Duncan Black
Traditional Accordion Adjudicator
Duncan began playing at the age of 5 and started formal lessons, aged 7, under the instruction of Jimmy Cassidy. Peter Bruce then became Duncan’s tutor from 1974 until circa 1984.
He was successful in many of the major competitions at both junior and senior level and was crowned the All Scotland Senior Champion here in Perth in 1983 and 2021.
He has played accordion and piano with many bands over the years, which include Bill Black, Jim Johnstone, Ian Powrie, Jim Mcleod, Robert Black, Simon Howie to name but a few.
His music has taken him all over the world to places such as Nigeria, Greece, Gibraltar, Egypt, Israel, Korea, USA, Canada, and Spain.
Duncan has made many television and radio appearances for the BBC and is as enthusiastic about playing today as ever he has been.
Freeland Barbour
Traditional Accordion Adjudicator
Freeland Barbour comes from highland Perthshire and has for a long time been a central figure in Scottish music, as musician, composer, radio and record producer, teacher, studio manager/owner, publisher, and author.
A former BBC music producer, he was a founder tutor on the BA degree course in Scottish traditional music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and has twice been inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame, as well as being honoured by the National Association of Accordion and Fiddle Clubs.
He was manager and owner of one of the UK’s leading recording studios, Castlesound in East Lothian, and a two-volume collection of his compositions and his life in music, ‘The Music and the Land’, was published in 2015.
His recordings have long been best-sellers in their field and his latest book, ‘The White Rose of Gask’, is a biography of the Scottish songwriter Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne.
Paul Chamberlain
Classical Accordion Adjudicator
Paul grew up in a musical family and began learning the accordion at the age of ten. He went on to become one of the first classical accordionists to graduate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Studying under renowned accordionist Djordje Gajic, he completed a Master of Music (Performance) with Distinction and was awarded the prestigious Governors’ Recital Prize for Keyboard.
An accomplished performer, Paul has appeared at major international festivals including Baltica Harmonica in St Petersburg, the Sata-Häme Soi Accordion Festival in Finland, and the world-renowned Edinburgh Festival. His performing career has also taken him to audiences across Europe, the Middle East and the United States.
Gordon Shand
Traditional Accordion Adjudicator
Gordon first began playing the accordion at the age of 10, although his love of the instrument started much earlier, listening to his father playing a two-row Hohner Double Ray button accordion. After moving from the piano accordion to the five-row Continental button accordion, he studied under the guidance of Bob Dalrymple of Kincardine. Bob encouraged not only a love of Scottish traditional music but also, as he would often say, “the classics.” These included works by Toralf Tollefsen and leading French musette performers. Around the same time, Gordon joined the Fife Accordion Orchestra, where he met renowned jazz accordionist Jimmy Martin. He completed his formal musical education under the guidance of classical accordionist and singer John Dallas. His emergence as a soloist came at the age of just 16, when he won the NAAFC Senior Scottish Championship at Musselburgh. In the same year, he also claimed the Senior British Championship title at Scarborough.
In 1989, Gordon formed his own Scottish Dance Band, which has since established itself as one of the country’s leading dance bands. Over the years, the band has made countless recordings for BBC Radio Scotland’s Take the Floor and released a variety of commercial albums. Among its many accolades was an invitation to perform at the programme’s prestigious 25th anniversary celebration at Perth City Hall, sharing the stage with the legendary Jim Johnstone and John Ellis and His Highland Band. The band has also featured on BBC Radio 2’s Jim MacLeod’s Scottish Dance Party and was crowned Scottish Dance Band of the Year at the Scottish Traditional Music Awards.
Alongside performing, composing has been a lifelong passion. Gordon began writing tunes for his band in 1989 and has since become one of Scottish dance music’s most prolific composers. Many of his compositions have been featured on BBC Radio Scotland’s Take the Floor, while numerous artists have included his music on their own recordings. His extensive catalogue spans traditional Scottish dance music, French musette, and melodies equally at home in the repertoire of today’s folk musicians. Among the highlights of his career was the BBC commissioning his band to record an entire Take the Floor session featuring his own compositions, broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland on 3 March 2018. Another significant milestone came with the publication of Journey; a collection of his original compositions arranged for the bagpipes. The book has proved highly popular with pipers around the world and fulfilled one of his lifelong ambitions.
Although no longer an active competitor, Gordon has remained closely involved in the accordion festival scene over the past decade, supporting members of his family Clelland, Blythe and Inver who have enjoyed considerable success at competitions across the world, including the All Scotland Championships. He has also served as an adjudicator at the UK Accordion Championships and NAAFC festivals, and it is a pleasure to welcome Gordon back to the adjudicator’s chair for this year’s festival.
Charlie McKerron
Traditional Fiddle Adjudicator
Described as a “Wonderful, high octane fiddle player and composer”, Charlie Mckerron has now clocked up 40 years on the road as a professional musician.
From winning the Daily Record Golden Fiddle award in the early 80’s Charlie went on to join Gaelic super group Capercaillie in 1985 achieving over 1 million album sales to date as the band goes beyond it’s 41st year.
In 2005 Charlie won Composer of the year in the Scots trad music awards and from pub sessions to festivals his compositions are widely performed and recorded.
Charlie has written music for film and documentary and contributed to the sound track for Hollywood Blockbuster “Rob Roy”, received 2 Royal Television Society awards for co-writing the music for 6 part BBC2 Scotland drama series Gruth is Uachdar (Crowdie and Cream).
Gillian Stevenson
Traditional Fiddle Adjudicator
I started playing fiddle at the age of 10 when my family moved to Tain, a small village in the Highlands of Scotland (probably most famous for Glenmorangie Whisky)!
During my teenage years I started a Scottish Dance Band under the brilliant guidance of Ali McGregor and his Tain Scottish Dance Band and for over 30 years I have played in various Scottish Dance Bands for gigs, broadcasts and a variety of recordings. Highlights of my career have included playing as part of the BBC house band for the National Mod, tutoring and leading the Musician’s Course at the RSCDS Summer School, playing for the RSCDS Winter Schools in Pitlochry, playing for the RSCDS Australian Winter School and just recently being Musical Director for the Teachers’ Association Canada (TAC) Teachers Conference Weekend and Summer School.
I am a trained Mentor for the Traditional Music Arts in Scotland and through this I support various artists in the industry. I also volunteer as Secretary for the National Association of Accordion and Fiddle Clubs. My main job however, is teaching fiddle and other traditional instruments to both adults and children, through the Feis movement throughout the Highlands of Scotland. I was also nominated for Tutor of the Year in the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards 2025.
Margaret Robertson
Traditional Fiddle Accompanist
Margaret Robertson is an inspirational figure on the Shetland music scene as a fiddler, pianist, teacher and composer. She has also made an impact nationally and internationally with her own music and musicianship as well as in her capacity as organiser of the fiddle element in the Edinburgh Military Tattoo’s Pipers Trail, which has visited Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Norway.
Margaret grew up in Yell in a house where an evening without music, live or recorded, was a rare occurrence. Her dad, Lell, played fiddle and listened keenly to Irish fiddle master Sean McGuire and Ian Powrie’s Scottish Dance Band, two of Margaret’s own early influences.
Watching young players develop is, she says, a real joy and she particularly enjoys going to concerts given by former pupils. Among these are her sons, Ross and Ryan Couper, both now professional musicians who followed Margaret in winning the Shetland Young Fiddler of the Year title, Ryan winning twenty-five years after his mother before going on to play guitar.
As a composer Margaret is a self-confessed late starter, who was so annoyed that she couldn’t get into Lerwick to join Simon Thoumire in a session he’d put the word out about that she sat down and wrote her first tune at the age of twenty-eight. Many others have followed, some to order, some hummed or whistled while driving, and have featured on Margaret’s own two albums, and on her extensive discography.
