AMPLIFI June 2024

The Queen's Hall presents Season 3 of our gig series showcasing the sounds of modern Scotland.

With artists hand-picked by guest curators Arusa Qureshi and Halina Rifai of We Are Here Scotland - staged in our intimate performance space - AMPLIFI presents an exciting opportunity to see new and rising artists in a setting designed to amplify their voices and put them centre stage.

Performers:

Chloe Matharu is an Award winning Scottish Indian singer songwriter and harpist on the West Coast of Scotland. Many of her songs draw on her time as a Navigational Officer in the Merchant Navy, inspired by the natural world as experienced at sea. On tour she performs solo with her harp in English, Scots and Welsh.  Her music offers "an intriguing insight into a new tradition of maritime folk music with thoughtful song writing embellished by her voice and superb harp playing" - The Herald. From 2024 she will also bring electronic soundscapes to the stage, as heard in her single The Silkie of Sule Skerry, with a three piece band. 

Diljeet Kaur Bhachu is a Glasgow-based musician. Working primarily with flutes, she also sometimes brings in spoken word and electronics. Since late 2022 she has been re-exploring her relationship with singing through the North Indian classical tradition. Diljeet performs regularly with singer-songwriter Kapil Seshasayee and features on his albums A Sacred Bore and Laal. Most recently, Diljeet was commissioned by Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra to create new work as part of Gallus Disruptors (Nov ‘24) - for this Diljeet formed a fully improvised flute quintet. The soft, ambient, layered sounds of her solo work have been described as "Stunning, transporting to dream realms of music and restfulness…" (Bell Lungs). 

Miwa Nagato-Apthorp is an artist and musician based in Hawick in the Scottish Borders. Her practice is often collaborative and draws on folk traditions to explore multicultural understandings of history, climate, womanhood and home. She is currently Musician in Residence at Alchemy Film & Arts, where she is working on new songs about Hawick's lesser known histories and heritages.  

Curators:

Arusa Qureshi is an award-winning writer, editor and speaker with a passion for music, diversity and accessibility within arts and culture. Her book about women in UK hip hop, ‘Flip the Script’, is out now via 404 Ink. She has bylines in The Guardian, NME, Clash, Time Out, The Forty-Five and The Scotsman.

Halina Rifai is a podcast producer, music writer, PR & digital marketer. She founded music site Podcart in 2009 and went on to become a podcast producer, working with the likes of The Big Light, The Ferret, Mental Health Foundation, Fringe of Colour and many more.  Podcasts she has worked on and continue to work on include Sheku Bayoh: The Inquiry and A Sonic Hug. Halina is Communications Manager for We Are Here Scotland – A space aimed at supporting and raising the voices of Black People and People of Colour creatives across Scotland.

Supported by Creative Scotland and the City of Edinburgh Council.

Winner of the Creative Edinburgh 'Inclusion' Award.

Presented by The Queen’s Hall and We Are Here Scotland