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Filska began playing as a band in 1994, under the direction of Joyce Reid. As a result of this encouragement Joyces' daughters Jenna and Bethany Reid, and their friend Gemma Wilson continued to play the fiddle throughout their childhood and school years. As the girls progressed with their playing, they all went on to become prominent prizewinners at Shetland's Annual Young Fiddler of the Year Competition. The band's first T.V appearance came in 1997 when they performed on Grampian T.V's traditional music programme, Ceol na Fidhle, recorded at Coo Cathedral, Aberdeenshire. The girls were joined by guitarist and vocalist ,Andrew Tulloch in 1998 and Filska were asked to represent Shetland at the Disney Millennium Celebrations in Florida. During their weeklong trip, they performed a hectic schedule of 4 concerts a day. On their return to the U.K, Filska went on to perform at the finals of the BBC's Radio 2 Young Folk Award in London. Filska appeared on T.V live from Shetland as part of the BBC's Millennium New Year Celebrations, which was broadcast to over 60 countries worldwide. They went on to secure bookings further afield most notably Forde and Falun Festivals in Norway and Sweden, the Lorient Festival in France and Celtic Colours in Canada. In addition to their line up of fiddles, guitar, piano and accordian, Filska has more recently included traditional and self-penned songs to their repertoire. Filska recorded their first CD "A Thousand Miles Away" for Foot Stompin' in 2004. Jenna Reid is also a member of all-girl band Dochas. |