For musicians who want to be better storytellers on stage! Learn how to improve your patter and song introductions with some basic rules of storytelling. An interactive and fun session led by experienced musician and storyteller David Francis, where you will learn how to stay grounded, be aware of your audience and try different introductions to songs and music, with honest and useful feedback. Presented by the Traditional Music Forum.
David Francis has been involved in folk music in Scotland for around 40 years as a folk club organiser, musician, researcher and administrator and is also involved in other aspects of the folk arts such as dance and storytelling.
As a musician, David is known for his guitar and songwriting work in duo The Cast with his wife Mairi Campbell, with whom he recorded and toured in the 90s and 00s. The duo was nudged into the spotlight and temporary solvency when their version of Robert Burns’s Auld Lang Syne was picked up for the film of the hit TV show Sex and the City.
He worked with the Traditional Music Forum and TRACS until his recent retirement but continues to stay involved through other organisations like the European Folk Network.
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Edinburgh Tradfest presents the very best traditional music and traditional arts from Scotland and around the world. This year's dates are Fri 2 – Mon 12 May 2025. Edinburgh Tradfest is run by Soundhouse, alongside programming partners at TRACS, Scottish Storytelling Centre, Queen's Hall, University of Edinburgh Celtic & Scottish Studies, Folk Film Gathering and other individual artists and creatives. Funded by Creative Scotland and the William Grant Foundation.
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