Pandora Fest “is about true equality and quality music”

Pandora Fest, Scotland’s first ever women’s music festival will take place near Falkirk next month in a bid to redress the balance of female artists playing within the festival scene.

This one of a kind event will not only be the first ever female music festival held in Scotland, but what makes it even more unique is that it will be held in Duncarron Medieval Fort in Carron Valley, which is the complete reproduction of a fortified village from the early Middle Ages of Scotland.

Looking at what sparked the festival, its co-founder Caroline Daalmeijer tells the Jam that she decided to set up PandoraFest, along with Jammenique Duchat, after herself and some other fellow female musicians started to feel “a bit irked about the lack of female performers on the festival circuit”.

She adds: “We knew from experience that the big established festival committees, including the women in those committees, actively favour male artists”.

That is why Daalmeijer and Duchat have made sure that all of the bands performing in the Pandora Fest have at least one woman in their line-up.

Daalmeijer tells us about the experience that some female musicians have had with UK festival committees.

She says: “Without naming names we know that some go as far as telling female artists that they are good, but not ‘what we’re looking for’ and they ‘would do better to sound more like so-and-so'”.

The statistics say it all with The Guardian publishing figures revealing that 89.6% of the line-up of last year’s UK festivals were made up of all male bands.

After reading the article in The Guardian, Daalmeijer decided that enough was enough and decided to co-organise the “female-positive music festival”.

She says: “It’s very important to us to show that it’s the music that matters: Pandora Fest is about true equality and quality music”.

“We are not anti-male and are certainly not excluding anyone, we simply wanted to put women musicians centre stage, so you’ll see female fronted bands with male musicians, and of course everyone is welcome in the audience”, she adds.

Moving on to talk about the festival’s location, Daalmeijer says: “For starters, the backdrop is stunning, set in a favourite haunt for hikers and cyclists”.

She adds: “We have a lovely variety of food stalls, music merchandise and clothing outlets,  and not only can you camp for the night but there are gorgeous yurts available for the full glamp”.

Attendees are also encouraged to dress up in Middle Ages style costumes as the Duncarron Medieval Fort staff will be in historical dress throughout the day.

The Courtesans

The festival lineup includes all female London band the Courtesans, London singer-songwriter Sofia B, California electronics artist ContainHer, Texas singer-songwriter Erin Bennett, New York rapper Flapjack and Australian melodic lyricist Emaline Delapaix.

As well as acts from outside Scotland, a handful of Scottish young singer-songwriters will be debuting their first festival, such as 2016 Soundwaves 2016 winner, Alannah Moar, Edinburgh singer-singwriter Caroline Gilmour, Dundee rock group Bravado and all-female funk band One More.

You can find out more about the festival here and tickets can be purchased through the tickets section of its website.