Cumberlandia...
Cumberlandia...
Who’s performing at Cumberlandia?
Scroll down to find out more about our performers:
Karine Polwart
KARINE POLWART is a writer, musician, and storyteller whose work evokes a richness of place, hidden histories, scientific enquiry and folklore. Across multi-artist collaborations and intimate solo performances, poetic essays and picture books, theatre projects and radio documentaries, she conjures the beauty and magic, the sorrow and darkness of the world out of the corner of her eye, with lyricism and tenderness. Trees and rocks speak. Birds flit in and out of vision. And the intimate particularities of the people and landscapes she knows and loves reflect the complexities of the wider world, and our contested times.
Karine’s recent work encompasses: Windblown (Raw Material Arts) - a parting glass to an old palm tree at Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Garden, and a hymn to gardeners and grieving; Looking for the Thread, a 2025 collaborative album with Grammy Award winning US artist, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and renowned Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis; massed participative choir initiatives, The Back of the Winter, Come Away In and Sing to the Dark; Spell Songs, a multi-artist lyrical, musical and artistic response to environmental loss; andWind Resistance, her paean to moorlands and midwifery, via The Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh.
REVIEWS FOR WINDBLOWN
“powerful, exquisite, pure magic” - The Scotsman ★★★★★
“a remarkable piece of storytelling, quiet and serene, as subtle as it is smart” - The Financial Times ★★★★★
“a work of monumental beauty” - The Herald ★★★★★
Birdvox
Songs of joy, rage, connection, grief, empowerment, the natural world, and peace for the times we’re in. Political disco; skewed-folk floor fillers; avian electronica; hymns to humanity… the honest and cathartic noise of the multi-tasking artist-producers who made this record, equally and collectively.
Birdvox is Sarah Hayes (vocals, synth, flute, drum programming), a founding member of Glasgow’s beloved Admiral Fallow; Inge Thomson (vocals, accordion, field recordings, drum programming), a longtime collaborator with the multi-award-winning songwriter and storyteller Karine Polwart; Jenny Sturgeon (vocals, guitars, keyboards, drum programming), a SAY Award-nominated solo artist, and singer with alt-folk mainstays Salt House; and Charlotte Printer (vocals, bass, percussion, drum programming) who’s previously performed with revived Scottish pop icons Altered Images, and Loyle Carner-collaborator Joesef.
Singing in Scots, Shetland dialect, old Norn and English, Birdvox distil their individual influences into a unique musical point of view and a joyful live experience.
“Perhaps the standout event of the whole festival… exciting and energetic… at the intersection of boundary-pushing art and extremely listenable, melody-based pop”
(The Skinny)
Cumberlandia Folk Club
Each year, we showcase up and coming local talent each morning on the Glade stage.
Don’t miss these excellent short sets from emerging original artists!