Nomads Festival 2023: Merlyn Driver

An unforgettable evening with Merlyn Driver, a singer-songwriter, creative producer, and nature enthusiast.

Born and raised in Orkney (an archipelago in the north of Scotland), Merlyn Driver was brought up on a smallholding without mains electricity and didn't attend the local school until his early teens. Having spent much of his childhood outdoors and set on pursuing a career in wildlife conservation, the challenges of adapting to normal school life distracted Merlyn from this path, and his interest in music and culture grew.

Merlyn’s unconventional upbringing and passion for nature continues to inform his music, which is influenced by Celtic folk as well as different musical traditions and genres from around the world. His studies - focusing mainly on Sámi joik and African musics - have played a key part in shaping Merlyn’s approach to music. Inspired by his research into the ‘buzz aesthetic’ of West African traditional music, for example, he has developed ways to 'prepare' his guitar with various vibration and sound modifiers.

Ihana Kahvila Baari
29 September 2023
At 20.00

Free admission