Rumbo North Isles: New Festival Brings Together Scottish Islands & Latin America

Rumbo North Isles is the name of a new festival bringing musicians from Orkney and Shetland, two archipelagos north of the Scottish mainland, together with artists from Argentina for a series of live performances and creative exchanges this August.

The festival is organized by Routes to Roots, an artist-led organization focused on international collaboration. “It’s about connecting artists and communities through music wherever meaningful relationships can be built,” Routes to Roots founder and artistic director Catriona Price told Pollstar.

She had been carrying the idea for this kind of organization for years, and joined the Global Leaders Institute for Arts Innovation after COVID to work out what it could look like in reality. “That program took me to Chile, where I met Christine [Lauck], a cultural manager based in Mexico. She believed in the idea straight away and very generously came on board to help establish the organization. Through her, we began our first development work in Mexico.”

Price’s fellow directors of Routes To Roots are Joni Strugo (Creative Director) and Juan Grabina (Musical Director), who are both from Argentina and who she first met at WOMEX, where they performed as El Guapo. They happened to be in Mexico at the same time as Price and Lauck began developing their ideas there. “We became great friends, started making music together, and everything snowballed from there,” Price recalled.

Routes to Roots organized the first Rumbo Oaxaca in Mexico, Jan. 15-18, 2026, bringing together musicians from different global backgrounds to collaborate and perform.

Next up is Rumbo North Isles, taking place in a vastly different setting, but with the same goal of connecting global musicians with a strong connection to their respective origins.

Two headline events form the centre of the program, the first taking place Saturday, Aug. 1, at Mareel in Lerwick, Shetland, followed by a second on Sunday Aug. 9 at the Marquee at Picky in Kirkwall, Orkney. Each event brings together artists from the Northern Isles and Argentina, with performances shaped around shared sets as well as individual appearances.

Argentinian duo Lohdóh explore song craft through a contemporary urban aesthetic, blending rich vocal textures, electronic influences and poetic storytelling. Fellow Argentinian group El Guapo draw on Latin American musical traditions alongside rock, funk and jazz to create an expansive, genre-crossing sound.

They are joined by a range of artists rooted in the musical life of Orkney, Shetland and Scotland more widely. Kris Drever, known for his distinctive voice and guitar work, is one of the leading figures in contemporary Scottish folk.

Price, who is from Orkney, will also perform, blending contemporary influences with traditional styles in a fresh, fiddle-led, full band sound.

The Shetland event also features Amy Laurenson and Norman Wilmore, who bring together piano and saxophone in a vibrant partnership that draws on folk, jazz and contemporary musical traditions, and Skelpit, an exciting new Shetland band celebrating the islands’ rich traditional folk heritage through fresh arrangements, dynamic musicianship and infectious energy.

The Orkney program includes The Chair, long established as one of the islands’ most well-known live acts with their distinctive rhythmic style, and Auskerry, one of Orkney’s most exciting emerging folk bands, bringing together five exceptional young musicians to create a fresh, energetic sound rooted in the rich traditions of the islands.

Across the festival, artists will also work together in mixed line-ups, creating opportunities to explore connections between their different musical backgrounds in front of live audiences.

The reason the first Rumbo events have a heavy Latin American influence is, of course, down to Routes To Roots’ origin story. “It’s actually been a wonderful part of the world to begin in,” said Price, “because, in my experience, people across Latin America are incredibly warm, open and enthusiastic about making things happen. They’re very much ‘glass half full’ people, and when you’re trying to build something ambitious from scratch, that’s exactly the kind of energy you need around you.”

The idea for an event that would bring together musicians from all over the world began forming in her hear around 2012. “I received funding to undertake research trips with my friend and fellow musician Esther Swift,” she recalled, “together we travelled to Malawi, Mongolia, Brazil and Québec, exploring musical traditions and meeting artists. Those experiences planted lots of seeds, and my hope is that, over time, Routes to Roots will continue to grow into those places – and many more.”

Funding comes from a combination of ticket sales, public funding, trusts and foundations, private sponsorship and earned income from performances and ticket sales. “Some of our activity is also commissioned by partner organizations, such as when we’ve presented projects as part of Edinburgh International Festival or Celtic Connections,” Price explained, adding, “We’re still a very young organization – we only became a registered charity in 2025 – so we’re very much at the beginning of building our long-term funding journey. We’ve been incredibly grateful for the support of Creative Scotland, who really understand the value of creating meaningful international artistic connections with Scotland. It’s encouraging to see that level of commitment to cultural exchange.”

Private sponsors also include local business both in Oaxaca, Mexico, as well as the North Isles, where businesses and organizations have “generously backed the festivals,” according to Price, who explained, “that kind of local support isn’t just financial – it helps us become genuinely embedded within the communities we’re working in, rather than simply arriving, performing and leaving.”

And she concluded, “one thing that’s absolutely fundamental to Routes to Roots is that artists are paid fairly. We strongly believe that international cultural exchange should never rely on artists giving away their work for free. Because of that commitment, external funding is essential. It enables us to cover travel, production and logistics while ensuring everyone involved is properly valued for their contribution.”

Tickets for Rumbo North Isles are on sale now at https://routestorootsmusic.org.

About Routes to Roots:

Routes to Roots brings together musicians from diverse backgrounds to co-create original, genre-defying work that fosters empathy, connection, and understanding.
Through live performances, artist residencies, and community workshops, the organization uses music as a tool to celebrate cultural richness and promote dialogue across borders.

Following two years of development – including five major collaborations, the release of an EP, a live premiere at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections, and the establishment of
an annual artist residency and festival in Oaxaca, Mexico – Routes to Roots recently gained charitable status in Scotland.

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