The very talented Karine Polwart scooped Best Album (Faultlines) , Best Original Song (The Sun's Comin' Over the Hill) and the Horizon Award at the 2005 Folk on 2 Awards.
Currently leading her own band and formerly lead singer with Scots-Irish quintet Malinky and a one-time member of Battlefield Band and duo MacAlias, Karine Polwart was on her road to great success when she was voted “Best Scots Singer” at the 2003 Scots Trad Music Awards. Blending passionate stridency with plaintive sensitivity, she has a maturity and breadth of outlook and experience that distinguishes her as one of the most powerful and inventive narrative interpreters of her generation.
Since leaving her work in the field of human rights and domestic abuse in early 2000, Karine has grown in confidence, allowing her broad range of musical and social interests to influence both her traditional repertoire and her own thoughtful songwriting. With degrees in philosophy and a background dealing with the most vulnerable in society, she succeeds in her aim to communicate personal and sometimes political messages, without wielding sledgehammers of diatribe. Her incisive intelligence and sense of justice, as well as her warmth and wit, shine through.
It’s no surprise then that Karine’s edgy songwriting in Scots and English has won her acclaim on the UK folk-roots scene. Her gutsy Balkan-metred song “Thaney”, from Malinky’s “3 Ravens” album, was nominated for “Best Original Song” at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2003 whilst her poignant lament for the women of Srebrenica in Bosnia “Whaur Dae Ye Lie?” has attained the rare status of a modern classic by passing into wider folk repertoire, as well as being recorded by such luminaries as Sheena Wellington and Roy Bailey. And it’s not just the folk world that has taken notice. Roddy Woomble of indie rockers Idlewild chose “Start it All Over Again”, co-written with former band mate John McCusker, as one of his Top Ten tracks of all time in an NME article, alongside classics by The Ramones and Lou Reed.
Karine’s debut solo CD “Faultlines” (released January 2004) heralds a bold new sound for the Edinburgh-based musician. Though it resonates with folk and roots influences, it borrows liberally from other genres. But Karine retains a consistency of approach through the songs themselves, which display her affinity for tricky themes and her talent for both memorable melodies and insightful lyrics. She says:
“I've got big ideals and love big ideas. And I'm really fascinated by the power and limitations of song as a way of changing how we feel or we look at things. But I'm always looking for the wry, sideways view. It's much more effective and makes for better music."
Widely in demand for collaborative projects, Karine has twice performed in major new orchestral works: Dick Gaughan’s “Timewaves” (2004) and Brian McNeill’s “The Osprey” (2002). She toured with the landmark “Scottish Women” ensemble and represented Scots song traditions at the prestigious Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC in 2003.
The trad music scene benefits from Karine’s previous campaigning and policy development experience in her current roles as Vice-Convener of the Traditional Music and Song Association (TMSA) and Scottish representative on the Folk, Roots and Traditional Committee of the Musicians Union. | 
