Leading Scots musicians have condemned BBC Scotland's decision to axe key programmes covering and promoting jazz, classical and traditional music.
In an open letter co-ordinated by Tommy Smith, saxophonist and Head of Jazz at Glasgow’s Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Tommy Smith, they warned that the broadcaster was damaging its reputation and said the cuts would be "devastating".
The threatened shows are Classics Unwrapped, Pipeline Jazz Nights, presented respectively by Jamie MacDougall, Gary West and Seonaid Aitken, a 2022 Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) award nominee.
Among the signatories to the open letter are world-famous violinist and incoming director of the Edinburgh International Festival Nicola Benedetti, composer Sir James MacMillan, Scottish Opera director Alex Reedijk, Scotland’s Makar, Kathleen Jamie, and jazz pianist Fergus McCreadie - a recent Mercury Music Prize nominee and winner of last year’s prestigious SAY award.
“We must fight to save this and the other shows,” said Sir James MacMillan. “The BBC is renowned the world over for its support of culture and the arts. Why is BBC Scotland abandoning this vital activity and damaging its own reputation?”
Ms Benedetti has said she is “shocked and deeply disappointed” by the broadcaster’s decision while Mr Smith accuses the BBC of “abandoning” jazz at a time when musicians such as Fergus McCreadie and Georgia Cécile are putting Scottish jazz on the European map.
“Now is the time to expand jazz on Radio Scotland, not cut its head off and make invisible a music which is flourishing in Scotland,” he said.
READ MORE: FERGUS MCCREADIE, SCOTTISH JAZZ'S MAN OF THE MOMENT
“Why now, when we have so many remarkable young jazz artists from the Royal Conservatoire, emerging musicians who require an outlet for their music? It certainly can't be an economic choice, as the budget is microscopic compared to other genres.”
A petition to save the shows currently has just under 5000 signatures. Meanwhile the BBC insists it is still committed to music programming across the network, pointing to unaffected shows such as Another County, Travelling Folk, Take The Floor and The Quay Sessions.
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