The Hour

Midge Ure has boldly declared he hopes to help turn Scotland into the songwriting capital of the Western world.

The legendary Scottish musician is one of the patrons of Burnsong, a songwriting competition inspired by the poet Robert Burns which aims to uncover and nurture the brightest talents from across the country.

In recent years the Ultravox and Live Aid star has noticed a slide in the number of songwriters being brought through by record companies, a trend Ure is hoping to eradicate.

Ure told STV’s The Hour: “I’d like to see the Burnsong thing a bit more established. A bit like Nashville was the centre of country music in America, Scotland could be the centre of songwriting for the Western world.”

“The idea is to nurture aspiring young songwriters in an industry that’s a bit volatile to say the least,” he continued. “There’s all these great writers out there who sit in their bedrooms and strum guitars, but they’ve got nowhere to put these songs.

“So we hold a competition every year, this year its gone international, so all the way to China, Australia whatever, people will be emailing these songs into Burnsong Festival to try and win this competition.”

The 12 winners will be taken under the helm of experienced mentors who will take them through a succession of tasks and collaborations designed to develop and enhance their songwriting skills.

They will then showcase their winning songs at "The Big Gig" in November. The songs will be recorded and broadcast nationally, and internationally via the web by Burnsong's media partners, BBC Radio Scotland.

Despite making the competition open to artists from all over the globe, Ure is confident the Scots won’t get left behind.

He added: “For a relatively small country we have had a vast wealth of talent coming out of here you know. And in the musical field, the creative sense, we always have had.

“We can hold our heads high anywhere in the world the amount of output we have.”

Entries are accepted until 21 August, for more information and how to apply visit: burnsong.org