A Heartfelt Back Garden Music Festival during Lockdown

In the depths of lockdown during 2020 multi-award winning musician Karine Polwart offered to play a private gig for neighbour and local legend Al Beck just weeks before he would die from cancer.

The resulting correspondence became an unexpectedly rewarding collaboration as they shared their love of music through Al's choice of songs. In this final essay recounts the night of "Beckstival" and how this joyous night tinged with sadness made her reassess the scale and nature of her work.

"More depth, less breadth. More local, less scattered. More conversational, less performative. And always, always more collaborative and connective."

Written and Presented by Karine Polwart Producer by Peter McManus Mixed by Sean Mullervy