Dunedin Teen Takes His Music to Celtic Connections 2015

Dunedin Teen Takes His Music to Celtic Connections 2015

Jake Cropley, an 18-year-old Dunedin singer/songwriter jets off to Glasgow on Monday 19th January to perform at the prestigious Celtic Connections Music Festival , now in its 21st year. (www.celticconnections.com)

Jake was involved with the AMPED Music Project in Dunedin, where young performers learnt essential skills such as inter-band communication, organisational skills, staying focused and setting goals, along with live performance skills via workshops and gigs held by the project.

In October 2013 he won the Play It Strange Commonwealth Games Baton Song Competition with his song ‘On Forever Ye Go’. Jake’s entry was inspired by traditional Scottish songs that captured the emotion of a proud nation of people.

The first show, ‘Dunedin tae Auld Reekie’, is on Wednesday 21 January at the Glasgow Art Club and features Jake and another young Edinburgh performer in a programme of music, stories and poetry highlighting the interchange we have with Scotland. In addition to this, Jake will play a part in the major New Zealand showcase on Saturday 24 January alongside Trinity Roots, Maisey Rika, Wairoa, Louis Baker and Thomas Oliver. Straight after that event Jake heads to Edinburgh for a prime time slot at the Neu Reekie Burns On Fire event at the Thomas Morton Hall. (www.cityofliterature.com/event/neu-reekie-b-u-r-n-s-f-r-e)

Keep an eye out on National television for Jake while he is in Scotland!

Scott Muir of Dunedinmusic.com (DMC) says this is both a great opportunity for Jake and Dunedin music to be showcased on a truly international stage. Simon Vare, of Yellow Eye Music Ltd., who is attending the event for a second year and co-organising the Dunedin show says it’s another stepping stone in the path to a more regular musical exchange between Dunedin and Scotland.

In 2013, in association with ex-Dunedinite Gareth Farry from the British Council NZ, the first exchange was brought to Dunedin with Ross & Jarlath playing at the Glenroy Auditorium as part of Saint Andrews Day celebrations. On Saint Andrews Day 2014 Vare and Muir organised a show with Scotland’s Breabach performing at the Coronation Hall in Maori Hill. So now in the Northern Winter of 2015 it’s our turn to play for them in Scotland. Hopes are high that this exchange of music and culture will continue with bigger and better things over the coming years.

Jake Cropley is supported on this trip by the Dunedin City Council.
Simon Vare is assisted by Outward Sound NZMC ENDs
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