Pied Piper Ceilidh Band

What do you offer?

We're a queer ceilidh band, playing our flutes, fiddles and guitars for the queer community in Edinburgh and beyond! Expect riotous trad tunes, gender neutral calling and flamboyant outfits!

Why do you want to work with the LGBTQ+ community?

Ceilidhs are such a space of love, and for many a time for romance, so our mission of making them as open and welcoming as possible to fellow queer people sits close to our hearts.

In the Pied Piper Ceilidh Band, none of us have to be the only queer person on stage, in fact we're all queer and many of us are trans! We've heard horror stories over the years of callers splitting up same gendered couples dancing at lesbian weddings - goodness gracious we'll have none of that!

We're all massively into trad music and have been playing professionally for ceilidhs for 7+ years. In our spare time, you'll find us tearing it up with our jigs and reels in the pubs of Edinburgh. We hone and perfect our craft to bring traditional music and dance to queer audiences.

Allyship

Our whole team, musicians and admin, are all queer. At our ceilidhs we always use gender neutral calling for our dances, and never assume the gender or pronouns of anyone dancing.

We formed initially to play in protests, including trans rights protests. We regularly play gigs for local queer community groups, and at fundraisers for LGBTQ+ charities. We run a monthly "Campy Ceilidh" here in Edinburgh, where we blend drag and ceilidh dance, platforming local drag artists and making a space for traditional folk music and queerness to come together.

As hosts and callers, we are very conscious of the language we use when addressing dancers and giving instructions. Many queer people who have grown up in Scotland have a negative association with ceilidhs, which can be very gendered and heteronormative. Therefore we very consciously try break that norm, and create a safe space for all to enjoy folk music and dance.