Mike Vass

Mike Vass is one of the most creative forces on the Scottish music scene. As a musician, composer, producer and arranger Vass has amassed a body of work that encompasses early appearances as a livewire young fiddler, collaborations with many of the leading voices among today’s Scots and Gaelic tradition bearers, delivering multi-media performances, overseeing critically acclaimed recordings, and scoring for prestigious ensembles. During the summer of 2013 Vass’s momentum as a go-to musician and strongly developing composer came to an abrupt halt as he was hospitalised with neuroborreliosis, a disorder of the central nervous system. This potentially life-threatening illness resulted in Vass spending time in a medically induced coma but during his recuperation Vass read Scottish author Neil Gunn's account of his sea-going sabbatical, Off in a Boat and the following year, back to full health and drawing on a love of sailing that goes back to his childhood, he recreated Gunn's voyage round the west of Scotland. In the Wake of Neil Gunn, a suite of music and subsequent album and tour inspired by both Gunn's journey and his own journey through ill health and recovery, became a defining achievement and a successful spur to further extended composition. The album was long- listed in the Scottish Album of the Year award and short-listed in Album of the Year category of the Scots Trad Music Awards