Karen Matheson is best known as the voice of Scottish supergroup Capercaillie, the band whose contemporary style of celtic music saw them figure in the charts during the late 80s and 90s. She was the first winner of Best Gaelic Singer at the Scottish Folk Awards, has regularly appeared on the BBC Transatlantic Sessions and, alongside her work in Capercaillie, has also established her solo career as one of Scotland’s great singers. Singing in both Gaelic and English, she tours with a four piece line-up, including her long-term musical partner, Capercaillie’s Donald Shaw.
Her life as a performer began in her local village hall on the west coast of Scotland, where she was brought up surrounded by the traditional songs that have been her inspiration throughout 30 years of recording & performing. Her haunting vocals are deeply evocative of both human emotions & physical landscapes, not least on her most recent album “Urram”, a collection of timeless songs that evoke the character and feel of island life, forming a musical love letter to her family’s Hebridean roots.
Support is from young Orkney female four-piece Fara. Three fiddlers (incl Kristan Harvey of Blazin’ Fiddles) + piano & vocals, Fara are regarded as some of the brightest new talent arising within the vibrant Scottish folk scene – definitely one to look out for.
