An award-winning Manx musician appeared at two major UK music festivals earlier this month and is looking forward to appearing at another next week.

Mera Royle, the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Musician of the Year, appeared at the Cambridge Folk Festival at the beginning of August, followed by a concert on the mainstage of the Cropredy festival, in front of 10,000 people, last weekend, performing before the appearance of Brian Wilson.

She was accompanied by some of her band mates from the folk group Scran, with Owen Williams and Raygie Dolloso making the trip to Cambridge, and fellow band members Jack McLean, Callum and Fraser Rowe and Jack McNulty joining later on.

Mera said that both concerts were very different, but both left her with some great memories.

’Cambridge was incredibly hot,’ she said.

’We were playing on the second stage, and it was exciting, largely thanks to the audience, who were great. When we played "Dooraght", which is a slow tune, they all had their arms in the air, swaying.

’We then went on to do another show at a side stage, called the Den, which was an indoor tent, with a carpeted floor. They were both very different concerts, but were both really fun to do.

’Cropredy was very different. It rained so hard, and it was soaking wet. We played in front of a huge crowd, but I felt at times we were performing to 10,000 umbrellas.

’I think Cropredy was my favourite experience, though, as we had more members of Scran join up with me, and we also had a lot of good feedback from the crowd and others at the festival.’

Her appearance at Cropredy won praise from many at both festivals, with the Cropredy MC Anthony John Clarke praising Mera’s on-stage presence and professionalism.

Writing on a blog after the festival, he wrote: ’Mera Royle took the stage at Cropredy 2018 with her band winning the hearts of thousands.

’Stunning harp player with the confidence of a veteran. Mera is now established as a must for folk festivals.’

Her next concert is at the Towersey Folk festival on Saturday, alongside guitarist Martin Simpson and fellow islanders Imar and Daphne’s Flight, who feature Manx singer Christine Collister.

Mera also released a six-track EP in time for her festival appearances

Entitled ’the Ballaglass Set’, the CD and download EP features a mix of original and traditional tracks, and is , available from her Bandcamp page, priced £7.

by Mike Wade

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