The Ulster-Scots Folk Orchestra had its roots in Fowkgates, an artists Collective which was founded by Willie Drennan in 1999 to promote the Ulster-Scots tradition.

Following the success of initial recordings by issued by Fowkgates, the Orchestra was formed in October 2000. Their arrival was announced by a major concert in the Ulster Hall in early 2001. In the spring of the same year, they travelled to Atlanta, Georgia to perform at a Scotch-Irish Symposium at Emory University.

Following their return to Ireland, they took part in an ethnomusicological workshop at the Irish World Music Centre at the University of Limerick in June 2001, including concert performances in the area which received a very positive response. Professor Micheal O’Suilleabhain wrote of this visit:

Every now and then something or someone comes along which challenges our sense of self, Irishness and music and forces us to reassess ourselves and the way we consider the other.
Turlough O’Carolan, Sean O’Riada, Tommy Potts amongst others have done this and still reach from beyond the grave to make us reassess ourselves and our music. The Ulster-Scots tradition has begun a similar process…Their performances and presentations encourage us to reassess the musical mapping of these islands…to reposition our own idea of what is Irish in relation to this and other traditions of this island. (Introduction to Ulster-Scots Music: Ethnomusicological Report: Irish World Music Centre & Irish Peace Institute).

 

The USFO brought out their first album: ‘Planet Ulster’ later in 2001. Following its success, the second album, ‘Endangered Species’ came out the following year.

In 2004 the USFO visited Kentucky bringing their music to schools and colleges and re-establishing the cultural links between Ulster and the Bluegrass State. On their return to Ulster, their third album, ‘Bringin’ it Thegither’ was released.

As the orchestra has developed, it has grown into a large network of musicians, who come together in different combinations for different occasions. Although the name ‘orchestra’ was deliberately chosen to suggest the size and diversity of instruments involved, in many ways the USFO is an ‘anti-orchestra’: its operates as a loosely co-ordinated network of creative individuals, rather than in the tightly structured and hierarchical manner of a classical orchestra, and founder member John Trotter is scornful of the ‘orchestralisation’ of traditional music that has become common in commercialised recordings.

In 2004 the USFO Youth Project was initiated with the purpose of bringing young talent into the group. The growth of the orchestra into a widespread network has been manifested in its organisation by the creation in 2004 of The Ulster-Scots Folk Orchestra Association, to bring together al those performing, or interested in performing in the USFO and the various smaller groups associated with it. The association meets regularly for informal rehearsals in a loft above a cattle byre on Carl McCullough’s farm near Ballymena – occasions that are both preparations for gigging and an opportunity to gather for the sheer pleasure of playing music together. The energy that is generated on these occasions carries over into the group’s public performances and forms a major part of their appeal.

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