WATCH: Young Scottish musicians display incredible talent during event to save country’s music venues

Some of Scotland’s most talented young artists showcased their raw musical prowess during a virtual singalong event, to raise funds for the country’s struggling gig venues.

The Sofathon Singalong took place for a second time on Saturday, featuring a stellar youth line-up including Connor Fyfe, 13, Kerr James, 14, Abby Gibson, 15, and eleven-year-old Noel Quinn.

The young up-and-coming musicians delivered an important message to their thousands of viewers – that they need Scotland’s grassroots music venues to return when the lockdown is lifted, so they have places to play at to develop their unique talents when they’re older.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, cultural hubs across the country, including music venues, have been forced to close to comply with current social distancing rules.

Scotland is home to some of the UK’s most renowned grassroots venues, such as King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut and St. Luke’s, where many of the world’s most famous musicians start out playing to small crowds.

Unable to allow these crowds through their doors, the country’s beloved venues are currently struggling to stay afloat.

To raise money for a crowdfunder aimed at saving these sites, the young musicians joined some of Scotland’s best breakthrough talents like Sofathon founder Luke La Volpe, Dundee star Be Charlotte, current chart hit Stephanie Cheape and BBC songwriter of the year Mike McKenzie. The day also included the first ever live-streamed set from Pearlfishers frontman David Scott.

Following the success of the first Sofathon, which gained half a million viewers, the second virtual event ran for 12 hours on the Facebook pages of Gigs In Scotland, King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, The Glasgowist and St Luke’s.

Both events were in aid of the Music Venue Trust’s (MVT) crowdfunder #SaveOurVenues, which aims to support the hundreds of grassroots music venues across Scotland and the UK which are facing the very real risk of permanent closure because of the coronavirus crisis.

Luke La Volpe, who started the Sofathon series on the 18th March, was invited to become a patron of the Music Venue Trust alongside Sir Paul McCartney, Billy Bragg, Elbow, Madness, KT Tunstall and Frank Turner.

Luke said: “It’s an absolute surprise and honour to be invited to be a Patron for the Music Venue Trust. When I looked at who else they have as patrons I was in shock. The past few weeks have been difficult for absolutely everyone on the planet and I was thinking of ways I could do something positive and all I really have to do that with is music.

“When I came across the MVT and found out what they do for Grassroots venues it was a no brainer to put something together to help them and spread awareness. Sofathon Singalong started out as a little idea to play an online gig and get some of the people I know in other bands involved and it obviously struck a chord.

“Every artist starts off in these grassroots venues, including all the other MVT patrons, however big they’ve got, and without them you have no music business. I’m glad to be part of such a great initiative and will do my bit to ensure that the venues survive and can have us all back playing in front of people before too long.”

Songtradr, the world’s leading music licensing marketplace, supported the second Sofathon event and made a generous donation to the Music Venue Trust on behalf of the artists who performed.

Paul Wiltshire, founder and CEO of Songtradr, said: “As a musician myself I once survived from gig to gig and I completely understand the impact that the current situation is having not only on music artists but the small, independent venues that they perform in. Songtradr has been focussed on assisting the artist ecosystem during this time and when we heard about what Sofathon Singalong and all the artists are doing in aid of the Music Venue Trust and the hundreds of venues which are currently at risk, we were delighted to support their efforts.”

All sets from the Sofathon can still be watched here.