In this Sound Session the Skye band Valtos chat with The Captain about their single Lost In Translation and how the band have got to where they are now. Scottish electro duo Valtos is comprised of Isle of Skye natives Martyn MacDonald and Daniel Docherty. The pair, who were named Up and Coming Artist of the Year at The Scots Trad Awards 2022 and make music described by Folk Radio UK as “like nothing you have ever heard before”, started with a string of remixes aiming to showcase both adaptability and variety in their sound, which ultimately culminated in their debut album Valtos, released in June 2022.

In today's podcast Claire Hastings chats with The Captain about her new album Lullabies from Scotland. A beautiful collection of traditional and contemporary Scottish folk tunes, and featuring one of Claire’s own compositions, the record is a charmingly wholesome listen and is inspired by her daughter Nuala who has just turned two.

Claire mentions: “I wanted to create a delicate folk album of relaxing songs, not just for families with children, but for everyone to enjoy. In my opinion,lullabies are about more than singing a baby to sleep; they are an important part of passing on cultural knowledge and tradition. The perfect way to listen to the album would be to curl up with a hot drink or glass of wine to unwind, and I really hope listeners will enjoy this more laid back offering.”

Rachel and Aaron are celebrated names within the traditional music scene in Scotland, having both worked as singers and instrumentalists for many years. Rachel has previously recorded her own solo album Gaol and has played with much-loved folk bands Cruinn and Skipinnish, while Aaron has recorded on multiple projects, including his own band, Old Blind Dogs.

Donnie Munro was born in Uig Isle of Skye, the youngest of three children. Born into a crofting family, he was a native Gaelic speaker, spending his childhood between the family home in the village of Portree, the island’s main centre, where he attended school, and the family’s croft in the small village of Treaslane, in the Northwest of the Island. Munro considers himself to have been very fortunate in having experienced that very traditional crofting life at a time when Gaelic Language and Culture remained very naturally embedded in the fabric of daily family and community life and became the language which so informed his formative years.

During his year at Moray House, Munro, along with some former school friends from Portree High School, formed the, now famous, and iconic Scottish Rock Band, Runrig. A long and highly successful international career and a string of internationally successful albums were to follow which would see Runrig take their Gaelic influenced rock music out across the world, becoming regulars in the UK and European Albums and Singles Charts with regular appearances on the UK’s iconic Top of the Pops, succeeding in taking the first ever Gaelic song into the UK top twenty.

Throughout his music career, however, Munro continued to paint and in the early 1990’s, whilst Rector of the University of Edinburgh, Munro began exhibiting work with the Scottish Gallery. The Scottish Gallery holds a very special place in the artist’s heart, as it was from Aitken Dott and Sons of Edinburgh (which became the Scottish Gallery) that Munro, as an eleven-year-old child, received his first set of Oil Paints, a special Christmas present from his parents.

The artist said, I will never forget the arrival of that beautifully wrapped brown paper box with the name Aitken Dott stamped on its side and, since that time, I have held a great affection for the Scottish Gallery. I visited the Gallery many times as a student, seeing many outstanding exhibitions there over the years and my being invited to exhibit with the Gallery felt very special indeed and like a bit of a homecoming for me. To now be invited to exhibit a group of paintings in the Gallery at the same time as work by one of my own heroes of Scottish Painting, Sir William Gillies, is an honour and a privilege beyond my wildest dreams.