Ground-breaking, chart-topping, genre-bending, globetrotting, instantly enthralling… it’s little wonder that Talisk rank highly amongst the most in-demand folk-based groups to emerge from Scotland in the last decade and more.
Mohsen Amini (BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards’ Musician of the Year), Graeme Armstrong and Benedict Morris (BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year) fuse concertina, guitar and fiddle to produce a ground-breaking, multi-layered signature that has captivated audiences around the globe. At its core, three seemingly acoustic instruments – but in the hands of three master craftsmen; one unmistakable, bold sound and captivating live show.
Talisk have toured the world, stacking up major awards for their explosively energetic, 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. Appearances at leading festivals across multiple continents have amassed a die-hard following – 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 six appearances at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections.
Following their critically acclaimed debut, Abyss, Talisk’s sophomore album, Beyond, quickly amassed five star reviews and rose to No.1 in the iTunes world music charts upon its late 2018 release. With streaming figures into multiple millions, and new music on the horizon in 2022, audiences worldwide are hotly anticipating the latest chapter from a group lauded by leading world music magazine Songlines as: “incredibly infectious and endearing… fresh, invigorating, accomplished.”
- “Incredible
- ROLLING STONE (AUS)” - “a rockin’ powerhouse
- The Herald” - “Doubling the power of three
- The Scotsman” - “Setting scary standards
- Simon Mayo, BBC Radio 2” - “Extraordinary
- Mark Radcliffe (BBC Radio 2)”
Mohsen Amini
BBC Radio 2 ‘Musician of the Year’ Mohsen Amini from Glasgow, Scotland is a fast growing name in the traditional world. Boasted by the Herald as a “Virtuoso” and by BBC Scotland as a “Force of Nature” he’s a leading voice on the music scene today.
In 2014 he co-founded multi-award winning trio, Talisk, who after only two months of formation won a Danny Kyle award at Celtic Connections and shortly after won a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award. Their debut album Abyss was shortlisted at the 2016 MG Alba Trad Awards as Album of the Year, the same awards where they were crowned Folk Band Of The Year in 2017!
Mohsen also founded acclaimed supergroup Ímar at the start of 2016. They, in the space of two years managed to go viral with videos excessing 1 million views. This provided a great platform to launch their award nominated album Afterlight ( ***** Irish Post) and even managed to have them nominated as “Live Act of the Year” which was shortly followed by them being awarded the 2018 Horizon Award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
Alongside launching Ímar in 2016, Mohsen was crowned the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year. With this in hand he’s performed in all around the world and appeared regularly on a variety of BBC shows such as, Radio Scotland, Radio 2, Music day with Bryan Burnett and BBC Alba. Mohsen has gigged and toured with some of the top names in the scene, been named in the Daily Record ‘Young Scot of the Year’, named in The List’s Hot 100, became the first ever musician to be nominated as ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ at the 2016 MG Alba Trad Awards, ‘Musician of the Year’ at the 2017 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and win the 2016 ‘Young Traditional Musician of the Year’ and to boot, he’s now joined ranks with some of the biggest names today being the youngest ever person to be crowned ‘Musician of the Year’ at the 2018 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards
Benedict Morris
Boasted for his “Virtuosity” by Irish Music Magazine, Benedict Morris – 2019 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year – from Glasgow is one of the finest fiddle players in the country and is already making a huge impact in such a short space of time. Hailed “Magnificent” by Sharon Mair at BBC Scotland, Benedict is a rising star in the traditional music scene.
Since winning the Young Traditional Musician of the Year he had made numerous TV appearances on TG4, BBC Scotland, BBC Alba, travelled to Tønder Festival – one of Europe’s biggest folk festivals – with supergroup Ímar, played to a sell out audience in Dublin’s 3 Arena and in September 2019, he took the stage for the Last Night of Proms in the Park at Glasgow Green. Accompanied by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra – conducted by Stephen Bell – and with hundreds of thousands watching for home the performance was recognised as the ‘stand-out moment’ of the night by Proms Executive Producer Stephanie McWhinnie.
Bene’s duo project released their debut album “Wavelength” in November 2018 earning themselves a place on the Long List for the Northern Ireland Music Prize in 2019 as well as several 5 star reviews.
Coupled with joining Talisk in 2021, Benedict has also released two debut solo singles, ‘In Sight’ and ‘Lune’. Both of which are enveloped in luscious string writing, creating his own signature sound for his forthcoming solo album.
http://www.benedictmorris.com
Graeme Armstrong
Growing up around the traditions of the Scottish Borders, Graeme Armstrong started playing the guitar aged 12. Bringing this to a new level he embarked on the prestigious Folk and Traditional Music course at Newcastle University where, through specialising in performance and composition from the Scottish Borders, he achieved a BMUS Honours Degree.
Through his time in Newcastle he co-founded the award winning Rachel Hamer Band. Their debuting album ‘Hard Ground’ was boasted by Folking as “exceptional” and managed to get itself a 4 star review in ‘music republic magazine’.
In his career Graeme has extensively throughout the UK, Europe, Middle East and Australia with bands and musician such as Carly Blain, Black Market Tune, Ideoms theatre company. Joining Talisk in 2017 he brought a new life to the band growing it from strength to strength resulting in them being crowned the 2017 Folk Band Of The Year at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards.