Mia x Ally is the electrifying duo project of electric violinist Mia Asano and bagpiper/multi instrumentalist Ally the Piper. With a combined following of over 6 million people, both musicians officially joined forces in April 2022 after discovering their love of performing together, and a number of their duo videos resulted in viral online demand for their continued collaboration. Playing both original songs and covers of pop rock and metal music with a celtic twist, Mia x Ally made their debut in Boston in August of 2022, playing two sold out shows and later went on to tour the East and Midwest on the “Shipping up to Boston tour” named after their viral cover of the Dropkick Murphys classic. The two are currently working on their first full length album together to be released in October 2023. The pair have been recognized by Dragonforce, The Charlie Daniels band and Metallica for covering their music.

Finding a shared desire to bring their unique instruments to the forefront of metal, rock and pop music, Mia x Ally care deeply about breaking boundaries encircling two instruments rooted so deeply in tradition. Both being classically trained musicians from a  young age, the two share a dream of showcasing the vast range of their instruments’ capabilities that span multiple genres and techniques.
www.miaxally.com

One of Scotland’s most popular folk-based groups to emerge in the last decade, chart-toppers Talisk have toured the world stacking up major awards for their explosively energetic yet artfully woven sound, including Folk Band of the Year at the BBC Alba Scots Trad Music Awards, a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award, and the Belhaven Bursary for Innovation.

Mohsen Amini (BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards’ Musician of the Year 2018), Hayley Keenan and Graeme Armstrong fuse concertina, fiddle and guitar to produce a ground-breaking, multi-layered and instantly enthralling signature sound that has captivated audiences around the globe.

Appearances at leading festivals – including closing out Saturday night’s main stage at the 2019 Cambridge Folk Festival, Denmark’s Tønder Festival, the Rainforest World Music Festival in Malaysian Borneo, WOMADs UK, Chile and Las Palmas, Edmonton Folk Festival, Milwaukee Irish Festival, three back-to-back years at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and five successive outings at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections – have amassed a die-hard following, whilst folk and world music media have also lauded high praise upon the genre-bending trio.

Their hotly anticipated second album, Beyond, quickly rose to No.1 in the iTunes world music charts upon its late 2018 release, meeting a five-star ‘Top of the World’ review in leading world music magazine Songlines, who brilliantly summarized the band: “incredibly infectious and endearing… fresh, invigorating, accomplished.”
www.taliskmusic.com