The Red Hot Chilli Pipers

The Red Hot Chilli Pipers have brought a whole new flavour to the sound of the pipes. They have amazed and delighted audiences with their performances of rock anthems, all presented in an exciting live show with the skirl of the pipes and the swirl of the kilt! The result is a hugely enjoyable sing-along, bounce-along, feelgood event.

The Red Hot Chilli Pipers will be performing at the Villa Marina in Douglas at 8.00pm on Thursday 15th July.

Emily Smith

Emily Smith is recognised as one of Scotland's finest interpreters of traditional song and a multi-instrumentalist. She has received the accolades of BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year and Scots Singer of the Year. She is also a talented songwriter, which was recognised when she was a winner of the folk section of the USA Songwriting Competition. She has an ability to weave the old and the new seamlessly together.

Emily spent six years living in Glasgow during which time she gained an Honours degree in Scottish Music from The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. She is a multi-instrumentalist. Now living back in her home area of Dumfries & Galloway in South West Scotland, she has found her niche drawing on the rich local history and ever changing landscape as the source and inspiration for her music.

Emily has recorded four CDs, including one with Jamie MacClennan celebrating the songs of Robert Burns. Jamie will be joining her on stage at the Centenary Centre in Peel for a concert starting at 8.00pm on Saturday 17th July.

Duo Robic/Guillarme

Duo Robic/Guillarme share their influences, their ideas, and their passions in their music, with their instruments blending together to create the best of Breton dance music.

Jérôme Guillarme began playing the accordeon at a very young age, initially in the musette style, but soon found the traditional music that has become his abiding interest and given him his repertoire and style.

Emilien Robic first played for dancing at festou-noz on the biniou koz, the old Breton small pipe. Soon, though, he discovered the clarinet, or rather the treujenn-gaol, and developed a great love of the instrument. The name treujenn-gaol is Breton for cabbage stalk! The term treujenn-gaol was originally a pejorative term invented in the 18th century by bombard players who found the newer instrument encroaching on their livelihood. The traditional Breton clarinet is an instrument with 13 or fewer keys, rather than the later Boehm system.

Jérôme and Emilien, Duo Robic/Guillarme, will be playing for a fest-noz in the Masonic Hall in Woodbourne Road, Douglas at 8.00pm on Sunday 11th July.

Harriet Earis and Ian Wyn Rowlands

Harriet Earis is a young Celtic harpist living in Aberystwyth and a winner of the Danny Kyle Open Stage award at Celtic Connections 2007. She performed solo in the Albert Hall and in the 02 Arena in London as part of "Young Voices" 2007 and has a busy touring schedule with regular tours of the USA (to over 25 states), Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, Ireland and Canada. She represented Wales in the Festival Interceltique in Lorient 2008 and has two solo albums, "Jumping Ahead" and "From the Crooked Tree" with The Harriet Earis Trio (harp, bass and drums) where she was mixing Celtic music with jazz.

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Ian Wyn Rowlands has been described as 'one of the best undiscovered talents performing in Wales today'. In recent years, Ian has been performing professionally as a solo guitarist and singer playing original material and traditional ballads in both Welsh and English. Originally from Ynys Mon (Anglesey), Ian was a founder member of bands 'Tra Bo Dau' and 'Abernaki' and he produced two albums with them on the "Sain" music label which receive extensive airplay on Radio Cymru. Ian now lives near Harriet in Ceredigion in mid Wales and is busy preparing new material for a third solo album. He is a prolific song-writer, with over 50 songs to his name in Welsh and English. You can expect everything from medieval Welsh lyrics to rock and pop influences from his vocals, along with some driving guitar backing, all mixed with some funky and traditional harp playing from Harriet.

Welsh music with a modern twist! And Harriet and Ian can be heard in Kirk German's Cathedral at 7.30pm on Wednesday 14th July.

Harriet will also be leading harp workshops at 4.00pm and 6.30pm on Thursday 15th July in St Peter's Parish Hall at the top of Royal Avenue in Onchan.

Beoga

Beoga is the Irish word for 'lively'. It wasn't coined for the band, but no wonder they adopted it - it fits them perfectly! They are based in County Antrim, in the north of Ireland, but are well known throughout the world for their high octane playing and sense of fun.

Beoga feature the twin dueling accordians of Damian McKee and multi-instrumentalist Seán Óg Graham, pianist Liam Bradley, four times All- Ireland bodhrán champion Eamon Murray and Niamh Dunne on vocals and fiddle. This year Beoga have been touring the USA, Europe and Australia and New Zealand, and will be returning to their world-wide touring schedule after their concert at the Centenary Centre in Peel starting at 8.00pm on Sunday 18th July.

Dalla

Dalla have become leading members of the Cornish music scene, and particularly in the world of Cornish dance. The line up includes clarinet, bouzouki, fiddle and vocals, and the repertoire is a mixture of instrumental pieces and songs in both English and Cornish. Some of the material is old, some new, and all of it is Cornish. Outside influences can undoubtedly be heard in Dalla's music - a product of Cornwall's own rich cosmopolitan history as well as Dalla's spirit of adventure.

Since the 1970s, there has been a revolution in the Cornish traditional dance scene. Two distinct formats for Cornish social dancing have emerged. Firstly, the 'troyl', similar in style to Scottish or Irish ceilidhs, and then the 'nos lowen', more akin to the Breton fest noz. 'Nos lowen' literally means 'happy night'!

Nos lowen dances are all old traditional Cornish dances, or dances written more recently in the tradition using the old steps or formations. The dances at a nos lowen are usually simple enough to be learnt quite quickly just by following other dancers, so there is no need to have a 'caller' to explain dances. This in turn means that the music can be more continuous, and the flow of the night uninterrupted.

Dalla will be leading a nos lowen at 8.00pm on Friday 16th July in the Corrin Hall in Peel, and will also be playing at the Centenary Centre in Peel in a concert which starts at 8.00pm on Saturday 17th July.