36 - Fara

Formed in 2014 and then shortlisted in 2015’s Scots Trad Music Awards, for Up and Coming Act of the Year, FARA followed their critically-acclaimed debut album, Cross the Line, with a triumphant set at the 2017 Radio 2 Folk Awards, as nominees for the Horizon prize. After winning a German Critics’ Choice Award that same year, FARA have continued to widen their reach, both artistically and geographically, drawing in strands of classical, Appalachian, jazz and indie-pop influence, while steadily multiplying the band’s fanbase across Europe, North America, Asia and Australia.

All the while, the band’s deepest, dearest roots have remained back home in Orkney. In 2019, Scotland’s fabulous fiddle-led FARA – founding Orkney frontwomen Jeana Leslie, Catriona Price and Kristan Harvey – welcomed Highland pianist Rory Matheson to the line-up.  Since then they have become renowned as one of Scotland’s leading and firmly established bands.

Photo credit Euan Robertson