Catriona Price: Routes to Roots

Readers may well remember the breathless enthusiasm that infused a series of articles written last year by Scottish fiddler Catriona Price. At the time, Price was in Latin America working on her global music-making project, Routes to Roots. Since then, the project has undergone significant developments, so I caught up with her to find out more via video call – me in my Northern English cellar, wrapped up, heater on, and Catriona glowing in the gentle heat of Oaxaca City, Mexico.

Routes to Roots was initiated over a decade ago when Catriona and her regular collaborator, harpist Esther Swift, travelled to Québec, Malawi, Brazil and Mongolia in search of musicians with “one foot planted in their tradition” and a willingness to collaborate. Following further research and development, and a roster of professionals coming on board, Routes to Rootsis now an organisation with its sights set on charitable status and a mission to use music from global cultures for personal, artistic and community development.

“I’ve always thought music is an underused tool in helping us understand each other better. It’s a powerful way to connect across cultures, across borders. Often the music [from other cultures] sounds really different, but we’re usually doing it for the same reasons; it’s all about community and connection”, she says, a piano lid open tantalisingly in the room behind her. “I’ve been very lucky to do a lot of travelling in my career so far, and every time I’ve connected with a musician from a different place, it expands your musical horizons as an artist, and as a human. That feeling has made me passionate about wanting to share that.”

It’s a simple motivation, but by creating an organisation, Catriona hopes that Routes to Roots will work on ideas and initiatives far beyond her own experience. Co-founder and operations manager, Christine Lauck, is a specialist in arts project management; she’s well connected to Mexico’s musical infrastructure, including the university in which Routes to Roots has been residing for the past week, while musicians Joni Strugo and Juan Grabina from Argentinian band El Guapo are its newly appointed creative and musical directors.

“This is the first time, this week, that we’ve tested this out, the four of us together,” Catriona says, “and I’m delighted. It feels so good to have a team where everyone has a different strength to bring to the table, to make something really great happen.”

Collaboration between professional musicians is at the core of Routes to Roots. In January 2025, Catriona invited some of her recent collaborators – Chilean singer-songwriter Daniela Millaleo, Mexican electronic musician Pahua and El Guapo – to Scotland for a special Celtic Connections show.

However, young and amateur musicians will also benefit from the work of Routes to Roots, with the opportunity to learn through a new workshop methodology, which the team conceived to encourage collaborative composition by ear. The inaugural (and free!) Routes to Roots festival, set to take place in Oaxaca City, Mexico in January 2026, will amalgamate all of Routes to Roots’ work so far, with learning, collaboration and performance opportunities for all. “We’ve got a shit-ton of money to raise,” Catriona laughs, “but there’s always a way.”

And it’s this fearless ingenuity that will make Routes to Roots a success, an initiative that will truly reach and inspire many.