Burnsong Songwriting Competition 2011

If you have a song inside you that offers a new take on any of these themes then Burnsong wants to hear it. Songs can be in any style or genre but must be unpublished and unsigned and no longer than 5 minutes in duration./n/nYou know the song – you may have sung it. Auld Lang Syne, played the world over was written by Robert Burns, Scotland's foremost cultural icon. As a poet and, most importantly, a songwriter, his work deals with the big humanitarian themes.



Burnsong, in partnership with Mattie Foulds’ Mobile With A Home (producer/drummer for the acclaimed collective, The Burns Unit) today offers a brand new opportunity for young up and coming Scottish songwriters to record their first demo, working with industry professionals in this fantastic new recording studio. 



The Burns Unit's debut album, Side Show, garnered glowing reviews upon its release in August 2010, with live performances taking Cambridge Folk Festival by storm, and has subsequently been nominated as one of the albums of 2010 by a number of sources including Ian Rankin, Vic Galloway and Spiral Earth.



Produced by Mattie Foulds, the album grew out of a songwriting retreat devised by Burnsong, an organisation whose aim is to nurture and promote songwriting in Scotland. On the first date of The Burns Unit's 2011 tour, Sunday 16th January, at their Celtic Connections gig in the Old Fruitmarket, Mattie will announce the opening of this great opportunity to follow in the band's footsteps.  



"I'm delighted to be supporting three young Scottish songwriters in taking their first steps into the music industry by recording a high quality demo in my new recording studio, Mobile With  A Home".



The Competition:


The anonymous competition entries will be judged by fellow Burns Unit members, Karine Polwart, Emma Pollock (Delgados), Michael Johnston and Kim Edgar, and a panel of music industry experts including Scottish songwriter and lecturer David Scott (Pearlfishers, BMX Bandits) and music industry consultant Ronnie Gurr. With funding support from Creative Scotland, the winning songwriters will then work in collaboration with Mattie Foulds to plan, record, mix and master their first professional recordings, which will help them to progress in their music careers.  



To enter the competition, which opens on Burns Night, 25th January 2011, young people aged 25 and below. Songs can be in any style or genre but must be unpublished and unsigned and no longer than 5 minutes in duration.



The competition will close on 28th February 2011 and winners will be announced via the Burnsong website in March. 

For more information, please visit burnsong.org and theburnsunitband.com.