalist on BBC Radio 2’s Young Folk Awards and a recent winner of Bromyard Folk Festival’s ‘Future of Folk’ competition.

Jon’s sensitive approach to arranging and performing traditional songs on guitar and Irish bouzouki is often said to draw a likeness with Nic Jones and Andy Irvine. He has a powerful and intricate accompaniment style but never fails to place the narrative at the forefront of his arrangements.