BIO (short)

BIO

Scottish Fish present a fresh take on traditional and contemporary Scottish and Cape Breton music. Their lively and unique arrangements are woven together from session music handed down from generations of the tradition’s finest players. They have performed at the Boston Celtic Music Festival, the Bellingham Celtic Festival, Club Passim, and at various other public and private venues across the United States. Their music and performances have earned them features on WGBH, KALW, and in American Girl and Folkworld Magazines; attracted the attention of programs such as America's Got Talent; and secured an international audience of over one hundred thousand followers on Instagram. In 2017, the group released their debut album, "Splash," and followed it with "Tidings," a 5-track holiday EP, in 2019. Their newest record, "Upscale," produced by pianist and composer Neil Pearlman, was released in October, 2022, marking the band’s ten year anniversary.

Scottish fiddler Hanneke Cassel has described the Scottish Fish sound as “both incredibly musical and just a little unusual.” “Individually they are all creative and talented,” says Cassel, “and together they spark each other, pushing each other even further to make amazing music.”

Scottish Fish present a fresh take on traditional and contemporary Scottish and Cape Breton music. Their lively and unique arrangements are woven together from session music handed down from generations of the tradition’s finest players, many of whom they have had the opportunity to share the stage with. These five young women have a very long and unique history: they began the band as elementary school children, and have remained together for the last decade. Now in their late teens and early twenties, their intense chemistry is clear in their performances and music. You won't be able to keep your toes from tapping and hands from clapping, especially when experiencing their arrangements live.

Press

“Both very traditional and highly flexible,” the Scottish Fish sound features “skillful fiddle melodies and harmonies, imaginative bass lines and rhythms, and spine-tingling treatments” of traditional tunes that render them into “modern masterpieces”

– Alex Monaghan, Folkworld Magazine (2023)

“One of the most energetic and creative acts to take root in the local Celtic music scene this century… the Scottish Fish ensemble has made the transition from carrying the mantel of the ‘future of Celtic music’ to thoroughly occupying the present”

– Sean Smith, the Boston Irish Reporter (2023)

[The Scottish Fish Sound is] “both incredibly musical and just a little unusual... individually they are all creative and talented, and together they spark each other, pushing each other even further to make amazing music”

– Hanneke Cassel, Scottish fiddler, as quoted in the Boston Irish Reporter (2018)

High-Res Photos

Artist one-sheet