KODA

KODA functions today as a youth accordion orchestra based in Symington, Lanarkshire, Scotland, and remains recognized for its Celtic orientation. Musical director Keith Dickson established the ensemble in 1987 under the original title Keith Dickson Accordion Orchestra inside the village of Closeburn, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, drawing at first upon young local accordion players. During the 1990s the group entered the NAO U.K. Accordion Championships on a consistent basis and collected numerous annual prizes. Their first recording, Mist in the Glen, appeared in 1999. Across subsequent seasons Dickson kept recruiting youthful accordionists while simultaneously widening the ensemble’s instrumental palette to include vocalists, fiddlers, bagpipers, guitarists, and additional traditional instruments. The name KODA was adopted in 2000 to signify this expanded collective identity, an approach already audible on the 2002 release Tight Squeeze. Three years afterward Alternative Frequencies arrived, underlining the orchestra’s continuing stylistic development. Their fifth album, Keepin’ It Reel, came out in 2009, the same year the group appeared at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards. A reunion concert uniting present and former members marked the 25th anniversary in 2012. The following year brought further notice when KODA performed live at Scotland’s T in the Park Festival.