Contemporary trad band ‘Falasgair’ wins BBC ALBA talent search to open Belladrum main stage

We’re thrilled to announce that six-piece contemporary trad band Falasgair as the winner of this year’s Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival  x BBC ALBA talent search, bagging themselves the opportunity to perform on the festival’s main hot house stage. The Skye band, who take their name from the Gaelic word for the seasonal act of burning heather, are sure to light up Bella 2025 as the opening act.

For those who missed it, we teamed up with BBC ALBA once again recently to find the best of Scotland’s up-and-coming musical talent with artists from across the Highlands and Islands submitting a selection of their best tracks to be shortlisted for the public vote.

Following a rigorous judging process to whittle the diverse talent down to a shortlist of just eight, Falasgair fought off some strong competition to win the slot. The band was in good company on the shortlist joined by The Chosen Lonely, The Cherries, Scott C. Park, El Sartel, Isla Scott, Low Light Listening Lounge and Ró Ó hEadhra.

Falasgair will open the festival with a mix of contemporary, traditional, and self-penned songs. The band is led by Macaulay Ross on fiddle, with the whistle and bagpipe duo of Dougal McKiggan and Finn MacPherson, all reinforced by a powerful backline - Ben Muir on keys, Caetano Hayes Pelletti on guitar and bouzouki, and Eoghainn Beaton on bodhrán.

The talent search win follows on from the success of Falasgair at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards where they won Up and Coming Artist of the Year 2024. Well done, all!

Finn MacPherson, Falasgair, said: “Having attended Belladrum quite a few times since I was young I never thought I’d see myself on the main stage playing alongside my pals, so it’s a pretty surreal feeling. We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who voted for us — we couldn’t have done it without the amazing support from our family, friends, and the local community. It really shows the strength of the music scene here.

“This has come at a great time for us a band as we’re recording our debut album and will release it later this year. We’re looking forward to kicking off the festival in a traditional manner - with the pipes!”

True to its longstanding support of Scottish artists, BBC ALBA supported the search which provides a platform to propel newcomers onto the celebrated Scottish music scene. Falasgair will also appear on BBC ALBA, which will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer as part of the broadcaster’s festival coverage. If you’ve not checked out the BBC iPlayer coverage of Bella, now’s the time! There’s hours of feel-good festival footage on their from previous years, to help build your excitement ahead of 2025.

Calum McConnell, commissioning editor at BBC ALBA, said: “After their success at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards last November, winning this opportunity to open the Belladrum Tartan Heart Music Festival seems like the icing on the cake for Falasgair. A brilliant, young, energetic traditional music band whose star is definitely on the rise, so make sure you’re down the front of the Hot House Stage to catch them while you can!”

Robert Robertson, lead singer of Tide Lines and independant judge on the competition, said:

“I had a lovely afternoon listening through all the entries! The standard of music was extremely high and a great representation of our vibrant Highland music scene. Falasgair are well deserved winners. It's brilliant that the festival will be opened by a young, island band playing traditional music with such dynamism and energy. They'll have the place bouncing!”

Congratulations Falasgair. We were blown away by the level of entries this year and we can’t to welcome you to our 21st birthday outing and kick things off on the main stage this July!

For those unable to attend, BBC ALBA will be bringing the best of the festival to viewers at home with its annual live coverage and iPlayer exclusive broadcast across the weekend, available on BBC ALBA and BBC iPlayer. Watch live or on demand from Thursday 31 July: Belladrum on BBC ALBA.