Mec Lir and Eryn Rae

From their debut gig at one of the largest Celtic music festivals anywhere in the world – Brittany’s famed Festival Interceltique de Lorient – the exhilarating, genre-busting quartet Mec Lir have been frenzying festival audiences for almost a decade - in fact, they'll kick off their 10th anniversary at Celtic Connections 2024!

Well-known for their tight, lightning-fast playing and huge sound, fusing trad with unapologetically electro synths and drums – yet all the while with the fiddle melody at the forefront – the Isle of Man/Glasgow four-piece have brought their infectiously joyous energy to stages in many corners of the folk sphere.

Fronted by virtuoso Manx fiddle player Tomas Callister (Ímar), along with fellow Manx musicians Adam Rhodes on bouzouki (Ímar) and David Kilgallon on keyboard (Neear Nesañ), and expertly grounded by Scotland’s Greg Barry on drums (Elephant Sessions), the group’s second album, Livewire, met critical acclaim upon its 2020 release, and topped the iTunes World Music charts – a feverishly-anticipated follow-up to their groundbreaking debut, Not An EP (2014).

Eryn Rae is an acclaimed Borders-born fiddler boasting a traditional yet distinct sound, combining influences from all over Scotland, Ireland, Cape Breton, America, and Scandinavia. Now based in the thriving traditional music hub of Glasgow, Eryn was recently crowned the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2022, and was also placed as one of four finalists in the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards back in 2017. Eryn will be accompanied by her all-star band comprising of Harris Playfair on piano, Charlie Stewart on double bass, and Paul Jennings on drum kit and percussion.