Celtic Connections 2011 Brochure

13 – 30 JANUARY 2011CELTICCONNECTIONS.COM

SPONSORED BY FUNDED BY

INTRODUCTION

A warm welcome to the 18th Celtic Connections festival – 18 days and nights of sensational music, song and dance from across the world – all to be performed throughout the great venues of Glasgow – recently crowned as a UNESCO City of Music.

In a truly global musical experience over 1,500 artists will descend upon these shores to connect and collaborate, inspire and influence, and undoubtedly raise the roof once more, for what is fast becoming the world’s favourite roots festival.

Included in the themes for 2011 are ‘adaptation and transition’ – the exciting realisation of new ways to interpret the words and music of the great writers of our tradition – like Hamish Henderson, possibly Scotland’s greatest folklorist, or Ireland’s W.B. Yeats, celebrated this year in amazing new songs by The Waterboys, or Bob Dylan – his incredible catalogue of songs performed by great singers from here and across the big pond in recognition of his 70th birthday.

And the global reach of Celtic Connections is once more highlighted in shows like ‘The Pulse of the World’ with the Indian master percussionist Zakir Hussain, who has created our opening show exploring the vibrant links in the musical journey from India to Scotland.

These are of course the tip of the iceberg from this year’s 300 plus events that promise to create a unique and compelling atmosphere across the city. So from the tradition to fusion, Americana to indie, roots, jazz and gospel, from rising stars to living legends – take your pick and join us for what will prove to be the brightest and boldest Celtic Connections so far!

Donald Shaw Artistic Director

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HOW TO BOOK…Become a Celtic Connections Friend and help the Festival Education Programme inspire the great folk musicians of tomorrow!

For more information visit:

Ask our box office team about the chance to buy Premium Seats for concerts in the Main Auditorium.

Save up to 15%* on tickets for all Celtic Connections events when you buy an exclusive Celtic Connections Discount Card. There are a strictly limited number of these exclusive Discount Cards available, so be sure to buy yours quickly before they’re gone!

For more information visit:

www.celticconnections.com/discountcard* = 15% discount on all purchases made until 27/12/10, 10% discount on all purchases made from 28/12/10 onwards.www.celticconnections.com

All details were correct at time of going to print, but may be subject to change.

DISCOUNT CARD

www.celticconnections.com/celticfriends

ONLINEwww.celticconnections.com

PHONE

0141 353 8000

IN PERSON Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3NY

BOX OFFICE COUNTER OPENING TIMES Mon–Sat 10am–6pm (longer opening hours will apply during the festival)

A transaction charge of £1.50 applies to all phone bookings and £1 to all online bookings.

Please note that all under 14s are to be accompanied by an adult in Glasgow’s Concert Halls. The O2 ABC Glasgow, Arches and Òran Mór are all over 14s only and under 16s should be accompanied by an adult.

Limited door sales at each venue on the night subject to availability.

Some concerts are seated and some are standing, this will be indicated beside the price on the relevant page.

QUICK GUIDE…

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CONTENTS

Introduction 3Rough Guide to Celtic Connections 2011 7Torchlight Parade 2011 8

EVENTS GUIDE BY VENUEConcert Hall: Main Auditorium 8–17Old Fruitmarket 18–25Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 26–33City Halls: Grand Hall 34–36City Halls: Recital Room 37O2 ABC Glasgow 38–42CCA 43The Arches 44–45Òran Mór 46–49St Andrew’s in the Square 50–53Tron 54–57BBC Scotland Pacific Quay 58Glasgow Art Club 60

FESTIVAL DIARY 8 PAGE PULL-OUT GUIDEOpen Stage 37Talks 59Piping Competition 61Festival Club/Late Night Sessions 61Workshops 62–65Fiddle Village 65Showcase Scotland 65Quick Guide – A–Z 66–69Education 70Venue Map 71

CHECK what’s on in the EVENTS DIARY…8 page pull-out guide

NEW TALENT

AMERICANA

INDIE

FUSION

DANCE

TRADITIONAL

WORLD

SONG

FOLK

EXCLUSIVE

SPONSORS 6

PRINCIPAL SPONSOR FUNDERS MEDIA PARTNERS

OFFICIAL TRANSPORT PROVIDERSPONSORS, PARTNERS AND SUPPORTERS

Celtic Connections’ diverse programming and valuable education work complements ScottishPower’s firm commitment to making culture accessible for all, and the company is proud to support Scotland’s premier roots music festival.

Celtic Connections is promoted by Glasgow Life. Glasgow Life is the operating name of Culture and Sport Glasgow registered in Scotland No SC313851 with its registered office at 20 Trongate, Glasgow, G1 5ES. Culture and Sport Glasgow is a company limited by guarantee and is registered as a charity (No SCO37844) with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.

Read the Evening Times for daily festival coverage, and enjoy artist features each week in the Sunday Herald. Listen to Celtic Connections CultureCasts at www.heraldscotland.com

Celtic Connections would like to thank Glasgow City Council and all our other funders for their continued support in funding the festival and its education programme.

ScotRail is operated by First.

Campaign design by:

.co.uk

The Rough Guide to Celtic Connections 2011 7

KEEP IN TOUCH

Share your thoughts and concert suggestions with other fans of the festival, and get all the latest Celtic Connections news on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/celticconnections

For the inside track on what’s happening behind the scenes and to share your festival stories follow us on Twitter at celtic2011 and use #celtic2011

Read the daily column in the Evening Times and be sure to pick up the Sunday Herald for your own free Celtic Connections wallplanner and cd, as well as artist interviews and concert previews. Head online to Heraldscotland.com to hear journalists and special guests discuss their festival highlights on the weekly CultureCasts.

TRANSPORT YOURSELF

Making your journey to the festival couldn’t be easier with ScotRail, our official transport provider. ScotRail offers convenient, fast and frequent services to Glasgow from all over Scotland and a wide range of great value off-peak and group fares. ScotRail is operated by First. Visit www.scotrail.co.uk or call 08457 484950 to find out more.

If you are making a night of it and want to eat out before or after a concert we have teamed up with the Glasgow Restaurateurs Association to offer special deals at a range of restaurants across the city during the festival. Visit www.graonline.co.uk to view restaurants and menus. At the Concert Hall you can dine in the stylish surroundings of the Green Room restaurant and sample our delicious Scottish menu inspired by the festival.

SHARE IN THE MUSIC

Our fantastic workshop programme lets you have a go at an instrument you always wanted to try out, or can help you develop from an enthusiastic beginner to a seasoned pro. Turn to page 62 for the full workshops listings. Perfect for those ‘must try something different’ New Year’s resolutions!

To enjoy the music of your favourite artists long after the concert has finished, visit the CODA Music stand located in the foyer of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, and browse a wide selection of recordings by festival artists.

IT’S OFFICIAL

We’re delighted that Celtic Connections won Best Traditional Event at the Scottish Event Awards and Best Cultural Event at the UK Event Awards. This year we’re also finalists in the Scottish Thistle Awards and the European Festival Awards so keep your fingers crossed!

OUR TIPS TO ENSURE THAT YOUR FESTIVAL GOES WITH A BANG!You have in your hands your personal guide to the hottest winter festival in the music calendar, featuring renowned acts from the worlds of folk, roots, indie and Americana. We want you to make the most of all 18 days so here’s our handy guide to help you do just that.

Browse through the venue pages, find your favourite artist in the A-Z on page 66, or just pick a day in the pull-out diary and see what takes your fancy.

20100WINNER

TORCHLIGHT PARADE8

THURSDAY 13TH JANUARY, 4.45PM GEORGE SQUARE, FREE

Every year, Celtic Connections launches in spectacular style with a torchlight procession through Glasgow city centre.

The ScottishPower Pipe Band lead a mass of blazing torches from George Square to the Concert Hall steps, as Glasgow lights up for the first day of the festival.

Celebrations commence inside the Hall, as torch-bearers are invited to the Lord Provost’s Drinks Reception, and the festival is pronounced officially open!

Download your application form from www.celticconnections.com

Celtic Connections Torchlight Parade 2011

WWW.CELTICCONNECTIONS.COM

THURSDAY 13TH JANUARY, 7.30PM GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL/MAIN AUDITORIUM, £20/£18, SEATED SPONSORED BY SCOTTISHPOWER

In a glittering, groundbreaking embodiment of Celtic Connections’ commitment to fostering international artistic collaboration, this year’s festival launches with The Pulse of the World, a brand new cross-cultural performance featuring the globally renowned Indian tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, together with a stellar array of Scottish and Irish traditional musicians including Patsy Reid (fiddle/viola), Charlie McKerron (fiddle), Ross Ainslie (small pipes/whistle), Matheu Watson (guitar, mandolin), John Joe Kelly (bodhran), Michael McGoldrick (flute, pipes and whistles) and the beautiful Hebridean singing of Jenna Cumming. They will be joined tonight by Indian

stars selected by Hussain: Kumaresh (violin), Rakesh Chaurasia (bansura [bamboo flute]) and Navin Sharma (dholak) as well as the spectacular sound of the drum corps of the Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia Pipe Band.

Continuing along the trail blazed by his father Alla Rakha – who, as Ravi Shankar’s tabla player, co-pioneered the western popularisation of Indian music – Zakir Hussain is a linchpin figure in contemporary world culture. Rooted in ancient classical disciplines, his astounding musical empathy and improvisational wizardry has seen him work with such genre-spanning greats as George Harrison, John McLaughlin, Yo Yo Ma and Van Morrison.

Tonight’s gala premiere, following a period of intensive rehearsal by Hussain and his Celtic collaborators, unveils a wealth of new music drawn from across their respective traditions and far beyond.

Celtic Connections Opening Concert: The Pulse of the World featuring Zakir Hussain

ZAKIR HUSSAIN

CONCERT HALL: MAIN AUDITORIUM

WORLD

This project has been produced by Celtic Connections with international live music producers, Serious, as part of an ongoing participation programme linked to River of Music - the Cultural Olympiad programme supported by the National Lottery and Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

TICKETS: 0141 353 8000SPONSORED BY

FRIDAY 14TH JANUARY, 7.30PM GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL/MAIN AUDITORIUM, £20/£18, SEATED

Originally formed in 1978 by the Limerick-born musician and scholar Mick Moloney, as the first contemporary ensemble to unite Irish vocal, instrumental and dance traditions, the Green Fields of America vividly highlights these treasures against the wider backdrop of Irish-American social history. Spanning styles and eras from sean-nòs to vaudeville, crossroads dancing to Riverdance, the group’s evolving membership has included many major Irish stars, and currently comprises Robbie O’Connell (guitar/vocals), Athena Tergis (fiddle), Billy McComiskey (accordion) and John Doyle (guitar), with Moloney himself on banjo, mandolin, guitar and vocals, plus an elite stepdancing squad.

The StepCrew are the very latest percussive dance sensation to take the US by storm, a fancy-footwork fusion of Ottawa Valley stepdancing, Irish stepdance and modern tap. Showcasing such awesome talents as Chieftains sidekicks Cara Butler and Jon and Nathan Pilatzke, their reinvented traditional routines and dazzling original choreography are backed by a powerhouse five-piece band and acclaimed singer Alyth McCormack.

SATURDAY 15TH JANUARY, 12.30PM GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL/MAIN AUDITORIUM, £12.50, SEATED IN ASSOCIATION WITH PIPING LIVE!

Since forming in 2002, the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland (NYPBS) has swiftly become a fertile proving-ground for the best of our burgeoning bagpipe and drum-corps talent. Eschewing the competition circuit, it seeks to embody the power, excitement and utmost technical quality of pipe-band music within a contemporary performance context.

Spanning the 10-25 age range, the NYPBS now comprises both Senior and Development bands. Repertoire is selected and arranged by members themselves, including many of their own compositions alongside traditional classics, with the line-up often augmented by electric guitar, keyboards bass, fiddle and drum kit. Their most recent production The Dragon’s Lair, a thrilling musical extravaganza premiered in November 2009, thoroughly fulfils their aim of appealing to piping and non-piping audiences alike. In a special performance for Celtic Connections, the NYPBS will introduce special guests from the piping world as part of their show. Today they will also play alongside the Fife Constabulary Pipe Band who will play under the leadership of Pipe Major James Murray.

GREEN FIELDS OF AMERICA

Green Fields of America with The StepCrew The Annual Piping Concert featuring The National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland and Fife Constabulary Pipe Band

THE NATIONAL YOUTH PIPE BAND

CONCERT HALL: MAIN AUDITORIUM 9

THE STEPCREW

TRADITIONAL TRADITIONAL


CONCERT HALL: MAIN AUDITORIUM10

SATURDAY 15TH JANUARY, 7.30PM GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL/MAIN AUDITORIUM, £20/£18, SEATED

There won’t be many bands this youthful celebrating 20 years together in 2011, but Fiddlers’ Bid first formed at school in Shetland, and the intervening decades have only deepened their mutual delight in the music of their native isles, while enriching their contribution to it. With a hugely accomplished, formidably welded line-up of four fiddles, piano/clarsach, guitar and bass, their 2009 release All Dressed in Yellow – a “magnificent, joyous achievement” (Sunday Herald) - won top honours in both the Scots Trad Music Awards and the Spiral Earth Awards. Tonight’s party features a few special guests, including Japanese folk/pop outfit Humbert Humbert.

All the way from small-town Texas – and sonically from as far back as the 1930s – the Quebe Sisters’ exquisite three-part harmonies and matching feisty fiddle work, buoyantly backed with guitar and bass, put an enchanting new spin on vintage Western Swing, country, jazz, bluegrass and cowboy tunes.

Fiddlers’ Bid with Special Guests and The Quebe Sisters Band

SUNDAY 16TH JANUARY, 7.30PM GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL/MAIN AUDITORIUM, £22/£20, SEATED

Just over 16 years after their swansong gig, at the Barrowlands on December 23rd 1994, Glasgow cult heroes Love and Money are back for one night only. This follows the Scotsman’s ranking of their 1991 third album, Dogs in the Traffic, at No. 30 in the all-time top 100 Scottish albums, and last April’s re-release of their second, 1988’s 250,000-selling Strange Kind of Love. “I’ve always tried to make music that you can keep going back to and keep finding things within it,” said frontman and chief songwriter James Grant in a recent interview, a comment abundantly borne out by Love and Money’s mercurial, edgily literate amalgam of soul, rock, jazz, funk, blues and country: songs sure to sound as fresh as they’re familiar when sung again tonight. Performing both albums in their entirety tonight and joining Grant are fellow co-founder Paul McGeechan and ex-members Gordon Wilson and Douglas MacIntyre, plus bassist Ewen Vernal, ex-Thrum vocalist Monica Queen and harmonica ace Fraser Spiers.

Love and Money

FIDDLERS’ BID

LOVE AND MONEY

TRADITIONAL EXCLUSIVE



TUESDAY 18TH JANUARY, 7.30PM GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL/MAIN AUDITORIUM, £20/£18, SEATED

The acclaimed Israeli-born singer Yasmin Levy at once revisits and reinvents the cultural multiplicity of her family’s Ladino heritage – Ladino being the language and music of Jews banished from Spain in the late 15th century, and subsequently scattered around the Mediterranean. On her 2009 album Sentir, Levy integrates these ancient traditions more fully and rewardingly than ever with her own cosmopolitan creativity, weaving in strands of flamenco, Moorish, Latin and jazz influence, as well as contemporary songwriting.

The maverick, melting-pot music of Edinburgh-based quintet Moishe’s Bagel – a heady synthesis of klezmer, Balkan, jazz, Celtic and Middle Eastern sounds, distilled into dazzling original compositions – transcends cultural boundaries with equal though contrasting verve. Taking that transcendence to yet another level, both acts will team up for a few numbers, as well as performing separately.

YASMIN LEVY

Yasmin Levy and Moishe’s Bagel

WORLD

WEDNESDAY 19TH JANUARY, 7.30PM GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL/MAIN AUDITORIUM, £20/£18, SEATED

As a suitably grand finale to the 200th anniversary of Sir Walter Scott’s The Lady of the Lake – whose publication marked the pinnacle of his popularity as a writer, and first established the Trossachs region as a top destination for tourists – this programme of music, song and spoken word includes the premiere of a specially-commissioned new work by accordionist Phil Cunningham. Together with co-musical director John McCusker they creatively revisit the same inspirational landscapes, together with their colourfully turbulent history, that so seminally fired Scott’s imagination, the piece will feature the peerless voices of Karen Matheson and Eddi Reader, among other special guests.

In association with the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.

Monumental Scott featuring Phil Cunningham, Karen Matheson and Eddi Reader

PHIL CUNNINGHAM

KAREN MATHESON

TRADITIONAL



THURSDAY 20TH JANUARY, 7.30PM GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL/MAIN AUDITORIUM, £20/£18, SEATED

Ever since Basque accordionist Kepa Junkera’s revelatory UK debut at Celtic Connections 1999, he’s had a bit of a mutual love-affair with Glasgow, even once the rest of the world caught on to his intrepid, inspirational virtuosity. Simultaneously with revitalising the rich heritage of the trikitixa – the Basque diatonic accordion – among other native traditions, Junkera is a tirelessly globe-trotting, genre-blind collaborator, whose string of acclaimed albums has seen him working with literally hundreds of international artists. Above all, though, he’s an electrifying, unforgettable live performer, and we’re delighted to welcome him back, together with his full band and several extra special guests, including the young female choir Leioa Kantika Korala, as featured on his newest recording project Beti Bizi.

Kepa Junkera and Friends

KEPA JUNKERA

FRIDAY 21ST JANUARY, 7.30PM GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL/MAIN AUDITORIUM, £20/£18, SEATED

In a major coup for Glasgow, Celtic Connections hosts the celebrated US radio show Mountain Stage, presenting its first ever live broadcast beyond American shores. The programme’s founding philosophy that all music is related dovetails perfectly with the festival’s own ethos, a meeting of minds and sounds that will air coast-to-coast on 130 radio stations Stateside.

Topping the bill is legendary gospel diva Mavis Staples – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, winner of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, named by Rolling Stone among its 100 Greatest Singers of All Time – whose remarkable 60-year career scaled new artistic heights with her stunning 2010 album You Are Not Alone, a collaboration with Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy. Flying the home flag will be timeless Scottish troubadour Dougie MacLean, with more very special guests to be announced.

MAVIS STAPLES

DOUGIE MACLEAN

Mountain Stage with Larry Groce featuring Mavis Staples, Dougie MacLean and special guests

SONG: GOSPELWORLD



SATURDAY 22ND JANUARY, 7.30PM GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL/MAIN AUDITORIUM, £20/£18, SEATED

Since time immemorial, the Highlands and Islands have been a hugely fertile and influential cultural wellspring, one which continues immeasurably to enrich today’s international folk scene. This opulent past and present musical panoply is vibrantly embodied by the singers and instrumentalists gathered here, who’ll be performing both in their own line-ups and in specially-created collaborative combinations.

No such super-session would nowadays be complete without the mighty Blazin’ Fiddles, whose innovative contemporary arrangements showcase regional traditions from Lochaber to Shetland – with the latter now represented by new member Jenna Reid. Also featured is another of Highland music’s biggest current stars, the exquisite Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis, with her formidable Scottish/Irish band.

Fans of Gaelic song, indeed, are in for an extra-special treat, from a multi-generational array of outstanding exponents. The others include Barra-born pioneer Catherine-Ann MacPhee, whose early recordings blazed the trail for the tradition’s ongoing revival

since the 1990s, and renowned Lewis native Margaret Stewart, Gaelic Singer of the Year at the 2008 Scots Trad Music Awards. Then there’s the sublime voice of South Uist’s Kathleen MacInnes, who won the same title two years earlier, and Darren MacLean from Skye, a Mòd Gold Medallist and three-time finalist in the Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year contest.

And there’s yet more Gaelic song, together with blissfully tight, fiery instrumentals, from Dàimh, whose lead singer Calum Alex MacMillan is another of Lewis’s finest, while the rest of their line-up - from as far afield as Canada and the US – reflects the Highlands’ wider diaspora. Last but certainly not least (and barring of course extra guests who may drop by on the night – it being a session, after all), the great Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser and US cello phenomenon Natalie Haas square up for more of their endlessly inventive musical sparring.

BLAZIN’ FIDDLES

DAIMH

JULIE FOWLIS

KATHLEEN MACINNES

The Highland Sessions

TRADITIONAL



SATURDAY 22ND JANUARY, 10.45PM GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL/MAIN AUDITORIUM, £12 BOOK EARLY TO BE GUARANTEED DANCING SPACE

Take your partners, please! What better way to continue a night of classic Highland hospitality than in company with the Celtic Connections All-Star Ceilidh Band. Back by popular demand for the third consecutive year, and with the Concert Hall’s main-house stalls once again stripped out to create a suitably capacious dance-floor, brace yourselves for the impact of a truly formidable fiddle/accordion frontline, including Charlie McKerron, Allan Henderson, Eilidh Shaw, Archie McAllister, Phil Cunningham, Donald Shaw, Fergie MacDonald, Alasdair MacCuish and Gary Innes. The rhythm section features the no less legendary dance-band dream-team of pianist Tom Orr, bassist Alasdair MacLeod and drummer Fraser MacInnes, and in keeping with Highland ceilidh tradition, expect a few special guests to take a turn or two, while you catch your breath between dances.

SUNDAY 23RD JANUARY, 7.30PM GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL/MAIN AUDITORIUM, £20/£18, SEATED

Having first gained widespread attention in the 1983 premiere of Lee Breuer’s groundbreaking show The Gospel at Colonus, five-time Grammy-winners The Blind Boys of Alabama recently came full circle, starring in its latest production at the 2010 Edinburgh International Festival. For over 40 years before that popular breakthrough, though – since meeting at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in 1939 – this timeless gospel ensemble had been spreading the word with their sublimely arrayed harmonies, influencing successive generations of soul, R&B and rock musicians. With a repertoire encompassing both gospel classics and contemporary spiritual material, they make music to glory in whatever your beliefs.

Bettye LaVette continues to spread her creative wings, recording with the Drive By Truckers for her 2007 release Scene of the Crime, and reconnecting classic British rock with its R&B roots on 2010’s Interpretations.

CELTIC CONNECTIONS ALL-STAR CEILIDH

Celtic Connections All-Star Ceilidh Band The Blind Boys of Alabama and Bettye LaVette

THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA

DANCE SONG: GOSPEL



MONDAY 24TH JANUARY, 7.30PM GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL/MAIN AUDITORIUM, £24, SEATED

Robert Allen Zimmerman turns 70 on May 24th 2011, a landmark birthday sure to be celebrated with many a memorable musical party. To kick off the festivities, Celtic Connections has assembled an aptly diverse Scottish and international cast of Dylan devotees, including Rosanne Cash, Tim O’Brien, Thea Gilmore, James Grant, Laura Cantrell, Josh Rouse, Kris Drever, Rab Noakes, Gemma Hayes and Nell Bryden with Glasgow’s own Roddy Hart & the Lonesome Fire as house band for the evening and the odd surprise guest.

As well as featuring the singers’ pick of Dylan favourites, the show also highlights the strong Scottish influence over this uniquely seminal artist’s vast and varied oeuvre, in his adaptations and reinventions of such classic traditional ballads as Tramps and Hawkers (I Pity the Poor Immigrant), The Bonnie Lass O’ Fyvie (Pretty Peggy) and Lord Randall (A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall).

TUESDAY 25TH JANUARY, 7.30PM GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL/MAIN AUDITORIUM, £22/£20, SEATED

Having launched his solo career with 1972’s Henry the Human Fly – reportedly Warner Bros worst-selling album ever – Fairport Convention co-founder Richard Thompson has long been enjoying the last laugh, with a Top 20 place in Rolling Stone’s Top 100 Guitarists of All Time, an Ivor Novello Award and a BBC Radio 2 Lifetime Achievement Award latterly charting his restless creative odyssey. Precious few artists of Thompson’s generation match his appetite for new musical challenges, or his reluctance to trade on past glories, as exemplified by his 2010 release Dream Attic: 13 brand-new songs written in one intensively inspired bout and recorded live on tour, with the latest electric (and electrifying) incarnation of The Richard Thompson Band. Those same trusty cohorts – multi-instrumentalist Pete Zorn, drummer Michael Jerome, bassist Taras Prodaniuk and fiddler/mandolinist Joel Zifkin – join him tonight, for a uniquely eloquent, high-octane performance of favourites old and new.

RICHARD THOMPSON

Forever Young – A 70th Birthday Tribute to Bob Dylan Richard Thompson Band: The Dream Attic Tour

RODDY HART

GEMMA HAYES

EXCLUSIVE SONG: SINGER/SONGWRITER



SUNDAY 30TH JANUARY, 7.30PM GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL/MAIN AUDITORIUM, £27.50, SEATED

It will come as little surprise to longtime Waterboys fans that Mike Scott’s latest grandly ambitious enterprise, An Audience With Mr Yeats, is the fruit of more than 20 years’ gestation. Scott’s creative engagement with the iconic Irish poet dates back at least to his magical setting of “The Stolen Child” on 1988’s landmark Fisherman’s Blues album, and these 20 new songs inspired by Yeats’s work have been maturing in his mercurial imagination ever since. Their premiere in March 2010 at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre – co-founded by Yeats in 1904 – was hailed by the Irish Times as “not just the strongest collection of Waterboys songs since Fisherman’s Blues, but also a stunning reinvention of Yeats’s poetry.”With Scott fronting a lavishly extended Waterboys line-up, including fiddle maestro Steve Wickham, new Irish singer Katie Kim, Dublin singer-songwriter Joe Chester, Flook flautist Sarah Allen and Catalan trombonist Blaise Margail, the show also features a few freshly arranged back-catalogue classics.

THE WATERBOYS

The Waterboys: An Appointment With Mr Yeats

WEDNESDAY 26TH JANUARY, 7.30PM GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL/MAIN AUDITORIUM, £20/£18, SEATED

The undisputed poster-boy of the Britfolk generation, Seth Lakeman has taken English roots music to new heights of popular and media acclaim. Building steadily on his Mercury-nominated 2005 release Kitty Jay, through the intervening (and also award-winning) Freedom Fields and Poor Man’s Heaven, Lakeman achieved his most assertive artistic statement yet with 2010’s Hearts & Minds, produced by Tchad Blake (Elvis Costello, Crowded House, Peter Gabriel). With fierily rocked-up arrangements to the fore, and the songs shifting focus from his native Dartmoor lore to more personal and contemporary concerns, the album opens another exciting chapter in Lakeman’s all-conquering career.

Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends were the biggest folk music story of 2010, scoring a £1 million record deal after 15 years of entertaining summer visitors al fresco each Friday, by the harbour in their Cornish home town. Their rich, rugged harmonies and resonant shanty-based repertoire have now stirred the hearts of a worldwide audience.

SETH LAKEMAN

Seth Lakeman and The Fisherman’s Friends

FOLK EXCLUSIVE



After winning the 2010 Good Tradition title at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, then embarking on a first-ever UK tour, the Transatlantic Sessions settle back into their original live home, magically transforming the Concert Hall stage into the back porch of your dreams. The show’s rapturous ovations up and down the country echoed the audience response every year at Celtic Connections, and the 2011 line-up is sure to be no exception.

As with the concerts’ companion BBC TV series – also featuring Shetland fiddle icon Aly Bain and dobro deity Jerry Douglas as joint musical directors – the secret of their cumulative success is the dynamic between longtime stalwarts of the line-up and new or occasional contributors, balancing (often hilariously) relaxed familiarity with the revelatory potential of fresh encounters. The historic kinship of Old and New World traditions, which both programmes and performances set out to explore, continues to

bear new 21st-century fruit, making the common ground mapped during these two nights one of today’s richest musical territories.

While none of our guests are less than special, it’s a particularly opportune juncture to welcome Ireland’s tirelessly creative Paul Brady, who recently followed up 2009’s re-release of his landmark LP Welcome Here Kind Stranger with a career-best collection of new originals, Hooba Dooba. Likewise Allison Moorer, who attained a similar distinction with 2010’s soul-searching, stripped-down Crows. Transatlantic Sessions debutante Ashley Cleveland, accompanied by her guitarist husband Kenny Greenberg, is a triple Grammy-winning spiritual/gospel singer of extraordinary potency, while Julie Fowlis’s vocal eloquence equally treasures and transcends her Gaelic heritage. US roots doyens Tim O’Brien and Cold Mountain star Dirk Powell once again grace the proceedings with their vocal and multi-instrumental prowess, flanked as ever by a crème-de-la-crème ‘house band’ including Phil Cunningham, John Doyle, Russ Barenberg, Mike McGoldrick, John McCusker, James Mackintosh and Donald Shaw.

ALLISON MOORER

TRANSATLANTIC SESSIONS

Transatlantic Sessions

PAUL BRADY

THURSDAY 27TH & FRIDAY 28TH JANUARY, 7.30PM GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL/MAIN AUDITORIUM, £25, SEATED SPONSORED BY SCOTTISHPOWER

TRADITIONAL / AMERICANA


FRIDAY 14TH JANUARY, 9.30PM OLD FRUITMARKET, £18, STANDING

Famed in the 90s for albums Fuzzy, Mighty Joe Moon, Copperopolis and Jubilee, Grant Lee Buffalo were one of the leading lights of the American alt-rock scene.

Their mature folk-rock sound coupled with Grant-Lee Phillips’ accomplished song-writing earned them major critical acclaim as well as a devoted following, with their debut album Fuzzy hailed as one of the best of the year by the likes of Rolling Stone and the Los Angeles Times.

They spent just six years together before disbanding, and now the original GLB line-up of Phillips, Paul Kimble and Joey Peters have reformed after a nearly 12 year hiatus, returning for a very special group of just three performances – New York, London and Glasgow.

“The allure of rediscovering Grant Lee Buffalo has never diminished,” says Phillips. “Time has allowed each of us to explore, to grow, and to appreciate the rarity of what this band has to offer.”

SATURDAY 15TH JANUARY, 8.30PM OLD FRUITMARKET, £16, STANDING

With his new album Jamm, the stellar Senegalese singer, songwriter, guitarist and percussionist Cheikh Lô distils anew the diverse African and international influences on his maverick, mercurial music, including mbalax, highlife, Congolese rumba, Cuban son, reggae and funk. “It’s a melting pot!” Lô says. “It’s like a big basket, with some cheese here, some bread there, some chocolate and a cocktail on the side. There’s something for everyone.”

Portuguese sextet OqueStrada also mix their vividly distinctive musical colours from a broad multicultural palette, with tinges of fado, morna, Cape Verdean funaná, Angolan semba, Brazilian music, ska and flamenco infusing their exuberant, multilingual songs, backed with guitars, accordion, trumpet and double bass.

GRANT LEE BUFFALO

CHEIKH Lô

Grant Lee Buffalo and Support Cheikh Lô and OqueStrada

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AMERICANA WORLD

SUNDAY 16TH JANUARY, 8PM OLD FRUITMARKET, £16, STANDING

Two years on from their triumphant debut gig at Celtic Connections, Scottish/Canadian supergroup The Burns Unit muster again in Glasgow, after rave reviews for their 2010 album Side Show. First brought together by the Burnsong project, they brilliantly fulfil that founding brief of making new music ‘in the spirit of Burns’, demolishing genre boundaries with such originality, artistry and élan as to do Rabbie proud. Their richly kaleidoscopic sound, self-styled as ‘indie pop meets carnival rock’, unites a sumptuous panoply of voices, songcraft and instrumentation, featuring King Creosote, Karine Polwart, Emma Pollock, Future Pilot AKA, MC Soom T, Kim Edgar, Mattie Foulds and Michael Johnston.

Having announced their ambitions by making Steve Lamacq’s Single of the Week with their debut 7” in 2008, Edinburgh outfit Broken Records have swiftly outgrown earlier comparisons to Arcade Fire, especially since the artfully balanced grandiosity and understatement of their recent second album, Let Me Come Home.

THE BURNS UNIT

HORSLIPS

The Burns Unit and Broken Records

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TICKETS: 0141 353 8000

TUESDAY 18TH JANUARY, 8PM OLD FRUITMARKET, £16, STANDING

With their trail-blazing fusion of folk, prog rock, blues, classical and jazz, Horslips were among Ireland’s biggest bands, at home and abroad, throughout the 1970s. In parallel with Fairport and Steeleye, Horslips relocated native traditional sounds into the thick of their generation’s popular culture. “They invented for us a way of being both Irish and modern,” recalled leading cultural commentator Fintan O’Toole, after Horslips announced their original two reunion gigs in 2009.

Like tonight, those shows featured original members Barry Devlin, Jim Lockhart, John Fean and Charles O’Connor – and they certainly didn’t disappoint. “The intervening years have not withered the power of Horslips’ back catalogue,” declared the Irish Times, nor the “extraordinary musical range on view”. While popular demand has prompted a few more appearances, the band have said they’re by way of a brief last hurrah, not a protracted comeback, so relive the moment while you can.

Horslips and Support

19

INDIE FOLK: ROCK


WEDNESDAY 19TH JANUARY, 8PM OLD FRUITMARKET, £14, SEATED & DANCING AREAS

Argentina’s Otros Aires create a cutting-edge synthesis of classic tango with electronica, rock and urban dance beats. Described by Toronto’s Small World Music as “one of the most unique and compelling audiovisual live shows in contemporary global fusion”, their sound incorporates traditional acoustic instrumentation – including bandoneón, piano and guitar – with programming, sequencing and samples of vintage tango recordings. With their dynamic ensemble interplay honed by extensive international touring since they formed in 2003, Otros Aires recently released their fourth album Tricota.

Tonight also features the debut live performance from RoughCoastAudio, a new folk/electronica project masterminded by multi-instrumentalist Ewan MacPherson. In the mix are Gaelic, Scots and Norwegian song, plus new compositions merging Celtic, Nordic, classical and east European influences with rock and dance grooves. A nine-piece line-up includes vocalists Maeve Mackinnon, Siobhan Miller, Anne Sofie Linge Valdal and Naomi Harvey, fiddler Patsy Reid and bassist Conrad Molleson.

THURSDAY 20TH JANUARY, 8PM OLD FRUITMARKET, £16, SEATED & STANDING AREAS

A concert in memory and celebration of the late great singer and songwriter Davy Steele, marking 2011’s tenth anniversary of his tragically early passing. As a member of Drinkers’ Drouth, Ceolbeg, Caledon, Urbn Ri, Clan Alba and Battlefield Band, and on his three fine solo albums, Davy joined the pantheon of Scotland’s most honest and eloquent voices, writing songs often rooted in the past and present of his beloved East Lothian home turf – though resonating much further afield – while giving new yet timeless expression to traditional material.

Curated by Patsy Seddon, tonight’s selection from his repertoire is performed by some of Davy’s favourite singers, including Dick Gaughan, Andy M. Stewart, Karine Polwart, Kate Rusby, Sally Barker, Kathy Stewart and Siobhan Miller, backed by a band featuring Andy Thorburn, Donald Hay, Mary Macmaster, Karen Tweed, Eilidh Shaw and Mairearad Green, with Phil Cunningham and Ian McCalman doubling as your hosts for the evening.

OTROS AIRES

DAVY STEELE

Otros Aires and RoughCoastAudio Steele the Show

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WORLD / DANCE TRADITIONAL


FRIDAY 21ST JANUARY, 9.30PM OLD FRUITMARKET, £16, SEATED & STANDING AREAS

Somewhere between a song cycle and a folk opera, Hadestown is the compelling creation of Vermont singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell: a contemporary reworking of the Orpheus myth, set simultaneously in the Depression era and a post-apocalyptic future. Interweaving influences from across the US roots spectrum, including country, gospel, ragtime, blues, and early jazz, as well as rock, swing and avant-garde music, the recent album version was lauded by PopMatters as “incredibly good… an Americana classic… Rich, rewarding, moving and beautiful.” Tonight’s line up includes vocalists Ani DiFranco, Martin Carthy, Iain Morrison, Nuala Kennedy, Wallis Bird and Sharon Lewis.

The young alternative stringband Joy Kills Sorrow are being widely tipped to emulate the success of fellow Boston outfit Crooked Still, lining up four multi-award-winning instrumentalists with the mesmerising vocals of Emma Beaton. Delving deep into Americana tradition, they align these influences with an urban, indie-pop sensibility in outstanding original songs.

SATURDAY 22ND JANUARY, 8.30PM OLD FRUITMARKET, £16, STANDING

Twenty years on from Taraf de Haïdouks’ debut recording, Musique des Tziganes de Roumanie, amidst a world-music landscape now teeming with Balkan gypsy influences, describing this fêted ‘Band of Brigands’ as seminal hardly covers it. Not only are they a multi-generational repository of past and present Roma lore; of music mingled from myriad cultures, via weddings, christenings, harvests and wakes since time immemorial – they’re also one of the most jaw-dropping, invigorating live acts you’ll ever see. “The music hurtled through history and across national borders as fast as fingers could fly.” (New York Times)

Unlikely as it sounds, Mama Rosin are an absolutely rockin’ young Cajun-based trio from Switzerland, whose sweaty yet slick sonic gumbo – as seen on Later...With Jools Holland – has had critics referencing The Clash, Les Negresses Vertes and The Velvet Underground, in umpteen glowing reviews.

Hadestown and Joy Kills Sorrow Taraf de Haïdouks and Mama Rosin

TARAF DE HAïDOUKS

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ANAïS MITCHELL

JOY KILLS SORROW

AMERICANA WORLD


SUNDAY 23RD JANUARY, 8PM OLD FRUITMARKET, £20, STANDING

The joint appearance by Irish accordion queen Sharon Shannon and rockabilly bombshell Imelda May was an unforgettable highlight of the 2010 Cambridge Folk Festival, with Shannon’s legendary stylistic range and both women’s thrilling expressive fervour joyously transcending their disparate musical origins. Tonight’s show not only reprises that breathtaking collaboration but also features contrasting vocal contributions from ex-Pogues icon Shane MacGowan and evergreen singer-songwriter Mundy. Such cross-genre camaraderie has been Shannon’s singular gift since her earliest days with the Waterboys, and she works her magic once again at the helm of a stellar instrumental cast.

Voted Best Up and Coming Act at the 2009 Scots Trad Music Awards, the Paul McKenna Band continue to rise swiftly through the rankings, with recent tours of the US, Germany and Italy winning further acclaim for their dynamic, polished, song-based mix of traditional and original material.

Sharon Shannon Big Band featuring Imelda May, Shane MacGowan & Mundy and The Paul McKenna Band

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MONDAY 24TH JANUARY, 8PM OLD FRUITMARKET, FREE BUT TICKETED, STANDING

BBC Scotland will once again be hosting a fantastic night of performance from some of the best acts at the festival this year.

A great night of diverse music with a hugely enjoyable atmosphere, all recorded and broadcast on BBC Scotland at a later date.

BBC Scotland TV Special from the Festival

SHARON SHANNON

IMELDA M

AY

FOLK / INDIE

EXCLUSIVE


TUESDAY 25TH JANUARY, 8PM OLD FRUITMARKET, £16, SEATED & STANDING AREAS

If ever there was an argument against fears that today’s roots music melting-pot tends inexorably toward homogeneity, it’s US singer and multi-instrumentalist Tim O’Brien. Few musicians can ever have had their fingers in so many different traditions and styles – from hardcore bluegrass to Dylan rarities, Irish trad to old-time jazz and way beyond – while so vividly preserving each element’s individual character, even when newly cross-fertilised. His line-up tonight includes the the crème of musicians from Nashville including Bryan Sutton (guitar), Stuart Duncan (fiddle) and Mike Bub (double bass) who will no doubt draw from O’Brien’s 13th solo release, 2010’s highly acclaimed Chicken & Egg.

Singer, songwriter and clawhammer banjo player Abigail Washburn, who brought the groundbreaking bluegrass/chamber/Chinese sound of her Sparrow Quartet to Celtic Connections 2009, is back with something completely different, but no less enticing: a newly wrought alloy of old-time and indie-pop elements, as featured on last August’s City of Refuge album.

WEDNESDAY 26TH JANUARY, 8PM OLD FRUITMARKET, £16, SEATED & STANDING AREAS

A fingerlickin’ double bill of contemporary Americana, featuring two super-hot US bands who each put their own distinctive stamp on old-time music. With an explosively energetic sound only hinted at by their name, Kansas City quartet The Wilders – on fiddle, dobro, mandolin, banjo, guitar, double bass and vocals – have become firm favourites on the Scottish live circuit in recent years. They’ll be rocking the joint to its foundations once again, previewing material from the forthcoming follow-up to their 2008 breakthrough album, Someone’s Got to Pay.

Virginian four-piece Furnace Mountain were recently likened by The Herald to “a marriage between the Be Good Tanyas and the best bits of Nickel Creek – except with true Appalachian soil caked onto their boots.” Arresting twin lead vocals from Morgan Morrison and Aimee Curl (also on bouzouki and double bass) are matched with David Van Deventer and Danny Knicely’s world-class fiddle and mandolin work.

Tim O’Brien and Abigail Washburn The Wilders and Furnace Mountain

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THE WILDERS

TIM O’BRIEN

FURNACE MOUNTAIN

ABIGAIL WASHBURN

AMERICANA AMERICANA

RACHEL SERMANNI

MIKE VASS


THURSDAY 27TH JANUARY, 9.30PM OLD FRUITMARKET, £14, STANDING

A hand-picked selection from the dozens of Scottish acts performing over Celtic Connections’ final weekend, showcasing the premier-league calibre and kaleidoscopic diversity of today’s home-grown roots scene for both festival audiences and international music-industry delegates.

Although only just in her 20s, Carrbridge singer-songwriter Rachel Sermanni is already being tipped as a major rising star, championed by such influential fans as Mumford and Sons’ Ben Lovett. Doyennes of the scene for over 20 years, The Poozies are sounding fresher than ever in their current five-piece line-up, reuniting their signature twin harps, fiddle and accordion with original lead vocalist Sally Barker. Young Highland fiddler Mike Vass’s recent projects range from his Wait What? album with Malinky bandmate Dave Wood to his seven-piece String Theory ensemble, while The Halton Quartet unites the brilliant accordion/fiddle duo of Angus Lyon and Ruaridh Campbell with the scintillating guitar/mandolin prowess of Adam Bulley and Chas McKenzie, aka Winging’ It. Mick West’s wonderful 2010 album, Sark O’Snaw. once more confirmed his place among Scotland’s finest song interpreters.

FRIDAY 28TH JANUARY, 9.30PM OLD FRUITMARKET, £16, STANDING

Ancient traditions meet 21st century technology in a pioneering line-up of Celtic and electronica collaborations, co-curated by Indo-Caledonian sound artist Sushil K Dade / Future Pilot AKA. A packed programme includes brand-new commissions by renowned Hollywood composer/electronica artist Craig Armstrong and PJ Moore (The Blue Nile). Also on the bill are new Chemikal Underground signings FOUND plus an appearance from their legendary Cybraphon installation - the band have been likened by The Word to ‘King Creosote holed up in a studio with Brian Eno’. Then there’s Mike McGoldrick’s fusion trio Future Trad Collective, with fiddler Andy Dinan and guitarist Ian Fletcher; the groove based grandeur of Edinburgh’s Hidden Orchestra (formerly the Joe Acheson Quartet); Catriona McKay and Alistair MacDonald’s harp/live electronics duo Strange Rainbow; a new creation from Lau accordionist Martin Green; electronica fusion outfit from the Isle of Skye, Niteworks and an exclusive Celtic Connections collaboration between DJ Dolphin Boy and the Future Pilot Indian Pop Art Orkestra and also at the turntables slo-mo sonic legends The Pastels.

Showcase Scotland featuring Rachel Sermanni, Mike Vass, The Poozies, The Halton Quartet and The Mick West Band

A Night of Celtronika

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CRAIG ARMSTRONG

NITEWORKS

NEW TALENT FUSION


SATURDAY 29TH JANUARY, 9PM OLD FRUITMARKET, £16, SEATED & STANDING AREAS

Launched on an unsuspecting world back at Celtic Connections 2003, Scotland’s original and best folk big-band are back in more rambunctious, roof-raising form than ever, celebrating the release of their eagerly-awaited second album, Big Like This. Come and marvel at the power and glory of The Unusual Suspects’ massed fiddles, bagpipes, accordions, whistles and vocals, audaciously orchestrated with harp, piano, a powerhouse rhythm squad and a blistering brass section, transforming Scottish traditional music into a grand-scale fanfare for the 21st century.

With the gift of transfixing a crowd all on his lonesome, Nova Scotian singer, songwriter and banjo player Old Man Luedecke blends homespun soul, resonant folk poetry, vaudevillian touches and deft contemporary twists into finely crafted songs as fresh as they’re timeless. He’s actually only in his 30s, and his first name’s Chris, but the adopted sobriquet signals his music’s deep traditional roots, even as he brings them to beguiling contemporary fruition.

SUNDAY 30TH JANUARY, 8PM OLD FRUITMARKET, £17.50, STANDING

Fran Healy’s recent release Wreckorder does exactly what you want the solo debut from your favourite band’s frontman to do: remind you of why you love them so much, even as you’re beguiled afresh by his new creative autonomy. The same songwriting calibre, stirring melodies and subtly seductive voice that have helped sell millions of Travis albums, and win two Brit awards, find arresting individual expression in these lower-key, more introspective solo songs, featured here alongside new settings of band favourites. “Wreckorder is a hand-picked gift reminding us that it’s the thought that counts.” (PopMatters)

Canada’s Joel Plaskett balances both singer/songwriter and bandleader careers, having fronted The Emergency since the 1990s, but most recently released the audacious solo triple album Three. Distilled as Three Into One for its recent UK reissue, it finds this multi-award-winning artist straddling sounds from acoustic folk through indie-pop to country rock.

THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS

The Unusual Suspects and Old Man Luedecke Fran Healy and Joel Plaskett

FRAN HEALY

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TRADITIONAL INDIE

FRIDAY 14TH JANUARY, 8PM STRATHCLYDE SUITE, £12.50, SEATED

Peddling a streetwise, subtly subversive mix of vintage Americana and potent original songwriting, West Virginia combo The Fox Hunt return after their debut Scottish shows last summer. Bittersweet close harmonies, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar and double bass are dynamically layered around a single condenser microphone, underpinned by masterly technique and memorable wordcraft.

Donegal sisters The Henry Girls, whose exquisite three-part vocals interweave their native traditions with blues, jazz and country, are one of Ireland’s top emerging folk acts, here reprising their recent live collaboration with The Fox Hunt in addition to their own set.

SATURDAY 15TH JANUARY, 2PM STRATHCLYDE SUITE, £10.50, SEATED

The RSAMD’s renowned Scottish Music course offers training to talented traditional musicians, enabling them to pursue a variety of careers. The first of its kind in the UK, the course has already enriched Scotland’s music scene immeasurably. Alumni include successful musicians such as Findlay Napier, Jenna Reid, Finlay MacDonald and Gillian Frame.

Under the guidance of legend Phil Cunningham, the current crop of students are shaping up nicely too. This concert sees them perform with some of the previous graduates from the course to celebrate the ‘Future of our Past’.


According to Calum Maclean, co-founder of the School of Scottish Studies, “There are two histories of every land and people, the written history that tells what is considered politic to tell and the unwritten history that tells everything”. In 2011, this pioneering Edinburgh University institution celebrates 60 years of saving that latter history for the nation, to the endless benefit of our traditional music. This diamond jubilee concert features a multi-generational line-up who’ve been championed or inspired by the School’s world-renowned work, including Jock Duncan, Julie Fowlis, Sheila Stewart, Karen Matheson, Allan MacDonald, Alison McMorland, Duncan Chisholm, Margaret Stewart and James Ross.

THE FOx HUNT AND THE HENRY GIRLS

RSAMD

CALUM M

ACLEAN AND ANGUS MACNEILL

The Fox Hunt and The Henry Girls RSAMD: The Future of Our Past Goes Large!

School of Scottish Studies: A Celebration of 60 Years

CONCERT HALL: STRATHCLYDE SUITE26


TRADITIONALNEW TALENTAMERICANA

SUNDAY 16TH JANUARY, 1PM STRATHCLYDE SUITE, £10.50, SEATED SPONSORED BY SUNDAY HERALD

The young Borders musician Innes Watson (Croft No. Five, Treacherous Orchestra, Lori Watson & the Rule of Three) has won equal acclaim as a fiddler and a guitarist, but it’s the latter instrument he focuses on here, in cahoots with three of his favourite fellow exponents – Ali Hutton, Mike Bryan and Barry Reid – plus bassist Duncan Lyall and drummer Alyn Cosker. The resulting set of collaboratively developed compositions, jointly entitled The Glasgow Guitar Colloquium, deploys both acoustic and electric sounds, with diverse tunings and time-signatures, in an inventively unpredictable mix of folk, funk, rock and jazz flavours.

SUNDAY 16TH JANUARY, 8PM STRATHCLYDE SUITE, £12.50, SEATED

Born amidst the Venezuelan Andes, internationally trained at such top cross-genre academies as Boston’s Berklee College and the New England Conservatory, pianist/composer Leo Blanco – whose previous Edinburgh Fringe performances won a Herald Angel award – boldly and beautifully blurs the boundaries of jazz, Latin, folk, classical and African music.

The innovative Breton combo Keltic Tales, comprising Jean-Baptiste Boclé (keyboards), Gildas Boclé (double bass), Ronan Le Bars (uilleann pipes), Jérôme Barge (guitar) and Archibald Ligonniére (drums), never set out to sound consciously Celtic, yet these influences echo intriguingly through their all-original jazz/rock/ world material.

MONDAY 17TH JANUARY, 8PM STRATHCLYDE SUITE, £12.50, SEATED

Irish-American fiddler Liz Carroll’s career now spans more than 30 years, during which time she’s consistently set new standards of traditional artistry, as both a player and composer, most recently on her Grammy-nominated 2009 album with guitarist John Doyle, Double Play, and with the 2010 publication of Collected, a long-awaited compendium featuring 185 of her celebrated tunes. As with the book, tonight’s programme draws on the full range of her recorded output accompanied by the splendid keyboardist Tracey Dares MacNeill, from Cape Breton – solo, duo, and with the bands Trian and String Sisters – in company with Doyle and other longtime associates, including accordionist Billy McComiskey and multi-instrumentalist Seamus Egan.

The scintillating, near-telepathic double act of top tunesmiths Mairearad Green (accordion, bagpipes) and Anna Massie (fiddle, banjo, guitar) make music that’s impish, lyrical and brimming with joie de vivre.

INNES WATSON

LEO BLANCO

LIZ CARROLL

New Voices: Innes Watson Leo Blanco and Keltic Tales Liz Carroll & Friends and Mairearad & Anna

CONCERT HALL: STRATHCLYDE SUITE 27


TRADITIONALFOLK: JAZZNEW TALENT

TUESDAY 18TH JANUARY, 8PM STRATHCLYDE SUITE, £12.50, SEATED

A night of potently eloquent songcraft from both sides of the Border, featuring the inimitable voice and mordant yet compassionate insights of Dundee’s Michael Marra. As with all great bards, the inseparable tragedy and comedy of the human condition is Marra’s primary stock-in-trade, captured in songs that range from pawky surrealism to sharply-etched character portraits.

On the face of it, Barry Coope, Jim Boyes and Lester Simpson are just three blokes who stand together and sing, but their powerfully worded material – original, traditional and contemporary – and spellbinding three-part harmonies make a sum vastly greater than these deceptively simple parts.

WEDNESDAY 19TH JANUARY, 8PM STRATHCLYDE SUITE, £12.50, SEATED

Masterly fiddle music from five countries; five stunning syntheses of traditional, contemporary, classical, native and/or international elements: light the touch-paper and stand well back...

Irish legend Frankie Gavin, having long proved himself a world citizen of the fiddle, recently entered the record-books as officially the world’s fastest player. Not that anyone’s competing tonight, of course, although Dutchman Tim Kliphuis’s effervescent jazz/folk/classical cocktail, or Koshka’s Russian gypsy pyrotechnics, might give him a run for his money. The home team features Charlie McKerron, of Capercaillie and Session A9 fame, while India’s Sharat Chandra Srivastava (India Alba/Mrigya) straddles disciplines from ragas to rock.

THURSDAY 20TH JANUARY, 8PM STRATHCLYDE SUITE, £12.50, SEATED

Originally formed in Paisley in 1968, The Tannahill Weavers perform all too rarely in Scotland, thanks to the insatiable demands of their myriad overseas fans. One of the first folk bands ever to feature the Highland bagpipes, they remain firmly at the forefront of the Scottish traditional field, combining top-notch instrumental work, powerful contemporary rhythms and stirring three-part harmonies.

Winners of a 2010 Danny Kyle Open Stage Award, the young Scottish quartet Lurach – all of whom feature on vocals, meanwhile playing flutes, whistles, fiddle and tenor banjo – perform a sparklingly accomplished mix of Scots and Gaelic song with Scottish and Irish tunes.

MICHAEL M

ARRA

TIM KLIPHUIS

THE TANNAHILL WEAVERS

Michael Marra and Coope, Boyes & Simpson

World Fiddle Night with Tim Kliphuis, Charlie McKerron, Tim Edey, Frankie Gavin, Koshka and Sharat Chandra Srivastava

The Tannahill Weavers and Lurach



TRADITIONALWORLDTRADITIONAL

FRIDAY 21ST JANUARY, 8PM STRATHCLYDE SUITE, £12.50, SEATED

It’s a dozen years now since Malinky first showed their mettle, winning a Danny Kyle Award at Celtic Connections 1999, before establishing themselves – through four excellent albums – among Scotland’s top song-based folk bands. Their richly varied traditional and contemporary repertoire features Fiona Hunter and Steve Byrne on lead vocals, with the current line-up completed by Dave Wood (guitar/bouzouki) and Daniel Thorpe (fiddle).

Performing a gorgeously lyrical, buoyantly catchy blend of folk, jazz and acoustic rock, on vocals, fiddle, nyckelharpa, flutes, guitar and percussion, up-and-coming Swedish quintet LYY have been hailed by Tim O’Brien, no less, as “the complete entertainment experience.”

SATURDAY 22ND JANUARY, 8PM STRATHCLYDE SUITE, £12.50, SEATED

The Scottish Borders are a richly distinctive stronghold of tradition, whose landscapes and folklore continue to inspire its native musicians today, as they’ve done for centuries past. Headlining this showcase of the region’s cultural treasures are the Borders Tunesmiths, a cross-generational collective including such luminaries as Matt Seattle, Shona Mooney, Lori Watson, Archie Fisher Iain Fraser and Elspeth Smellie, who’ve been writing new music together since 2008. Elsewhere on the bill, Mooney also features with her piper father Gordon, and in dynamic all-female sextet The Shee, while Watson leads her highly-praised Rule of Three line-up, and accordion ace Ian Lowthian duets with drummer Ben Redman.

SUNDAY 23RD JANUARY, 1PM STRATHCLYDE SUITE, £10.50, SEATED SPONSORED BY SUNDAY HERALD

Inspired at an early age by both Scottish traditional music and Robert Burns’s poetry, the young Carrbridge singer-songwriter Rachel Sermanni has sparked quite a buzz during 2010, being invited by Mumford and Sons’ Ben Lovett to feature on the nu-folk showcase album Communion, and supporting Oxford-based hipsters Stornoway on tour. Here she explores, both literally and metaphorically, the theme of ‘tramping’ – a deliberately old-school term for the roaming in wild places that Sermanni has loved since childhood. A mix of previously-written and brand new songs also incorporates a classical-tinged instrumental sequence, composed for fiddles, piano, guitar and bass.

MALINKY

THE SHEE

RACHEL SERMANNI

Malinky and LYY Borders Night New Voices: Rachel Sermanni



NEW TALENTTRADITIONALTRADITIONAL

SUNDAY 23RD JANUARY, 8PM STRATHCLYDE SUITE, £12.50, SEATED

And now for something completely different... In a musical/variety performance first sprung on an unsuspecting world at 2009’s Blazin’ in Beauly fiddle school, five of today’s top fiddle talents channel the spirits of five illustrious forebears, fighting it out to be crowned the greatest of them all. Decked out in period costume, the legendary figures of Niel Gow (Iain MacFarlane), William Marshall (Duncan Chisholm), James Scott Skinner (Bruce MacGregor), Captain Simon Fraser (Alasdair Fraser) and James Hill (Greg Lawson) will each parade their distinctive style and repertoire, in a competition purportedly compered by Robbie Shepherd (Allan Henderson) and judged by living legend Aonghas Grant.

MONDAY 24TH JANUARY, 8PM STRATHCLYDE SUITE, £12.50, SEATED

Tonight’s mouth-watering rendezvous between ex-Planxty singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist and Andy Irvine, and guitarist extraordinaire John Doyle, was originally staged by New York’s Irish Arts Centre, as the second of their acclaimed Masters In Collaboration projects. That first encounter clearly didn’t exhaust its potential – what with Irvine’s myriad other credits including Mozaik, Patrick Street and a new solo release, Abocurragh, plus Doyle’s additional gifts as a singer and songwriter – and so the adventure continues.

Despite their tender years, Jeana Leslie and Siobhan Miller have already secured their place among today’s outstanding Scottish song exponents, as affirmed by their exquisite second album Shadows Tall.

TUESDAY 25TH JANUARY, 8PM STRATHCLYDE SUITE, £12.50, SEATED

Continuing the School of Scottish Studies’ 60th birthday celebrations, Celtic Connections salutes longtime presiding genius, Hamish Henderson (1919-2002), whose seminal impact on Scottish and international culture has been affirmed by such diverse authorities as Nelson Mandela, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger and E. P. Thompson. Dr Fred Freeman, who masterminded Greentrax’s 2003 tribute to Henderson, A’ the Bairns O’ Adam, directs a line-up including Rod Paterson, Gordeanna McCulloch, John Morran, Adam McNaughtan, Alison McMorland, Geordie McIntyre and Steve Byrne, in a suitably festive Burns Night programme ranging widely across his repertoire and legacy.

JAMES SCOTT SKINNER

ANDY IRVINE

HAMISH HENDERSON

The Legends’ Fiddle Competition Andy Irvine & John Doyle and Jeana Leslie & Siobhan Miller

Hamish Henderson Night



TRADITIONALTRADITIONALTRADITIONAL

WEDNESDAY 26TH JANUARY, 8PM STRATHCLYDE SUITE, £12.50, SEATED

There aren’t many British landscapes as evocative as Hadrian’s Wall, a physical span over nearly two millennia, which in 2010 inspired an aptly motley crew of folk singer-songwriters and performance poets to create tonight’s performance. Closeted together in a Northumbrian farmhouse, four established and rising stars of English roots music – Julie Matthews, Kate Bramley, Jez Lowe, Boo Hewerdine, Rory McLeod and Ruth Notman – brainstormed for a week with BBC Radio 4 Saturday Live favourites Kate Fox, Matt Harvey and Elvis McGonagall. The resulting songs and verse interweave idioms from trad to vaudeville, ranging in theme from Roman invaders to the real and imagined walls that still divide us.

THURSDAY 27TH JANUARY, 8PM STRATHCLYDE SUITE, £12.50, SEATED

Rapturously received on its premiere at London’s Meltdown festival last June, under Richard Thompson’s curatorship, Shifting Sands is an ongoing British Council initiative – partnered here by Celtic Connections – bringing together musicians from England, Scotland and around the Arabian Peninsula. Directed by Bellowhead’s Andy Mellon and featuring the Horizon Award winner for Best Newcomer at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2010, Sam Carter, and one of the leading Scottish harp players in the world today, Corrina Hewat, this ambitious and already highly fruitful project bridges cultural boundaries primarily through the shared heritage of seafaring music, from rhythmic work chants to narrative ballads and desolate laments. This central vocal element is complemented by traditional and contemporary instrumentation from all the countries involved, wielded by some of their most gifted and adventurous exponents.

FRIDAY 28TH JANUARY, 8PM STRATHCLYDE SUITE, £12.50, SEATED

From winning the 2002 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year title, to featuring at Richard Thompson’s Meltdown festival in 2010, Dumfriesshire singer, songwriter and accordionist Emily Smith has steered a sublimely poised course between deep folk roots and fresh contemporary artistry. Tonight’s show launches her fourth solo album, Traiveller’s Joy.

Drawing on diverse backgrounds in folk, jazz and classical music, young English septet The Old Dance School create a richly accomplished, strikingly inventive sound, on fiddles, viola, whistles, brass, guitar, bass, cajón and vocals. “Truly exciting, awe-inspiring music.” (Songlines)

RUTH NOTMAN

SHIFTING SANDS

EMILY SM

ITH

All Along the Wall Shifting Sands Emily Smith and The Old Dance School





Ahead of tomorrow’s final play-off in the 2011 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year contest, the 2010 and 2009 winners, fiddlers Daniel Thorpe and Rua Macmillan, team up with Thorpe’s fellow finalists – harpists Mairi Chaimbeul and Hannah Phillips, pipers Lorne MacDougall and Kyle Warren, and accordionist Paddy Callaghan – for a programme showcasing both their individual and ensemble talents.

The Atlantic Seaway, which premièred last September in the US, features staff and students from Strathclyde University, the RSAMD and Boston’s Berklee College, tracing the transatlantic evolution of Scottish music, in a collaboration supported by Glasgow UNESCO City of Music.


The veteran Scottish songwriter Sandy Wright, whose idiosyncratic genius has been likened to Michael Marra and Ivor Cutler, hosts a ceilidh-style performance of selected works from his prolific catalogue, as showcased on 2010’s debut double-CD collection, The Songs of Sandy Wright. With a stylistic palette encompassing folk, blues, country, honky-tonk and jazz, he’ll be backed by his own Toxic Cowboys line-up, comprising Sarah McFadyen (vocals/fiddle/banjo), Joel Sanderson (cello), Ian Stoddart (drums), Dave Rattray (guitars) and Ruth Barrie (vocals/percussion). Other numbers will feature some of the contemporary folk stars who flocked to perform on the album, including Lau, Kris Drever, Karine Polwart and Boo Hewerdine.

SUNDAY 30TH JANUARY, 1PM STRATHCLYDE SUITE, £10.50, SEATED SPONSORED BY SUNDAY HERALD

In addition to his brilliantly accomplished and inventive duo with fiddler Ruaridh Campbell (which features elsewhere at Celtic Connections 2011, as half of brand-new line-up The Halton Quartet), accordionist Angus Lyon is also a founder member of Box Club, renowned for his technical and compositional fluency across diverse musical genres. His new instrumental triptych 3G, written for a seven-piece ensemble including Fraser Fifield, Anna Massie and Innes Watson, evokes the musical eras and overlapping experiences of three generations, from grandfather to grandson, exploring the cyclical interplay of tradition and modernity.

YOUNG TRAD TOUR

SANDY WRIGHT

ANGUS LYON

Young Trad Tour and The Atlantic Seaway

Sandy Wright and Guests New Voices: Angus Lyon



a UNESCO Creative City

NEW TALENTFOLKNEW TALENT

SUNDAY 31ST JANUARY, 9PM STRATHCLYDE SUITE, £12.50, SEATED

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SPONSORED BY


TICKETS: 0141 353 8000

ART EXHIBITIONS

ISLAND BAR, GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL FREE

SUNDAY 30TH JANUARY, 5PM, STRATHCLYDE SUITE, FREE, DONATIONS WELCOME, SEATED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE EVENING TIMES

Established in memory of the late lamented Danny Kyle, an indefatigable champion of new musical talent, the Danny Kyle Open Stage Award at Celtic Connections has been an invaluable career launch-pad for a host of emerging acts over the years, heralding the future successes of Malinky, GiveWay, Phamie Gow, the Lori Watson 3, La Sonera Calaveras, Breabach and The Chair, among many others.

With around 80 acts selected to perform during the festival, out of the 200-300 hopefuls who apply from far and wide each year, the competition nowadays is fierce indeed, guaranteeing that tonight’s six winners will be worthy ones indeed.

Finale Showcasing Danny Kyle Open Stage Winners 2011

Caroline Hewatwww.carolinehewat.com [email protected]

I get a lot of inspiration for work from natural forms and colours: the power and strength of the land and the ever changing yet constant natural world. Recently my work has been becoming more abstract and expressionist and I realise that I am trying to work through my own feelings and responses to my surroundings on the canvas.

Tír www.celtic-neighbours.eu

The Tír exhibition includes work by artists from Scotland, Ireland and Wales demonstrating the cultural affinities between the communities and addresses the challenges experienced by emerging artists who choose to live and work within their native cultures, reinforcing shared commitments and drawing on traditional roots and patterns.

In total, six artists took part in the programme: Dan O Flaharta, Sandra Kennedy, Jonathan McLeod, Catrin Williams, Ben Stammers and Tess Urbanska.

CAROLINE HEWAT, ‘HARRIS’

TESS URBANSKA, FROM THE ‘TIR’ ExHIBITION

NEW TALENT


City Halls: GRAND HALL34

SATURDAY 15TH JANUARY, 7.30PM CITY HALLS, £18.50, SEATED

A classic Celtic Connections bill, featuring a contrasting trio of top roots acts from Scotland, Ireland and the US – but with one major difference. ‘House band’ for all three will be the massed symphonic might of the City Halls’ resident ensemble, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Fiddle legend Frankie Gavin, who launched his new De Dannan line-up in 2009, featuring four of Ireland’s brightest young traditional stars, already has impressive form with orchestras in the band’s previous incarnation. The multicoloured sonic tapestries woven by banjo doyenne Alison Brown, with her virtuoso bass/piano/drums line-up, likewise offer fertile scope for orchestral arrangements, which will also lend extra resonance and atmosphere to Dundee bard Michael Marra’s grittily bittersweet balladry.

SUNDAY 16TH JANUARY, 7.30PM CITY HALLS, £14, SEATED

After delighting audiences Scotland-wide when they toured together in 2010, two of the UK’s biggest-sounding folk duos join forces once again, collaborating on each other’s material in addition to their own sets. Accordionist John Spiers and singer/fiddler Jon Boden bring a bracing punkish energy and swagger to the ballads and dance tunes of old England, underpinned by virtuoso musicianship.

The mighty impact of Orkney’s Saltfishforty, meanwhile – aka Douglas Montgomery (fiddle) and Brian Cromarty (vocals/guitar/mandola) – have seen them likened to a two-man heavy rock outfit, though their firepower is matched by masterly finesse and lyricism.

Contours of Cairngorm sees pianist Mhairi Hall and fiddler Patsy Reid collaborating on a new strings-backed arrangement of material from Hall’s celebrated debut album Cairngorm with the Edinburgh String Quartet.

THURSDAY 20TH JANUARY, 8PM CITY HALLS, £18.50, SEATED

A Celtic Connections favourite since the festival’s earliest days, Belfast singer and songwriter Brian Kennedy, beloved for his transcendently soulful vocals and supreme stylistic versatility, recently celebrated 20 years in the music business. Also in 2010, he collected the Lifetime Achievement prize at Ireland’s prestigious Meteor Music Awards – achievements that include two successful novels and the acclaimed TV series On Song, as well as those highlighted by his blissful anniversary compilation, The Very Best of Brian Kennedy.

An ebullient, heartfelt performer, whose tautly crafted songs forge myriad Americana influences into her own arrestingly distinctive sound, native New Yorker Nell Bryden stirred up a major word-of-mouth buzz when she debuted at Celtic Connections 2010: don’t miss her this time around.

ALISON BROWN

SPIERS & BODEN

BRIAN KENNEDY

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra featuring The Alison Brown Quartet, Michael Marra and De Dannan with Frankie Gavin

Spiers & Boden with Saltfishforty and Contours of Cairngorm

Brian Kennedy and Nell Bryden

FOLK: INDIETRADITIONALFUSION

SATURDAY 22ND JANUARY, 2.30PM CITY HALLS, £12.50, SEATED

Launching Fèis Rois’s silver jubilee year, today’s concert spotlights one of its newest pioneering initiatives, as well as the wealth of traditional talent it has helped to nurture over the last 25 years. Opening the show will be a recent partnership project between Fèis Rois and Drake Music Scotland, with pupils from St Clements School in Dingwall performing specially-commissioned music by pianist James Ross, alongside Fèis students and professional musicians. They’ll be followed by a 25-strong line-up of past and present Fèis participants, under the musical direction of Corrina Hewat, including Lauren MacColl, Mairearad Green, Ronan Martin, Rachel Walker, John Somerville, Barry Reid, Rachel Newton and Matheu Watson, with Julie Fowlis appearing in her newly-created role as Fèis Rois Ambassador.


CITY HALLS: GRAND HALL 35

SATURDAY 22ND JANUARY, 8PM CITY HALLS, £16.50, SEATED

There’s much more than their shared Donegal heritage linking this once-in-a-blue-moon gathering of Irish traditional icons: a network of familial and collaborative connections encompassing numerous landmarks in that tradition’s contemporary development. T With the Maggies radiantly unites the voices of pioneering acts The Bothy Band, Coolfin, Altan and Clannad – sisters Tríona and Maighread Ní Dhomnaill, Mairead Ní Mhaonaigh and Moya Brennan. Completing the line-up will be Capercaillie’s Manus Lunny.

In addition, a rare joint appearance by the Glackin brothers – Paddy, Séamus and Kevin – represents a masterclass in Donegal fiddling. Between them, these artists have featured jointly or severally in a number of other bands, with tonight’s concert underlining their continued creative vitality.

CORRINA HEWAT

T WITH THE M

AGGIES

Fèis Rois is 25! T with The Maggies and The Glackins

TRADITIONAL TRADITIONAL

TUESDAY 25TH JANUARY, 8PM CITY HALLS, £18, SEATED

The last couple of years have been a period of intensely fruitful retrospection for Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash. The 2010 publication of her bestselling memoir, Composed, was preceded by the first-ever covers album of her 30-year career, The List. Encompassing all strands and eras of southern US roots music, these songs have always implicitly informed her finely-poised course between country, rock, traditional and pop sounds, while The List’s eloquent interpretations saw it named Album of the Year at the 2010 Americana Music Awards. Tonight she will be accompanied by husband and Grammy Award winning musician, producer, songwriter, and recording engineer John Leventhal (guitar/vocals).

Aptly enough, recent Rounder signing Nathaniel Rateliff has won praise for his “stark, eloquent Johnny Cash echoes” (NY Times), along with comparisons to Nick Drake and Gram Parsons.

SATURDAY 29TH JANUARY, 7.30PM CITY HALLS, £16.50, SEATED

If you think you know Cuban music, expect a revelation upon hearing the Creole Choir of Cuba, whose impassioned, inspirational polyphony voices a lesser-known but no less musically fruitful aspect of the island’s multicultural heritage. A hybrid of African and native Caribbean tongues with French, English and Spanish, Creole is Cuba’s second language, the legacy of slaves twice displaced via Haiti, latterly followed by exiles from Papa Doc Duvalier. Songs of struggle, resistance, defiance and solidarity are thus the choir’s time-honoured métier, ringing triumphantly down the eras to inspire you tonight.

SUNDAY 30TH JANUARY, 5PM CITY HALLS, £12.50, SEATED

For every previous BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year – Anna Massie, James Graham, Stuart Cassells, Shona Mooney, Catriona Watt, Ewan Robertson, Ruairidh Macmillan and Daniel Thorpe – winning the competition has been a major springboard to a professional career in music. Tonight’s six talented finalists are:

Mairi Chaimbeul (Gaelic Song, Clarsach)

Kristan Harvey (Fiddle)

Lorne MacDougall (Bagpipes, Whistle)

Alistair Ogilvy (Scots Song)

Tina Rees (Piano)

Andrew Waite (Accordion)

ROSANNE CASH

THE CREOLE CHOIR OF CUBA

DANIEL THORPE

Rosanne Cash and Nathaniel Rateliff The Creole Choir of Cuba and Support BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year Final 2011

CITY HALLS: GRAND HALL36


All concerts are seated and are £10 CITY HALLS: RECITAL ROOM

NEW TALENTWORLDAMERICANA

STARTS 14TH JANUARY, 5-7PM GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, FREE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE EVENING TIMES AND BROADCAST LIVE ON CELTIC MUSIC RADIO 1530AM

Danny Kyle was a passionate supporter of traditional music and a constant campaigner for its revival in Scotland. Each night on the Open Stage, new musical talent is given the chance to shine under the Celtic Connections spotlight and the six best acts win through to the final night showcase concert, which takes place in the Strathclyde Suite. With a support slot at next year’s festival up for grabs, it’s a hard fought competition. Compered by Danny’s close friend Liz Clark, it has been the launch pad for many now familiar names such as Adam Sutherland, Karine Polwart and The Chair.

And did we mention – it’s absolutely FREE

TICKETS: 0141 353 8000

All concerts are seated and are £10 CITY HALLS: RECITAL ROOM 37

EDUARDO NIEBLA

JAMES YORKSTON

Simon Thoumire and Ian Carr FRIDAY 21ST JANUARY, 8PMConcertina virtuoso Simon Thoumire and renowned guitarist Ian Carr performed as a successful duo for many years before disbanding in 1996. Following a triumphant return in 2010 at the 30th Shetland Folk Festival, they unite once again this January.

Chris While and Julie Matthews TUESDAY 25TH JANUARY, 8PMNamed Best Duo at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2009, Chris While and Julie Matthews are a leading force on the UK’s acoustic/roots circuit, counting Beth Nielsen Chapman and Barbara Dickson amongst their many fans.

James Yorkston and Friends WEDNESDAY 26TH JANUARY, 8PMFife guitarist and singer-songwriter James Yorkston was an early member of the hugely influential Fence Collective before achieving critical acclaim as a solo artist. He is joined by a host of special guests this evening.

Rory McLeod THURSDAY 27TH JANUARY, 9PMSinger-songwriter, poet and story-teller Rory McLeod is a modern-day travelling troubadour. An energetic performer, he plays an array of instruments ranging from the traditional to the quirky, including harmonica, guitar, djembe, trombone, spoons and finger cymbals.

Hamish Napier Quintet and Guests SATURDAY 29TH JANUARY, 8PMFormer Back of the Moon multi-instrumentalist Hamish Napier shares his Scottish folk roots with some of Glasgow’s finest jazz musicians. Napier’s vocals and vintage Wurlitzer sounds blend with jazz guitar, double bass, drums and fiddle.

Jamie McMenemy and Soïg Siberil and Ian Thompson FRIDAY 14TH JANUARY, 8PMBrittany guitarist Soïg Siberil and bouzouki player Jamie McMenemy (of renowned Breton folk group Kornog) appear tonight as a duo, mixing Scottish and Breton musical traditions with dazzling results. Support is provided by Ian Thompson.

Alex Hodgson and Ian Smith SATURDAY 15TH JANUARY, 8PMA former finalist in the prestigious Burnsong song-writing competition, singer-songwriter Alex Hodgson showcases his latest album Jeelie Jars ‘n’ Coalie Backies – an acclaimed mix of traditional folk songs and new material. Support is provided by Ian Smith.

The Eduardo Niebla Experience SUNDAY 16TH JANUARY, 8PMA formidable guitar virtuoso, Eduardo Niebla’s new album My Gypsy Waltz is a flamenco-infused myriad of Eastern colours with a Gypsy-jazz edge. He is accompanied by Ricardo Garcia on guitar and Dharmesh Parmar on tabla.

Spot tomorrow’s talent today!DANNY KYLE’S OPEN STAGE

SEONAID AITKEN

O2 ABC Glasgow38


FRIDAY 14TH JANUARY, 7.30PM O2 ABC GLASGOW, £15, STANDING

Originally spawned amidst the small-hours maelstrom of the Festival Club, 13-man supergroup the Treacherous Orchestra return to the scene of their legendary main-stage debut at Celtic Connections 2009, since when they’ve been hailed far and wide as Scotland’s most exciting new live act. Bagpipes, fiddles, whistles, flutes and guitars all feature two by two, plus accordion, banjo, bass, and percussion in a spectacular sonic panorama as intricately wrought as it’s incandescently wild. “Nothing on the Scottish folk scene quite compares to this.” (Sunday Mail)

Fía na Roca have been at the forefront of contemporary Galician music since their inception in 1993. Their innovative song-based arrangements, centred on Sonia Lebedynski’s stunning vocals, incorporate traditional and original material with rock, funk and jazz influences.

SATURDAY 15TH JANUARY, 7.30PM O2 ABC GLASGOW, £15, STANDING

Howe Gelb, the maverick mastermind behind cult US band Giant Sand, is a tricky genius to define. According to the Boston Globe, he’s “the mythical American cowboy spray-painted in strange, muted shades. Think art-school Neil Young, or Lou Reed wandering the Mojave Desert.” Indisputably, however, Giant Sand’s ever-evolving interplay of country, rock, punk, blues, garage, lo-fi, jazz, gospel and psychedelia has been a huge and pioneering influence – via 25 albums in 25 years, most recently 2010’s Blurry Blue Mountain – on acts from REM and Nirvana to Lambchop and Bon Iver.

Although still young in years, Lewis-born singer-songwriter Colin MacLeod champions old-fashioned musical virtues – well-crafted melodies, evocative lyrics, warmly heartfelt vocals – to timeless effect on his recent Geffen debut Fireplace.

SUNDAY 16TH JANUARY, 7.30PM O2 ABC GLASGOW, £15, STANDING

Scotland’s finest young folk-rock outfit Skerryvore released their third, self-titled album to rave reviews in July 2010, winning yet more fans for their high-octane mix of soulful original songs and rousing traditional melodies, with bagpipes, fiddle and accordion powered by heavyweight rhythmic muscle.

Mànran is a mouthwatering new line-up of well-kent young talent – Norrie MacIver (guitar/vocals), Gary Innes (accordion), Ewen Henderson (fiddle/pipes), Calum Stewart (flutes/uilleann pipes), Ross Saunders (bass) and Scott Mackay (drums) – performing songs in Gaelic and English alongside fiery instrumental sets.

Completing tonight’s showcase of the Highlands and Islands’ finest, renowned North Uist fiddler and accordionist Calum Iain MacCorquodale, a leading champion of older Gaelic playing styles, is joined by Runrig’s Malcolm Jones.

GIANT SAND

Treacherous Orchestra and Fía na Roca

Giant Sand and The Boy Who Trapped The Sun

Skerryvore, Mànran and Calum Iain MacCorquodale & Malcolm Jones

SKERRYVORE

TREACHEROUS ORCHESTRA

FíA NA ROCA

TRADITIONALAMERICANAFUSION

SUNDAY 16TH, 23RD AND 30TH JANUARY, 2.30PM O2 ABC 2, £10

Hazy Recollections celebrates and connects acts whose music meets at the boundaries of the indie, folk and roots scenes. Over the past year it has brought together a wealth of these versatile artists and built a loyal following in and around Glasgow.

Presented each Sunday during Celtic Connections we’ll join up the best UK based acts with some international friends for a special series of Sunday Sessions.

Here’s just a taste of the line-ups for each gig, for full information see www.celticconnections.com

16TH JANUARYTalented singer and songwriter from Manchester, Damon Valentine, is a Hazy Recollections favourite. He’ll be joined by Carrbridge singer songwriter Rachel Sermanni who is already tipped to be a major star after being

invited by Mumford and Sons’ Ben Lovett to feature on the nu-folk showcase album Communion, as well as Japanese folk/pop outfit Humbert Humbert.

23RD JANUARYThe Staves are known for their jaw-dropping harmonies and their unique delicate, bittersweet sound. Also on the bill is Lewis born singer, songwriter and guitarist, Iain Morrison, known for his membership of Glasgow outfit Crash My Model Car, as well as the Boston based contemporary bluegrass outfit Joy Kills Sorrow.

30TH JANUARYEdinburgh singer-songwriter Alex Cornish, whose DIY debut album When the Traffic Stops gained glowing reviews, showcases his dark hued hauntingly melodic pop alongside Findlay Napier and his Bar Room Mountaineers with their rootsy progressive sound, which draws influences from genres including blues, Americana, folk, funk and country.

THURSDAY 20TH JANUARY, 7.30PM O2 ABC GLASGOW, £17.50, STANDING

Ani DiFranco played her first gig aged 9, was writing songs by 14, began singing them professionally a year later – and has barely, or rarely, slowed down since, firing out 20 studio albums on her own Righteous Babe label, and giving thousands of inspirational live performances. This prolific, endlessly evolving output has continually lent fresh meaning to the personal as political, and vice versa, most recently on 2008’s multi-layered, richly textured Red Letter Year.

THE STAVES

FINDLAY NAPIER

ANI DIFRANCO

Hazy Recollections Ani DiFranco and Support

O2 ABC Glasgow 39

TICKETS: 0141 353 8000

INDIE

FRIDAY 21ST JANUARY, 7.30PM O2 ABC GLASGOW, £16, STANDING

Cherished by legions of loyal fans as one of Scotland’s greatest singers and songwriters, ex-Del Amitri frontman Justin Currie won a string of career-best accolades for his second solo album, 2010’s The Great War. His exceptional gift for matching blissful melodic hooks with mordantly barbed, darkly insightful lyrics, allied to his intensely soulful voice, continues to strike gold within classic pop parameters, drawing sellout crowds for each of his previous Celtic Connections appearances.

Support comes from the hotly-tipped Irish folk/pop duo Heathers, comprising twin sisters Ellie and Louise Macnamara. With their lusciously blended harmonies and buoyantly catchy songwriting, they won a slew of critical raves and high-profile support slots for their 2008 debut album Here, Not There, now newly out in the UK.

SATURDAY 22ND JANUARY, 7.30PM O2 ABC GLASGOW, £16, STANDING

Both the Scottish-based super-trio Lau and Boston five-piece Crooked Still have been credited with redefining the parameters of folk music, from their respective origins in British trad and bluegrass. Lau’s extraordinarily complex, viscerally thrilling sound has won them three successive Best Group titles at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, while Crooked Still’s 2010 masterpiece Some Strange Country earned a veritable torrent of critical superlatives. After sets from each band, they’ll team up for some new collaborative arrangements of each other’s material.

Opening the show in similarly spectacular fashion, Highland folk/funk outfit Wild Biscuit, top Scottish breakdance crew Random Aspekts, multi-instrumentalist Fraser Fifield, piper Colin Brown, drummer Neil Primrose (Travis) and the Mid Argyll Pipe Band present the live premiere of Move, fusing contemporary Celtic sounds with hip-hop culture.

SUNDAY 23RD JANUARY, 7.30PM O2 ABC GLASGOW, £16, STANDING

At last June’s Telluride Bluegrass Festival – where Jerry Douglas is as much a regular as he is at Celtic Connections – the 12-time Grammy-winning dobro genius observed that he likes to do something a bit new and special whenever he plays there. The same evidently goes for Glasgow, as Douglas rekindles the awesome new collaboration he unveiled at Telluride – with Weather Report/David Bowie drummer Omar Hakim and Lyle Lovett/Alison Krauss bassist Viktor Krauss – for their UK debut.

In non-musical parlance, Scoville Units measure the heat of chillis. Given that the so-named new Celtic/bluegrass sextet includes such blistering talents as guitarist Ed Boyd (Flook/Mike McGoldrick), banjo ace Leon Hunt (Daily Planet) and double bassist Miranda Sykes (Show of Hands), consider yourselves duly warned.

JUSTIN CURRIE

Justin Currie and Heathers Crooked Still with Lau and Move Jerry Douglas featuring Omar Hakim & Viktor Krauss and The Scoville Units

O2 ABC Glasgow40


JERRY DOUGLAS

CROOKED STILL

LAU

AMERICANAAMERICANAINDIE

O2 ABC Glasgow 41


TUESDAY 25TH JANUARY, 7.30PM O2 ABC GLASGOW, £16, STANDING

With an ever-growing fanbase that includes such variously famous names as Lorraine Kelly, Max Clifford, the Duke of Argyll and Biffy Clyro, Scottish showbiz phenomenon The Red Hot Chilli Pipers continue their rise to international stardom. Featuring four of Scotland’s finest young pipers, a powerhouse drum/percussion corps, electric guitars and keyboards, the band have just released their third album Music for the Kilted Generation, featuring their quirky take on pop covers alongside rocked-up versions of more familiar tunes like The Little Cascade. They’re joined tonight by special guests including Phil Cunningham and Lorne MacDougall alongside the Red Hot Chilli Dancers and guest brass section The Horn Supremacy.

Ancient meets modern via the thrillingly twinned vocals of Gaelic singer Norrie MacIver and beatboxer Ruari Sutherland, lending new meaning to traditional mouth music.

THURSDAY 27TH JANUARY, 7.30PM O2 ABC GLASGOW, £14, STANDING

In the words of eminent US critic Earle Hitchner, “Gerry O’Connor may be the single best four-string banjoist in the history of Irish music.” Also renowned as a linchpin of Four Men and a Dog, O’Connor’s enthralling virtuosity here features front and centre, expertly backed by Tony Byrne, Manus Lunny and Fiach O’Connor.

Fiddler and singer Sigrid Moldestad is one of the brightest rising stars on today’s Swedish folk scene, a brilliant musical communicator blending traditional and original songs and tunes, performing tonight with her six-piece band. Born in Cape Breton, fiddler Gillian Boucher has travelled far and wide with her music, forging a distinctive contemporary Celtic sound tinged with east European and jazz influences.

RED HOT CHILLI PIPERS

GERRY O’CONNOR

SIGRID MOLDESTAD

Red Hot Chilli Pipers and Norrie MacIver & Ruari Sutherland

Gerry O’Connor Quartet and Sigrid Moldestad and Gillian Boucher

TRADITIONAL / FUSION TRADITIONAL

FRIDAY 28TH JANUARY, 7.30PM O2 ABC GLASGOW, £14, SEATED/STANDING

Formerly something of a well-kept Highland secret, Dàimh are nowadays widely rated among Scotland’s top traditional bands, particularly since adding Calum Alex MacMillan’s eloquent Gaelic vocals to their original line-up of bagpipes, whistles, fiddle, banjo, mandola, guitar and bodhran. From pyrotechnic jigs and reels to achingly poignant ballads, they run the full expressive gamut of folk music at its best, and are justly renowned for their thrilling live shows.

Dàimh are also longtime pals with the brilliantly inventive Galician piper and whistle player Anxo Lorenzo, whose recent debut solo album, Tirán, combines traditional, original, native and international material with rock, pop, jazz, flamenco and hip-hop influences. He’ll be appearing with his regular six-piece band, while both acts will also join in on each other’s set.

SATURDAY 29TH JANUARY, 7.30PM O2 ABC GLASGOW, £14, STANDING

Definitely a night for the dancing shoes, as this Scottish/Canadian triple bill of merry musical pranksters prepare to rock da house. Cape Breton collective the Tom Fun Orchestra tumultuously transcend their local musical traditions, concocting a fabulously heady brew of folk, rock, punk, country, big-band and vaudeville flavours. Edinburgh’s Orkestra del Sol also bring a distinct dash of theatre to the party, with their brass-based mash-up of Balkan, klezmer, Latin and gypsy music, matching superb ensemble prowess with carnivalesque comedy.

Recently championed by Phantom Band bassist Gerry Hart as “an amazing band, playing some of the most amazing music you will ever hear”, cult Edinburgh quartet Mystery Juice weld together funk, blues, rap, prog and thunderous grooves with electrifying, white-hot force.

SUNDAY 30TH JANUARY, 7.30PM O2 ABC GLASGOW, £16, STANDING

After his Grammy-winning, platinum-selling success as frontman of The Mavericks, Raul Malo has emerged as a hugely compelling solo artist, not only for his gloriously operatic, Orbison-esque voice, but increasingly as a gifted and genre-defying songwriter. Appearing tonight with his full band line-up, fresh from his solo acoustic sell out show at Celtic Connections 2010, he’ll be showcasing his acclaimed new release Sinners & Saints, a masterfully diverse collection richly rooted in his Latin music heritage while infused with his love of country, blues, jazz and vintage rock’n’roll.

Inspired by the classic folk-rock of the 1970s, from either side of the Atlantic, Paul Tasker and Iona MacDonald, aka Doghouse Roses, weave a rootsy, bittersweet skein of traditional and contemporary strands that “leaves the listener simultaneously sated and devastated”. (Rock’n’Reel)

DàIMH

TOM FUN ORCHESTRA

RAUL MALO

Dàimh and Anxo Lorenzo Tom Fun Orchestra and Orkestra del Sol and Mystery Juice

Raul Malo and Doghouse Roses

O2 ABC Glasgow42


AMERICANAINDIETRADITIONAL

IAIN MORRISON

CATHY-ANN NIC A’ PHì

SAMLING

CCA 43


‘Se Ceòl ‘s Craic an àite cruinneachaidh beothail agus an àrd-urlar airson cultar na Gàidhlig an latha an-diugh ann an Glaschu. Thigibh còmhla rinn aig Celtic Connections airson trì latha de bhuithtean-obrach, filmichean, òraidean, ceòl agus dannsa.

Thigibh a-staigh bho shia uairean feasgar airson aon no a h-uile gin de na tachartasan a bhios ann air an oidhche.

Gheibhear eòlas agus tuigse air cultar na Gàidhlig aig Ceòl ‘s Craic.

Ceòl ’s Craic is the vibrant social hub and platform for contemporary Gaelic culture in Glasgow. Join us during Celtic Connections for three days of workshops, film, talks, live music and dancing; exploring aspects of fusion between Gaelic and other world traditions.

Come along any evening from 6pm onwards for one or all of the acts. Experience and explore Gaelic with Ceòl ‘s Craic.

A’ bharrachd air na priomh tachartasan ciùil, bi rudan a’ tachairt gach oidhche bho 6f le òraidean, bùthan-obrach, cearcall còmhraidh agus fiolmaichean-thoir sùil air an làrach-lìn airson barrachd fiosrachaidh.

In addition to the main musical acts there will be pre concert events every evening from 6pm featuring lectures, workshops, the conversation café and film screenings, please see www.celticconnections.com for full details.

Ceòl ‘s Craic

DéARDAOIN 20 EANáIR / THURSDAY 20TH JANUARY PRíOMH-CHEOLCHOIRM / MAIN CONCERTCEOL BEO ó 8IN. GO DTí A 1IN / LIVE MUSIC FROM 8PM UNTIL 1AM £12.50

Le ceol ó Scoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschú, Brian ó hEadhra, Cumann Píobairí Ard Mhacha, File Éireannach Gearóid Mac Lachlainn, cumadóir ‘s ceoltoir Iain Morrison, le file Gàdhlig Daibhidh Màrtainn agus DJ John Mulhearn.

Featuring music from Glasgow’s Gaelic School, Brian Ó hEadhra, The Armagh Pipers Club, Irish Poet Gearoid McLaughlin, singer songwriter Iain Morrison with Gaelic poet Daibhidh Martin and DJ John Mulhearn.

DIHAOINE 21MH FHAOILTEACH / FRIDAY 21ST JANUARY PRìOMH-CHUIRM-CIùIL / MAIN CONCERTCEOL BEO ó 8IN. GO DTí A 1IN / LIVE MUSIC FROM 8PM UNTIL 1AM £12.50

A’ toirt a-staigh ceòl bho na seinneadairean Gàidhlig Cathy-Ann Nic a’ Phì, am pìobaire Barnaby Brown còmhla ris an t-seinneadair Innseanach Prakriti Dutta, an còmhlan-ciùil India Alba agus DJ John Mulhearn.

Featuring music from Gaelic singers Cathy Ann MacPhee, piper Barnaby Brown with Indian singer Prakriti Dutta, reels and ragas from India Alba and DJ John Mulhearn.

DISATHAIRNE 22MH FHAOILTEACH / SATURDAY 22ND JANUARY PRìOMH-CHUIRM-CIùIL / MAIN CONCERTCEOL BEO ó 8IN. GO DTí A 1IN / LIVE MUSIC FROM 8PM UNTIL 1AM £12.50

A’ toirt a-staigh ceòl bho na sgoilearan aig Sgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu, ceòl ùr bho Stephen Lawrie agus an seinneadair Hanna Tuulikki, am bàrd Èireannach Louis de Paor còmhla ris a’ phìobaire Ronan Browne, còmhlan-ciùil Gàidhlig agus Lochlannach Samling leis na seinneadairean Naomi Harvey agus Anne Sofie Valdal, agus DJ John Mulhearn.

Featuring music from Glasgow’s Gaelic School, a newly-commissioned piece by Stephen Lawrie and Hanna Tuulikki, poet Louis de Paor with piper Ronan Browne, Gaelic/Norwegian band Samling with singers Naomi Harvey and Anne Sofie Valdal and DJ John Mulhearn.

FRIDAY 21ST JANUARY, 7.30PM THE ARCHES, £12.50, STANDING

With a sound that ranges from Scandinavian and Celtic folk to blues, acoustic rock and gypsy jazz, the supremely gifted young Danish fiddler Henrik Jansberg is winning plaudits far beyond his homeland. He’s flanked by an equally formidable four-piece band, on guitar, mandolin, nyckelharpa, double bass and percussion.

Deeply rooted in traditional fest-noz dance culture, the Breton trio Dièse 3 also combine wide-ranging parallel interests in jazz, world and rock music, plus a mode of collective improvisation known as ‘sound painting’. Their line-up of fiddle, electric guitar and bass clarinet likewise exemplifies the ever-audacious spirit of Brittany’s Celtic revival.

FRIDAY 22ND JANUARY, 7.30PM THE ARCHES, £14, STANDING

The latest intriguing project from Cockney cross-cultural veteran Jah Wobble, who’s worked with such illustrious fellow mavericks as Brian Eno, Massive Attack, Bill Laswell and Björk, aligns his seismic bass grooves and love of dub reggae with the otherworldly sounds of Japanese music. Traditional folk songs and instrumentation, taiko drumming and Shinto ritual feature alongside Wobble’s bass, keyboards and programming.

“One of the great English originals.” (Guardian)

Man’s Ruin sees Breabach’s Calum MacCrimmon laying aside his bagpipes and stepping up on vocals (plus whistles and electric guitar), performing original funk-based songs and tunes, with a line-up also featuring fiddle, accordion, brass, bass and percussion.

WEDNESDAY 26TH JANUARY, 7.30PM THE ARCHES, £15, STANDING

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Teddy Thompson returns to Celtic Connections for an exclusive pre-launch of his hotly-anticipated fifth album Bella, out on February 1. Combining gimlet-eyed lyrics, taut rock’n’roll stylings and touches of reluctant romanticism, Thompson is also a superb live performer.

Switching between tender love-songs and bitingly articulate pop anthems, swathed in live-looped layers of guitar, piano and bass, David Ford is finally translating critical raves into popular recognition with his third solo album, Let the Hard Times Roll.

Three-time Grammy-winner Ashley Cleveland, whose repertoire spans the gospel/spiritual spectrum, is a singer of extraordinary fire, grit and passion.

HENRIK JANSBERG BAND

JAH WOBBLE & THE NIPPON DUB ENSEM

BLE

TEDDY THOMPSON

Henrik Jansberg Band and Dièse 3 Jah Wobble & The Nippon Dub Ensemble and Man’s Ruin

Teddy Thompson & David Ford and Ashley Cleveland

The Arches44


INDIEFUSIONWORLD


THURSDAY 27TH JANUARY, 7.30PM THE ARCHES, £12.50, STANDING

Looking for the Glasgow indie/folk names to watch in 2011? Look no further than tonight’s triple bill. Aerials Up, a seven-piece citing such maverick greats as the Pixies and Talking Heads as influences on their lush, multi-layered sound, have already got themselves noticed opening for Snow Patrol, Paolo Nutini and the Futureheads, with Vic Galloway calling them “stylish, fresh and seriously infectious.” First Charge of the Light Brigade are the phoenix from the ashes of several earlier Glasgow bands, whose collective songwriting talents have won comparisons with Wilco and Crowded House, while the magically melodic Acoustic Butterfly won a 2010 Danny Kyle Open Stage Award.

FRIDAY 28TH JANUARY, 7.30PM THE ARCHES, £15, STANDING

Having worked with such giants of the genre as Lester Flatt, Doc Watson and Johnny Cash, quadruple Grammy-winner Marty Stuart has covered most country music bases in his time, before revisiting its traditional bedrock on his latest album Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions. A famously consummate showman, Stuart makes his Celtic Connections debut with his aptly named backing trio of Kenny Vaughan (guitar), Paul Martin (bass) and Harry Stinson (drums).

“ ...the best country album this year...some of the most dazzling fingerpicking you’ll hear in a long time” Independent on Sunday

Aerials Up, First Charge of the Light Brigade and Acoustic Butterfly

Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives and Support

THE ARCHES 45

AERIALS UP

MARTY STUART

AMERICANAINDIE


FRIDAY 14TH JANUARY, 7.30PM ÒRAN MóR, £14, STANDING

July 2011 marks 40 years since Dick Gaughan – then living in a Wimbledon hippy commune – recorded his debut album No More Forever, on a 2-Track Revox in legendary producer Bill Leader’s London front room. That’s the kind-of anniversary peg for this kind-of retrospective show, which will start with Gaughan solo, performing a couple of tracks each from his first decade’s releases, up to 1981’s landmark Handful of Earth. At this point the friends start making an appearance – including guitarist Stuart Nisbet, bassist Iain ‘Nico’ Bruce, drummer Jim McDermott and vocal trio the Bevvy Sisters – reflecting the continued restless progression of Gaughan’s unique oeuvre.

SATURDAY 15TH JANUARY, 7.30PM ÒRAN MóR, £12.50, STANDING

Performing largely original material infused by diverse musical traditions, the Welsh-based six-piece Mabon have emerged in recent years among the UK’s most exciting and distinctive folk acts. Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Breton, Galician, Basque and Balkan flavours, buoyed by forceful contemporary rhythms, all feature in their richly emotive sound, delivered with terrific vivacity and verve on accordion, fiddle, flute, guitar, bass and percussion.

The brilliant young Argyllshire piper Lorne MacDougall, who’s featured in line-ups from Grade 1 pipe bands to the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, showcases material from his debut album Hello World, combining traditionally-rooted tunes with deft cross-genre touches.

DICK GAUGHAN

MABON

Dick Gaughan and Friends Mabon with Lorne MacDougall

ÒRAN MóR46

FOLK TRADITIONAL

ÒRAN MóR 47


WEDNESDAY 19TH JANUARY, 7.30PM ÒRAN MóR, £12.50, STANDING

With a sound that ranges from grandly anthemic to yearningly intimate, smoothly urbane to searingly raw, New York indie outfit The Walkmen have been variously likened to The Pixies, Brian Eno, The Velvet Underground and Television. This edgily eclectic creativity attains its strongest synthesis yet on their new release Lisbon: “An album to fall in love to, to break up to, to drown sorrows to, or to bounce around to.” (NME)

Glasgow four-piece Laki Mera’s arresting, multi-layered soundscapes, merging elements of trip-hop, electronica, classical, ambient and folk, have drawn admiring comparisons to the Cocteau Twins, Massive Attack and Ryuichi Sakamoto.

FRIDAY 21ST JANUARY, 7.30PM ÒRAN MóR, £12.50, STANDING

With their first two albums, 2009’s Carbeth and 2010’s Abandoned Love, Glasgow four-piece Trembling Bells have raced up the rankings to join the hottest acts of the moment, and are a confirmed favourite of Nick Drake’s producer, Joe Boyd. Drawing on influences from early classical music to avant-garde jazz, via traditional folk, classic country and glam rock, these compelling urban troubadours match modern-day myth and mysticism with lurking wit and mischief.

The young English singer and concertina player Emily Portman describes her songs as “new stories with old bones, old stories with new skins”, reflecting her adventurous and contemporary engagement with traditional sources, as highlighted on her rave-reviewed 2010 solo debut, The Glamoury.

THE WALKM

EN

The Walkmen and Laki Mera Trembling Bells and Emily Portman

TREMBLING BELLS

INDIE INDIE

SATURDAY 22ND JANUARY, 7.30PM ÒRAN MóR, £14, STANDING

Stepping out sure-footedly beyond dad Steve’s sizeable shadow, singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle was named Best Emerging Artist at the 2009 Americana Music Awards for his sophomore release that year, Midnight at the Movies, and followed up in 2010 with the superbly crafted Harlem River Blues. Earle’s songs echo across eras from classic Woody Guthrie through early Elvis to classic Bruce Springsteen, at once steeped in US country/folk tradition, and confirming his place among its sharpest contemporary exponents.

English sister-act The Staves’ sublime three-part harmonies reflect their shared love of vintage folk-pop, with sparse instrumental touches completing a delicate, bittersweet sound very much their own.

SUNDAY 23RD JANUARY, 7.30PM ÒRAN MóR, £12.50, STANDING

Celebrating 25 years since their debut single E102, the BMX Bandits remain one of Scotland’s best-loved and most influential bands, authoring “some of the most sumptuous, emotionally devastating pop songs never to grace the Top 40” (Daily Telegraph). Tonight’s show, curated by founder and frontman Duglas T. Stewart, features the latest of their ever-changing line-ups, including Rachel Allison, David Scott, Jim McCulloch, Finlay MacDonald and Jim Gash. Performing a mix of old favourites and songs from their forthcoming new release, BMx Bandits in Space, they’ll be joined by hotly-tipped folk-popsters Randolph’s Leap, rediscovered psychedelic troubadour Nick Garrie and other very special guests.

THURSDAY 27TH JANUARY, 7.30PM ÒRAN MóR, £12.50, SEATED

Created by the Lewis-born Gaelic singer and songwriter Eilidh Mackenzie, Saoghal Sona (Wonderful World) was the centrepiece new commission of the 2010 Blas festival. Its nine new songs were all inspired by happy and/or comical news stories, featuring Mackenzie on lead vocals with pianist Brian MacAlpine, bassist Ged Grimes, fiddler Gordon Gunn and guitarist Marc Clement, plus Highland newsreaders Iain MacDonald and Eilidh MacLeod. “Blithely and beguilingly transcended the customary parameters of Gaelic song.” (Scotsman)

Dalla are today’s best-known champions of Cornish music, a four-piece with deep roots in the revival of their region’s distinctive Celtic culture, carrying it forward in vibrant contemporary arrangements.

JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE

BMx BANDITS

SAOGHAL SONA

Justin Townes Earle and The Staves BMX Bandits 25th Anniversary Saoghal Sona (Wonderful World) and Dalla

ÒRAN MóR48


TRADITIONALINDIEAMERICANA

FRIDAY 28TH JANUARY, 7.30PM ÒRAN MóR, £12.50, STANDING

Hand-picked by Irish music legend Dónal Lunny, during his TV talent-search project Lorg Lunny, Ciorras are a young eight-piece band breathing fresh contemporary life into their native traditional music. As well as flutes, fiddle, concertina, pipes, whistles, accordion, keyboards and vocals, their line-up features Lunny’s newly-created percussion instrument, the greadán.

In a similarly new, harmony-rich pairing of young but seasoned Scottish talents, fiddler and singer Gillian Frame (ex-Back of the Moon, and the inaugural Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year) teams up with Skye-born co-instrumentalist Fiona MacAskill, a member of the Catriona Watt Band.

The line up is completed by Sam Lee, one of “the most accomplished and authentic interpreters of traditional English song to emerge in years” (fRoots).

SATURDAY 29TH JANUARY, 7.30PM ÒRAN MóR, £12.50, SEATED

Concluding their rave review of his opening set for Michael McGoldrick at Celtic Connections 2010, the Big Issue declared Irish singer-songwriter Declan O’Rourke to be “surely worthy of a headline slot next year” – and here he is, back by popular demand. Eddi Reader, who’s covered his material along with the likes of Maura O’Connell and Brian Kennedy, rates him as “one of the finest songwriters on the planet”, while Paul Weller chose O’Rourke’s Galileo as the track he wishes he’d written from the past 20 years. As if this superb songcraft, tailored to his fabulous vocal timbre and range, weren’t enough, O’Rourke completes the package with ultra-classy guitar and piano work.

SUNDAY 30TH JANUARY, 7.30PM ÒRAN MóR, £12.50, STANDING

Canada’s Prince Edward Island may be best known for Anne of Green Gables, but fiddling sensation Richard Wood has also put it firmly on the musical map. Combining deep-rooted traditional prowess with high-voltage rock’n’roll attitude, he’s guested with The Chieftains, appeared on the David Letterman Show with Shania Twain, and was a featured performer in the international fiddle extravaganza Bowfire.

The brilliant young Skye piper Angus Nicolson celebrates the recent release of his debut album, The Lasses that Baffle Us, with a massive posse of musical pals, including Andrew MacPherson, Murdo Cameron, Iain MacDonald, Rick Taylor, Innes Hutton and Graeme Stafford.

CIORRAS

DECLAN O’ROURKE

RICHARD WOOD

The New Tradition with Ciorras and Gillian Frame & Fiona MacAskill and Sam Lee

Declan O’Rourke and Support Richard Wood and Angus Nicolson Band

ÒRAN MóR 49


TRADITIONALINDIETRADITIONAL

ST ANDREW’S IN THE SQUARE50


FRIDAY 14TH JANUARY, 7.30PM ST ANDREW’S IN THE SQUARE, £12.50 SEATED

It’s over 50 years since Jimmie Macgregor arrived in London from Glasgow with an old Abbott-Victor guitar, lured by the early folk, skiffle’n’blues scene. Before the 1950s were out, Macgregor and his double-act partner Robin Hall were en route to becoming Britain’s most famous folk musicians ever, appearing every weeknight on the BBC’s Tonight show for well over a decade, later hosting Hullabaloo and The White Heather Club. After a multi-award-winning subsequent career as a TV outdoor guide and radio presenter, his new show reunites his music with his peerless skills as a communicator, including recollections of star encounters from John Wayne to Jimmy Shand.

SATURDAY 15TH JANUARY, 7.30PM ST ANDREW’S IN THE SQUARE, £12.50 SEATED

As featured in the Oscar-winning movie Cold Mountain, shape-note or Sacred Harp singing is the oldest US choral music, originating in the late 18th century. Thanks in no small part to renowned Massachussetts roots artist Tim Eriksen – ex-Cordelia’s Dad, and a key consultant on Cold Mountain – these glorious pre-gospel harmonies are undergoing a distinct renaissance: come and hear why as Eriksen leads a traditional-style shape-note ‘singing’, with a large group of experienced US and UK practitioners.

SUNDAY 16TH JANUARY, 7.30PM ST ANDREW’S IN THE SQUARE, £12.50 SEATED

All the way from small-town Texas – and sonically from as far back as the 1930s – the Quebe Sisters’ exquisite three-part harmonies and matching feisty fiddle work, buoyantly backed with guitar and bass, put an enchanting new spin on vintage Western Swing, country, jazz, bluegrass and cowboy tunes.

The Seonaid Aitken Set, Danny Kyle Open Stage winners in 2010, are a spirited young folk/jazz/bluegrass combo fronted by a multi-talented fiddler, singer and pianist out of Fife. Aitken’s other performances credits range from Scottish Opera to Sunshine On Leith, plus live and studio work with Roddy Woomble and Colin MacIntyre.

JIMMIE M

ACGREGOR

TIM ERIKSEN

THE QUEBE SISTERS BAND

Jimmie Macgregor’s Gathering Tim Eriksen: Shape Note Singing The Quebe Sisters Band and The Seonaid Aitken Set

AMERICANAAMERICANATRADITIONAL

ST ANDREW’S IN THE SQUARE 51


THURSDAY 20TH JANUARY, 7.30PM ST ANDREW’S IN THE SQUARE, £12.50 SEATED

Na Caimbeulaich, or the Campbells, from Greepe on Skye, rank among Gaelic music’s leading dynasties. Of recent generations’ seven Mòd Gold medallists, five perform tonight – siblings Seumas and Kenna Campbell, Kenna’s daughters Wilma and Mary Ann Kennedy, and niece Maggie Macdonald – ahead of a new Campbells album and a family biography, both out later in 2011. Special guests include Alasdair Fraser, Natalie Haas and Lorne MacDougall.

The 2010 ladies’ Mòd Gold Medallist was Joy Dunlop, a tireless promoter of Gaelic as well as a superb singer, whose 2010 debut album Dùsgadh (Awakening) was hailed

“as an unassuming masterpiece.” (Penguin Eggs)

FRIDAY 21ST JANUARY, 7.30PM ST ANDREW’S IN THE SQUARE, £12.50 SEATED

Rekindling the playful, participative spirit of the foliada – Galicia’s equivalent to the session or ceilidh – in wintry Glasgow, Banda das Crechas are an extended musical collective from Santiago de Compostela, based in a building with a 150-year history as a social and cultural hub: think of them as its 21st century house band.

In another 100-percent-proof yet deliciously harmonious distillation of contemporary ceilidh spirit, the great Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser and phenomenal US cellist Natalie Haas continue their thrillingly cosmopolitan, endlessly inventive renegotiation of their instruments’ venerable Caledonian partnership.

SATURDAY 22ND JANUARY, 7.30PM ST ANDREW’S IN THE SQUARE, £12.50 SEATED

The launch of an exciting new partnership between Celtic Connections and Ireland’s Sligo Live festival, aimed at mutually spreading the word not only on each other’s events, but also the dynamic home-grown music scenes in which they’re embedded.

The complementary strength and diversity of current Sligo acts are resoundingly exemplified in tonight’s triple bill: compare and contrast the instrumental quintet Téada, matching traditional fidelity with brilliantly fresh-minted arrangements; Túcan’s explosive, twin-guitar-fuelled fusion of classic rock, metal, trad, flamenco and jazz, and The Unwanted’s Atlantic-spanning encounter between three utterly spellbinding musicians: Cathy Jordan, Séamus O’Dowd and Rick Epping.

JOY DUNLOP

BANDA DAS CRECHAS

The Campbells and Joy Dunlop Banda das Crechas and Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas

Sligo Live Sessions with Téada and The Unwanted and Túcan

THE UNWANTED

TúCAN


ST ANDREW’S IN THE SQUARE52


SUNDAY 23RD JANUARY, 7.30PM ST ANDREW’S IN THE SQUARE, £12.50 SEATED

While predominantly known for fiddlers, Orkney also has its own distinct song tradition. That much has certainly been proved by the Big Orkney Song Project, a two-year, Lottery-funded initiative to reinvigorate this heritage, by collecting, cataloguing, notating, teaching and performing songs ‘about Orkney, written in Orkney or with an Orkney connection’. The resulting archive is set to number around 1000 items, including new adaptations and original compositions by Orkney musucians. A line-up of this home-grown talent, including singers and project leaders Sarah Jane Gibbon, Emily Turton and Aimee Leonard, perform a selection of gems from this freshly restored treasure-trove.

WEDNESDAY 26TH JANUARY, 7.30PM ST ANDREW’S IN THE SQUARE, £12.50 SEATED

The Battle of Harlaw in 1411, widely seen as a pivotal conflict between Highland and Lowland forces, is particularly richly enshrined in Gaelic music. For this very special 600th anniversary concert, acclaimed Scottish-American fiddler Bonnie Rideout and Glenuig piping legend Allan MacDonald pool their unique expertise in both instruments’ piobaireachd tradition, and its counterpart in song. Together with Elizabeth Stewart (Gaelic song), Billy Jackson (harp), John Purser and Simon O’Dwyer (bronze age horns), they’ll perform music ranging right across those six centuries, centred on material dating from the battle itself, but also including the first ever piobaireachd composed for viola.

THURSDAY 27TH JANUARY, 7.30PM ST ANDREW’S IN THE SQUARE, £12.50 SEATED

A delectable triple bill of future folk stars. The calling-card album from Yorkshire-based Scot Ewan McLennan, Rags & Robes, has seen him hailed among 2010’s brightest discoveries, combining rare traditional empathy with strong original songcraft and classically-rooted guitar.

Still buoyantly on the up since winning a 2009 Danny Kyle Open Stage Award, vocal duo Lucy Pringle and Chris Wright perform material from their debut release, The Speaking Heart.

Singer-songwriter and guitarist Sean Taylor’s slow-burn ascent through the roots’n’blues ranks has accelerated markedly since last July’s fourth studio set Walk With Me, which won widespread comparisons with John Martyn and vociferous support from Bob Harris.

BONNIE RIDEOUT

EWAN M

CLENNAN

The Big Orkney Song Project Bonnie Rideout with Allan MacDonald and Friends

New Tradition with Ewan McLennan and

Lucy Pringle & Chris Wright and Sean Taylor

SONGTRADITIONALSONG

ST ANDREW’S IN THE SQUARE 53


FRIDAY 28TH JANUARY, 7.30PM ST ANDREW’S IN THE SQUARE, £12.50 SEATED

It’ll be a year today since the sudden loss of Glasgow singer and songwriter Alistair Hulett, remembered equally for his music and as a tireless crusader against injustice and oppression in all forms. Indeed, his songs often gave direct, eloquent expression to such concerns, throughout a career that began Down Under, via the band Roaring Jack, taking in an extended collaboration with English fiddle icon Dave Swarbrick, before going mainly solo back in Glasgow from the mid-1990s. Swarbrick features among a line-up of friends gathered to celebrate Hulett’s life and legacy, also including Dick Gaughan, Karine Polwart, Roy Bailey, Rory McLeod, Nancy Kerr and James Fagan.

SATURDAY 29TH JANUARY, 7.30PM ST ANDREW’S IN THE SQUARE, £12.50 SEATED

Singer and songwriter Roddy Woomble has lately been steering a singularly creative course between rock and folk. After glowing reviews from critics of both persuasions for his 2006 solo debut, My Secret Is My Silence, he’s co-instigated the landmark Ballads of the Book project, forged a dynamic trio partnership with Kris Drever and John McCusker, and made two more Idlewild albums. Tonight he previews new songs from Secret’s forthcoming follow-up, alongside material from across this recent repertoire.

Award-winning Newfoundland native Amelia Curran’s voice has been likened to both Mary Chapin Carpenter and Beth Nielsen Chapman, while her songs balance naked vulnerability with redemptive beauty.

SUNDAY 30TH JANUARY, 7.30PM ST ANDREW’S IN THE SQUARE, £15 SEATED

After considerable critical praise but soul-destroying popular neglect for his former band The Czars, John Grant nearly retired his gorgeous baritone voice and sumptuously heartbreaking songcraft for good. Thankfully, he was persuaded to undertake the stunning creative catharsis of his solo debut Queen of Denmark, widely rated among 2010’s best albums, by his numero uno fans, Texan folk-rock combo Midlake, who also served as his studio backing band.

The rather splendidly named Sharks Took the Rest (a mordant allusion from Jaws) create blissful, panoramic pop out of lush, chamber-style textures, swoonsome female vocals and an artful dash of electronica.

M E M O R I A L F U N DALISTAIR HULETT

ALISTAIR HULETT

RODDY WOOM

BLE

JOHN GRANT

Alistair Hulett Tribute with very special guests

Roddy Woomble and Amelia Curran John Grant and Sharks Took The Rest

INDIEINDIETRADITIONAL

THE TRON THEATRE54


FRIDAY 14TH JANUARY, 8PM THE TRON THEATRE, £12.50, SEATED

Venturing far and wide from her instrument’s hillbilly roots, US banjo virtuoso Alison Brown has staked out her own unique musical territory, where bluegrass, jazz, Celtic, Latin, swing and ragtime influences meet in seamless, ultra-sophisticated harmony. Her latest studio tour de force is 2009’s The Company You Keep, material from which features here along with older favourites.

A one-time trainee opera singer who converted to old-time Americana, Anna Coogan matches her gorgeously dulcet voice with bewitching country-folk balladry.

SATURDAY 15TH JANUARY, 8PM THE TRON THEATRE, £12.50, SEATED

With over 300 Grand Old Opry appearances to her credit, and lauded by Nanci Griffith as “this generation’s Loretta Lynn”, Elizabeth Cook’s pure-country credentials are intriguingly subverted by rock, punk and rockabilly influences, a distinctive alloy of styles brilliantly realised on her 2010 album Welder.

A moonshiner’s grandson born and raised in the Appalachian backwoods, where he first learned to sing in church, AJ Roach has since lived in San Francisco and now New York: evidently the perfect life-journey to create his spectral-sounding yet vividly immediate, story-based songs, with their artful interplay of traditional and progressive Americana.

SUNDAY 16TH JANUARY, 8PM THE TRON THEATRE, £12.50, SEATED

After starring in the Transatlantic Sessions and duetting with wee brother Tim at Celtic Connections 2010, Mollie O’Brien makes a welcome return with her guitarist husband Rich Moore, showcasing their first duo album Saints and Sinners. Featuring lesser-known, magically reworked folk, gospel, blues and pop material, by writers including Tom Waits, Jesse Winchester, Richard Thompson and George Harrison, plus two rare Mollie originals, it was hailed by Driftwood magazine as “a landmark recording of Americana music.”

Fingerstyle guitar prodigy (and Danny Kyle Open Stage winner) Ben Powell cites such greats as Martin Simpson and Pierre Bensusan as key influences behind his hypnotic original compositions.

ALISON BROWN

ELIZABETH COOK

MOLLIE O’BRIEN & RICH M

OORE

The Alison Brown Quartet and Anna Coogan

Elizabeth Cook and AJ Roach

Mollie O’Brien & Rich Moore and Ben Powell

AMERICANAAMERICANAAMERICANA

THE TRON THEATRE 55


WEDNESDAY 19TH JANUARY, 8PM THE TRON THEATRE, £12.50, SEATED

Part traditional balladeer, part nu-folk hero, Alasdair Roberts weaves potent new magic from ancient songs and myths, in a starkly beautiful, strikingly literate blend of reworked folk material and compelling original songs. His latest release, the rapturously received Too Long in This Condition, will be followed by another self-penned collection in 2011.

The radiantly uplifting sound of young Cameroonian singer, songwriter, guitarist and harmonica player Muntu Valdo, deftly incorporating live loops and sampling, reunites the African roots of blues, soul, funk and Latin music.

THURSDAY 20TH JANUARY, 8PM THE TRON THEATRE, £12.50, SEATED

First widely heard blazing out from the Bothy Band’s founding line-up, iconic uilleann piper Paddy Keenan’s flowing, open-fingered style and wild improvisational virtuosity represent a direct link with the travelling pipers’ traditions into which he was born. Given that his all-too-rare recordings feature pals like Paddy Glackin (whose own Celtic Connections gig happens to be the night after next…), expect his guests to be very special indeed. “In Irish music there are legends and legends and then there’s Paddy Keenan.” (John O’Regan)

FRIDAY 21ST JANUARY, 8PM THE TRON THEATRE, £12.50, SEATED

Originally staged to celebrate last summer’s 15th Hebridean Celtic Festival and the 25th anniversary of Lewis’s An Lanntair centre, Sèideadh a’ Chuain was aptly likened by one of its participants, Battlefield Band fiddler Alasdair White, to “black pudding for the ears”. White is joined by fellow Leòdhasach Norrie MacIver (Bodega), Calum Alex MacMillan (Dàimh), DC MacMillan (Face the West), piper James Mackenzie and dancer Jayne Macleod, for a programme of classic and contemporary material paying homage to the island’s rich piping traditions.

PADDY KEENAN

SÈIDEADH A’ CHUAIN

Alasdair Roberts with Muntu Valdo Paddy Keenan and Special Guests ‘Sèideadh a’ Chuain’ (Atlantic Blast)

ALASDAIR ROBERTS

MUNTU VALDO

TRADITIONALTRADITIONALFOLK / WORLD

THE TRON THEATRE56


SATURDAY 22ND JANUARY, 8PM THE TRON THEATRE, £12.50, SEATED

Uniting the instrumental talents and comic genius of Tim Dalling, Pete Chaloner and Jock Tyldesley, the New Rope String Band have delighted audiences from Borneo’s Sarawak rainforest to the Shetland Folk Festival, splicing circus, vaudeville, clowning and slapstick with sparkling acoustic sounds. From musical tennis to deconstructed nursery rhymes, Python-esque absurdism to pyrotechnics, expect the hilariously unexpected. “They made me laugh until I cried, and played some great music. If the Queen could knight them or something, it would be a good idea.” (Tim O’Brien)

The dynamic young folk/jazz five-piece Kilairum, all ex-students of St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh, won a Danny Kyle Open Stage Award in 2010.

SUNDAY 23RD JANUARY, 8PM THE TRON THEATRE, £12.50, SEATED

Born in Connemara to a Gaelic-speaking mother and an Egyptian father, Róisín Elsafty has collaborated with such leading Irish luminaries as Dónal Lunny, Sharon Shannon and Máirtín Ó Connor, in addition to her acclaimed solo album Má bhíonn tú liom bí liom: “A thing of beauty from beginning to end” (Irish Times). Her spellbinding voice is deeply rooted in ancient sean-nós traditions – traditions partly rooted, it’s been argued, in Moorish and North African singing, a connection stunningly rekindled in Elsafty’s unique sound.

All female trio Ingrid Henderson (clarsach) from Scotland, Irish Seosaimhín Ni Bheaglaoich (vocals), and Siân James (harp) from Wales are outstanding examples of their own, and a shared Celtic musical tradition.

THURSDAY 27TH JANUARY, 8PM THE TRON THEATRE, £12.50, SEATED

Back in January 2009, 19-year-old Glasgow singer-songwriter Tommy Reilly beat 50 other UK finalists to win Channel 4’s Orange Unsigned Act competition. Eighteen months later, he resoundingly defied such contests’ customary one-hit-wonder curse with the release of his second album, Hello! I’m Tommy Reilly, which saw him likened to such master songsmiths as Ben Folds, Damien Dempsey and Roddy Frame, as well as securing support slots with Justin Currie and The Proclaimers.

Galashiels’ favourite son Craig Jeffrey also got an early break through a talent contest or two, and likewise fulfilled that promise with the buoyant roots-pop of his full-length debut, Don’t Blow Away.

NEW ROPE STRING BAND

ELSAFTY, ARMSTRONG & BROW

NE

TOMMY REILLY

New Rope String Band and Kilairum Elsafty, Armstrong & Browne and Tìr Tommy Reilly and Craig Jeffrey

INDIESONGTRADITIONAL

THE MACCOLLECTIVE

57THE TRON THEATRE

TICKETS: 0141 353 8000

FRIDAY 28TH JANUARY, 8PM THE TRON THEATRE, £12.50, SEATED

The latest in a long family line of singers, dancers and fiddlers, young Cape Breton sisters Dawn and Margie Beaton continue to uphold the vital influence of both stepdancing and Gaelic within their native traditional music – even as they take it forward with varied accompaniment and fresh ensemble arrangements.

Nairn-born fiddler Rua Macmillan has continued to garner applause since winning the 2009 Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year contest, with high-profile performances from Cambridge Folk Festival to the St Louis Highland Games, and with his excellent 2010 debut album, Tyro. He’s joined tonight by guitarist Tia Files and Adam Brown on bodhran.

SATURDAY 29TH JANUARY, 8PM THE TRON THEATRE, £12.50, SEATED

The 2006 debut release from South Uist native Kathleen MacInnes, Og-mhadainn Shamhraidh (Summer Dawn), saw her instantly hailed as a radiant new star of contemporary Gaelic song, a consensus since affirmed by high-profile contributions to the award-winning Gaelic film Seachd, the Homecoming 2009 extravaganza Aisling’s Children, and Ridley Scott’s 2010 blockbuster Robin Hood. Previewing material from her eagerly-awaited second album, she’s joined by some of her favourite accompanists, including Iain MacDonald and Laoise Kelly.

Brilliant young Black Isle fiddler Lauren MacColl opens the show with regular team-mates Barry Reid and Mhairi Hall, creating spacious yet richly expressive arrangements of traditional and original material.

THE BEATON SISTERS

KATHLEEN MACINNES

The Beaton Sisters and Rua Macmillan Trio Kathleen MacInnes and The MacCollective

TRADITIONALTRADITIONAL

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BBC SCOTLAND PACIFIC QUAY58


MARY ANN KENNEDY’S GLOBAL GATHERING TUESDAY 18TH AND TUESDAY 25TH JANUARY, 8PM BBC SCOTLAND, PACIFIC QUAY, FREE BUT TICKETED

The very best of this year’s festival artists – from both home and abroad – play live in BBC Scotland’s headquarters on the River Clyde. Live on BBC Radio Scotland.

TRAVELLING FOLK THURSDAY 20TH AND THURSDAY 27TH JANUARY, 8PM BBC SCOTLAND, PACIFIC QUAY, FREE BUT TICKETED

Bruce MacGregor presents a special live show featuring some of the best music from this year’s festival, from BBC Scotland’s headquarters at Pacific Quay. Live on BBC Radio Scotland.

CULTURE CAFé – COMPLETELY BURNS TUESDAY 25TH JANUARY, 1.15PM BBC SCOTLAND, PACIFIC QUAY, FREE BUT TICKETED

Clare English presents a live showcase of Robert Burns’ poems and songs. To celebrate the completion of the BBC’s ambitious project to record The Complete Works of Robert Burns, some of Scotland’s best known actors, comedians and musicians perform and discuss his most celebrated works. Live on BBC Radio Scotland.

ANOTHER COUNTRY WITH RICKY ROSS FRIDAY 28TH JANUARY, 8PM BBC SCOTLAND, PACIFIC QUAY, FREE BUT TICKETED

Ricky Ross presents two hours of new and classic Americana and alternative country music, featuring live music and interviews from Celtic Connections 2011. Live on BBC Radio Scotland.

The festival is pleased to collaborate once again with our national radio station with six live shows coming from BBC Scotland’s headquarters at Pacific Quay.

BBC Scotland at the festivalBBC RADIO SCOTLAND 92-95FM & 810MW LIVE RADIO BROADCASTS TAKE THE FLOOR Saturday 29th January, 7pmPearce Institute, The MacLeod Hall, Free but ticketedJoin Robbie Shepherd for a live edition of BBC Radio Scotland’s longest running programme, Take The Floor. The show makes a welcome return to the 2011 festival. On stage and playing for the dancing will be The Reel Thing Ceilidh Band and we also enjoy the talents of some rather special guest artists. Live on BBC Radio Scotland.

BBC RADIO SCOTLAND YOUNG TRADITIONAL MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR Sunday 30th January, 5pm, City Halls, £12.50 Live coverage of the competition featuring six talented finalists, see page 36.

BBC RADIO 2 BBC Radio 2 will broadcast highlights of this year’s festival in

an hour long special presented by Ricky Ross.

BBC RADIO 3 BBC Radio 3’s World on 3 return for an extended four night residency live from Celtic Connections’ Late Night Sessions – see page 61 for details.

BBC SCOTLAND TV BBC Scotland will visit the Old Fruitmarket on Monday 24th January to record a special showcase programme featuring festival highlights for transmission on BBC Two Scotland, see page 22.

ONLINE All of BBC Scotland’s Celtic Connections coverage can be enjoyed online at:

bbc.co.uk/celticconnections

BBC Radio Scotland 92-95FM & 810MW Live Radio Broadcasts

TICKETS: 0141 353 8000

TALKS 59

FRIDAY 14TH JANUARY, 12.30PM The evergreen, Ian ‘Greentrax’ Green launches the series of talks reflecting on his autobiography Fuzz to Folk, Trax of My Life by Luath Press, with Ian McCalman.

MONDAY 17TH JANUARY, 12.30PM The big bank heist: Mary Craig, Chief Executive of the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland discusses the syn-drome called high banking.

TUESDAY 18TH JANUARY, 12.30PM Scottish Literature: Rodge Glass discusses writing past and present. An acclaimed writer in his own right, he also previously held the post of personal assistant to Alasdair Gray.

WEDNESDAY 19TH JANUARY, 12.30PM Rab Noakes and Senior BBC Music producer Stewart Cruickshank discuss the influence of Scottish songs and poetry on Bob Dylan.

THURSDAY 20TH JANUARY, 12.30PM Music and radio men: Mike Harding and singer Archie Fisher make a welcome return to the talks and debates to discuss Mike’s book: Strange Lights Over Bexleyheath.

MONDAY 24TH JANUARY, 12.30PM Bonnie Prince Charlie: A Life – The AftermathWarsaw based historian Peter Pininski’s new book sheds new light on the descendants of the pretender. Professor Murray Pittock of Glasgow University discusses the outcomes with Professor Richard Findlay, Strathclyde University.

TUESDAY 25TH JANUARY, 12.30PM The Scottish Review: Journalist Kenneth Roy discusses the big issues with Robert Black QC.

WEDNESDAY 26TH JANUARY, 12.30PM Integral early member of the Fence Collective, singer songwriter James Yorkston discusses his second tour diary book due to be released in 2011, It’s Lovely To Be Here.

THURSDAY 27TH JANUARY, 12.30PM Two of the principal modern interpreters of the ballad singing tradition Elizabeth Stewart and Alison McMorland discuss their latest project together.

BBC Radio Scotland’s Iain Anderson hosts an eclectic mix of local figures for a lunchtime blether, weekdays in the Exhibition Hall.

Can’t make it along to one of the talks? Listen live on Celtic Music Radio on 1530AM or online at: www.celticmusicradio.net

Tickets £5

IAIN ANDERSON IN CONVERSATION

IAIN ANDERSON

‘GLESAMERICANA NIGHT’ WITH THE MOONSHINERS AND CAHOOTS WEDNESDAY 19TH JANUARY, 8PMFour-piece bluegrass band, The Moonshiners play traditional and modern bluegrass mixed with innovative tunes, including original compositions. Their set includes a broad spectrum of ballads, driving instrumentals and songs. The line-up is completed by country rock band Cahoots featuring John McMeekin, regulars at The Clutha.

TONIGHT AT NOON AND THE STARS BAND SATURDAY 22ND JANUARY, 8PM Known for being one of the pioneering folk crossover bands in the 80s, Tonight at Noon are joined by folk club favourites The Stars Band.

SYLVIA BARNES & SANDY STANAGE AND HUTTON, WATSON AND SOMERVILLE SUNDAY 23RD JANUARY, 8PMRenowned duo Sylvia Barnes and Sandy Stanage share tonight’s bill with the young multi-talented trio of Ali Hutton, Innes Watson and John Somerville, best known for their adventures with the Treacherous Orchestra.

THE CLUTHA WITH SIOBHAN AND BRIAN MILLER TUESDAY 25TH JANUARY, 8PMTalented young Scottish traditional singer Siobhan Miller teams up with her dad, Brian. Known for her duo with Jeana Leslie, together they won the prestigious BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award in 2008.

GLASGOW ART CLUB60


Celtic Connections will turn the characteristic Glasgow Art Club into a typical folk club celebrating the best of the Scottish folk scene.

MC for four of the events will be one of Scotland’s finest interpreters of traditional song, Mick West.

Glasgow Art Club, Bath Street, £10, Seated

GLASGOW ART CLUB A’ toirt thugaibh Celtic Connections 2011 Celtic Connections 2011 – on BBC ALBASky168 Freesat 110 www.bbc.co.uk/iplayerBBC ALBA has developed a reputation for its quality coverage of the traditional and Gaelic music scene in Scotland, and our programming from the 2011 Celtic Connections Festival continues that commitment. BBC ALBA is delighted to be televising some of the very best of the festival.

Tha BBC ALBA ga ruith le MG ALBA ann an co-bhanntachd leis a’ BhBC. Airson barrachd fiosrachaidh faic www.mgalba.com

COLIN FARRELLGLASGOW

ART CLUB

THURSDAY 27TH JANUARY, 8PMBBC ALBA in association with TG4 presents a night with some of the finest artists from Scotland and Ireland in intimate, acoustic sessions. The line-up includes a Celtic Connections debut for Na Seudan Òg, some of the youngest but most exciting Gaelic singers breaking onto the scene, and talented fiddler Colin Farrell fresh from recording his first solo album On The Move, produced by Michael McGoldrick.

FRIDAY 28TH JANUARY, 8PMBBC ALBA in association with TG4 stages the second night of music from some specially selected artists from Scotland and Ireland. Playing a special acoustic session is the sensational Gerry ‘banjo’ O’Connor with his quartet and completing the line-up will be some special guests including Na Seudan Òg.

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THE FESTIVAL CLUB FRIDAYS, SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS THROUGHOUT THE FESTIVAL, 10PM – LATE THE ART SCHOOL, £8

Our late night club ensures that there is even more music to enjoy after all the gigs are over. With inspired line-ups that are never divulged before the night – the Festival Club draws musicians and fans alike for a late-night jam session to end all jam sessions.

Sparkling host Kevin Macleod will guide you through proceedings with Doris Rougvie in the House of Song – and you never know who you’ll bump into as you join the throngs in the bar.

LATE NIGHT SESSIONS EVERY NIGHT DURING THE FESTIVAL, 10PM – LATE EXHIBITION HALL, GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL £5 (HOWEVER ENTRY WILL BE FREE ON 17TH, 18TH, 19TH AND 24TH JANUARY – GET THERE EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT!)

For a more intimate evening during the festival, enjoy our Late Night Sessions taking place in the Exhibition Hall at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Featuring just as many great musicians as the main Festival Club, the bar will be open late and you can be assured of many a memorable moment.

Following the huge success of BBC Radio 3’s World on 3 broadcasts at the previous two festivals, World on 3 returns for an extended four-night residency live from Late Night Sessions. Presented by Mary Ann Kennedy, the shows will feature a top line-up of festival artists performing live as well as recorded highlights of the 2011 festival, broadcast between Tuesday 25th – Friday 28th January.

SUNDAY 16TH JANUARY, 1PM THE NATIONAL PIPING CENTRE, £8, SEATED (UNRESERVED)

Perthshire piper Gordon Duncan was widely regarded as one of the most skilled and innovative traditional music performers and composers of modern times. While steeped in the art of traditional Highland piping, his approach to his music was always imaginative, fresh and at times radical, to the extent that his influence

can be heard in an entire generation of younger musicians across Scotland and well beyond. Gordon died in December 2005, aged 41. This competition, set up in his honour, features piping talent from the Scottish, Irish and Breton traditions.

Representing Scotland are pipers Chris Armstrong, Allan MacDonald and Cameron Drummond with judges Ian Duncan and Jimmy Banks.

The Breton contingent comprises pipers Alexis Meunier, Sylvain Hamon and Xavier Boderiou and judges Hervé Le Floch and Patrick Molard.

Irish pipers include Andrea Boyd, Robert Watt and Ryan Canning, with judges Lenny Browne and Willy Garret.

MC for the afternoon is John Wilson and the prizes will be presented by Jock Duncan, Gordon’s father.

The Gordon Duncan Trophy has been donated by McCallum Bagpipes, Kilmarnock.

Gordon Duncan Memorial Solo Piping Competition run in association with Piping Live!

GORDON DUNCAN

WORKSHOPS Our workshop programme is designed to inspire people of all ability levels to get involved in traditional music and song.

Please book early to avoid disappointment as numbers are limited. The rough guide to ability levels:

COME&TRY If you have always wanted to have a go but have

never had the opportunity! Instruments are provided.

BEGINNERS Those who have just started learning an instrument.

IMPROVERS If you have been playing your instrument for

about a year and are ready for the next level.

This year we have a collection of musical villages starting with the Fiddle Village right in the middle of the festival. This event will not cater for complete beginners.

The Harp Village at the very end of the festival will have four amazing harp players who recently performed at the Cromarty Harp Village. These workshops are designed for improving beginners but Intermediates can also be catered for. Email [email protected] if you have any questions about ability levels or any other aspect of the workshop programme.

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SATURDAY 15TH JANUARYCOME&TRY HARMONY SINGING This workshop with Corrina Hewat will start with some simple warm ups for the voice concentrating on the simpler, shorter and quicker to learn songs that bring instant rewards and maximum fun. This workshop has proved to be very popular with new and experienced singers alike. Here’s an opportunity to sing your socks off while gaining confidence in finding harmonies. 11am-12.30pm / £7 / Exhibition Hall

COME&TRY FIDDLE Tutors from the Glasgow Fiddle Workshop will have instruments on hand to let you have a go at taking the very first steps to learning the fiddle. Learn the basics - how to hold the instrument and bow and learn a simple tune. This could be the start of a wonderful musical journey for you. This workshop is aimed at people who have never tried the instrument before. 11am-12.30pm / £7 / Clyde Foyer

KIDS’ PERCUSSION WORKSHOP FOR WEE ONES Big Groove will lead a terrific percussion workshop for children aged 4-7 years: a groovy introduction for wee ones to explore and enjoy their natural sense of rhythm. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Adults are free. 11-11.45am / £4 / Lomond Foyer

KIDS’ PERCUSSION WORKSHOP Specially designed for children aged 8-12 years, Big Groove will guide children through simple and fun rhythms with samba instruments. Children must be accompanied by an adult and numbers are strictly limited. Adults are free. 12-12.45pm / £4 / Lomond Foyer

FAMILY PERCUSSION WORKSHOP Big Groove will continue the day of percussion with a workshop aimed at adults and older children to explore the fascinating rhythms of samba. Have you got your own inner drummer? Find it and let it loose in this fun packed workshop. 1.30-3pm / £7 adults and £4 children (up to 16) / Lomond Foyer

ALREADY HARMONY This workshop will consist of some good time warm ups, some fun simple songs that are instantly harmonious and also more complex pieces in several parts that offer the opportunity for a good sing. No need to read music, just bring a voice and a smile and you will be amazed at the sound the group produces under the skillful guidance of Corrina Hewat. 1.30-3pm / £7 / Exhibition Hall

BEGINNER FIDDLE If you have been learning the fiddle for at least six months or if you used to play and haven’t picked one up for years, why not freshen up your skills with tutors from Glasgow Fiddle Workshop. GFW run regular classes through the year and always welcome new members. No music reading is necessary and instruments will be supplied. 1.30-3pm / £7 / Clyde Foyer

LEARN TO PLAY THE SMALL PIPES IN A DAY This workshop sounds completely impossible, but under the expert guidance of Dave Shaw, you really will learn to play in a day. You will learn the use of bellows, blowing and fingering and tuning of drones. You will learn a relatively simple but melodic tune over the course of the day, generally a jig or a Northumbrian reel. Numbers are strictly limited and pipes are provided. Over 14s and complete beginners only please. 11am-4pm / £35 / Buchanan Suite

SUNDAY 16TH JANUARYCOME&TRY SHAPE NOTE SINGINGThis gutsy American folk hymn style is accessible to all and a lot of fun to sing. Ability to read music is not essential nor is a particularly good voice, just a positive enthusiastic curiosity about this style of group singing. Tim Eriksen, who has performed with Cordelia’s Dad and on the Cold Mountain soundtrack will teach some great songs and explain their fascinating background. 11am-12.30pm / £7 / Exhibition Hall

COME&TRY BODHRAN If you have always wanted to play this iconic instrument, Andy May will show you the basics. He is a well known performer and tutor of the bodhran and he will teach his students how to achieve good basic rhythms so that you will be able to accompany tunes. Drums and beaters are provided – all you need is a sense of rhythm. 11am-12.30pm / £7 / Clyde Foyer

KIDS’ PERCUSSION WORKSHOP FOR WEE ONES Big Groove will lead another percussion workshop for children aged 4-7 years: young children have a natural ability for percussion and a natural sense of rhythm. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Adults are free. 11-11.45am / £4 / Lomond Foyer

KIDS’ PERCUSSION WORKSHOP Specially designed for children aged 8-12 years, Big Groove will guide children through simple, fun rhythms with samba instruments. Children must be accompanied by an adult and numbers are strictly limited. Adults are free. 12-12.45pm / £4 / Lomond Foyer

WOMEN’S SAMBA WORKSHOP Perfect therapy for a Sunday afternoon! Get ready for the week ahead with a wonderful tension releasing class of samba drumming. Big Groove designed this workshop specifically for women to liberate their inner percussionist. Samba rhythms are energising, invigorating and utterly empowering! Lots of fun and laughter guaranteed! 1.30-3pm / £7 / Lomond Foyer

BEGINNER BODHRAN This workshop is for people who have started learning the instrument. Please bring your own instrument and Andy May will take your playing to another level. Learn about the subtleties of this fine accompanying instrument and you and your drum will be warmly welcomed at every session from now on. 1.30-3pm / £7 / Clyde Foyer

WORKSHOPS 63

COME&TRY GOSPEL SINGINGWhat a splendidly exhilarating activity for a Sunday morning. Feel the freedom and experience the excitement of Gospel Singing in this session led by Tracey Braithwaite and Chris Judge from the Gospel Truth Choir. Complete beginners are very welcome as are those with more singing experience. 1.30-3pm / £7 / Exhibition Hall

LEARN TO PLAY THE IRISH PIPES IN A DAY This instrument has a reputation for being difficult to learn but in the skilled hands of Dave Shaw, piper and pipe maker from North Durham, you will find that you too can learn this sweet instrument in just one day. Pipes are supplied. Over 14s and complete beginners only please. 11am-4pm / £35 / Buchanan Suite

SATURDAY 22ND JANUARYLULLABIES WORKSHOP Chrissie Stewart will lead this workshop - beautiful songs for winding down. Although lullabies are essential singing for parents of wee darlings, you don’t need to be a parent to learn some of Scotland’s great heritage of sleepy time songs. Warning: at this stage in the festival, this workshop could be dangerous for very tired people. 11am-12.30pm / £7 (babies free) / Buchanan Suite

COME&TRY MANDOLIN The Lanarkshire Guitar and Mandolin Association makes a welcome return with an invitation to come and try this versatile instrument. Tutors have loads of instruments and boundless energy and enthusiasm – it’s absolutely infectious! Come and have a go and start a wonderful musical journey! 11am-12.30pm / £7 / Lomond Foyer

COME&TRY UKULELE The ukulele is Hawaiian for Jumping Flea and if you were lucky enough to get one in your Christmas stocking (mine’s yellow, what’s yours?) and you have no idea what to do with it, this is the workshop for you! Even if you don’t have your own, come and try this marvellous and versatile little instrument. Lots of ukes will be provided by GFW and Finlay Allison will lead you through some basic chords and rhythms. Be warned – life as you know it could change dramatically! 11am-12.30pm / £7 / Clyde Foyer

BEGINNER UKULELE Here’s an opportunity for learners of this great wee instrument to extend your skills. Finlay Allison is one of Glasgow Fiddle Workshop’s regular tutors and delights in teaching his students tunes and melodies on this beautiful instrument. His skill and expertise will have you strumming along with some great classics. You will be astonished at the progress you make during this workshop. 1.30-3pm / £7 / Clyde Foyer

COME&TRY WHISTLE Lorne MacDougall is a fine young piper and whistle player from Carradale in Argyll and is in the finals of this year’s BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year competition. He will demonstrate and teach easy whistle tunes for absolute beginners in this fun workshop. Whistles in the key of D will be provided but bring your own if you have one. 1.30-3pm / £7 / Lomond Foyer

SINGIN’ ON YOUR MAMMY’S KNEE This workshop is for adults caring for young children ie: parents, childminders, play-leaders and grannies too! Lots of dandling songs, action songs and singing games for under 5s. Grown ups must attend and be prepared for lots of bouncing children on their knees. Chrissie Stewart will teach lots of old favourites and new songs all interactive and providing an insight into the developmental and social benefits of singing with young children. And it’s fun and mushy too. I’m afraid we cannot provide children for bouncing – you must bring your own! 1.30-3pm / £7 (toddlers free) / Buchanan Suite

SUNDAY 23RD JANUARYBEGINNER ACCORDION If you have your own accordion and have recently started learning, this is the workshop for you. You will have the opportunity to develop your techniques and skills with one of GFW’s skilled tutors. You can’t beat the accordion for getting toes tapping so come and learn some new tunes. 11am-12.30pm / £7 / Lomond Foyer

BEGINNER WHISTLE If you are in the early stages of learning the whistle, why not come along to this workshop and extend your skills. You will learn some new tunes and develop your playing techniques. Lorne MacDougall will give you a good grounding in whistle techniques concentrating on the Scottish style of playing. Whistles in the key of D will be provided but bring your own if you have one. 11am-12.30pm / £7 / Clyde Foyer

OPENING YOUR VOICE 1If you think you may have a singing voice tucked away somewhere but have never been able to find it, this workshop is for you. Harriet Buchan is an inspiring vocal tutor who will find the voice you’ve always looked for through various techniques including relaxation and vocal exercises. This workshop is not about learning songs but finding your very own voice. Harriet is an inspirational tutor and has worked her magic with singers all over the world. 11am-12.30pm / £7 / Buchanan Suite

COME&TRY MANDOLIN Here’s another opportunity to have a go on this great little instrument. The Lanarkshire Guitar and Mandolin Association bring lots of instruments and tutors to start you off. You will learn some basic chords and fingering and who knows where it will lead. 1.30-3pm / £7 / Lomond Foyer

WHISTLE FOR PLAYERS The whistle and the low whistle have become increasingly popular in traditional music over recent years. Bring your own instrument and you will learn techniques to improve and develop your playing with ornamentation in the Scottish style. Low whistle players are welcome to this workshop to improve their technique and learn some new tunes with Lorne MacDougall. 1.30-3pm / £7 / Clyde Foyer

OPENING YOUR VOICE 2 You will be encouraged to explore and develop your own voice using instruments from Harriet Buchan’s international travels. This workshop is not about learning songs but exploring how to use and develop your voice. Harriet will introduce methods to improve your overall sound and make singing feel more natural to you. You will surprise yourself with the voice you will find. 1.30-3pm / £7 / Buchanan Suite

In partnership with:

WORKSHOPS64

A BIG SING Gillian Frame - a singer and fiddler from Arran, best known for her work with Back of the Moon and Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers, is now one of the founding members of the Hidden Lane Choir - a women’s choir singing a range of contemporary pop through to traditional material. With her distinctive style and range of influences, this workshop is sure to be great fun with a choice of well-known songs for all ability levels. And not just for women either! 1.30-3pm / £7 / Exhibition Hall

MANDOLIN FOR PLAYERS The Lanarkshire Guitar and Mandolin Association will be providing tutors to take students to a higher level of skill with their instrument. Can you play a march up to speed? Here’s a workshop to improve your melody and rhythm skills. You can even join a mandolin orchestra! How can you resist? 1.30-3pm / £7 / Clyde Foyer

COME&TRY SPOONS Eddie Scott, from Eigg, will lead this cacophony of spoon players and cutlery rattlers. This is the ideal instrument to take to a party – just whip them out and get involved in the session and the music will reverberate with the clattering rhythmic sounds. Some spoons will be provided, but if you have a favourite set bring them along to this authentic Eigg and Spoons Workshop. Silver ones make the best sound! 1.30-3pm / £7 / Buchanan Suite

SUNDAY 30TH JANUARYCOME&TRY BURNS SONGS Join Alison Burns on an excursion in song back to 18th century Scotland through some of Robert Burns’ well loved songs arranged in easy harmony parts. Alison will inspire you to get singing some of the Bards most beautiful and melodic songs. This workshop is for people who have always wanted to try harmony singing but have little or no experience. 11am-12.30pm / £7 / Exhibition Hall

COME&TRY UKULELE Due to the popularity of this workshop, you have another opportunity to have a go at the uke. GFW will bring the instruments, Finlay Allison brings his charm and expertise and all you have to do is bring yourself and curiosity to learn more about this friendly little instrument. Don’t leave it till next year - come and be UKED! 11am-12.30pm / £7 / Clyde Foyer

COME&TRY GAELIC SINGING Gold medal winner and Young Traditional Musician of the Year finalist and all round Mr Nice Guy, Darren Maclean is a naturally gifted young singer from Skye. He will share his love of Gaelic singing with you and inspire you to learn more. Absolutely no knowledge of Gaelic is necessary for this enjoyable workshop. 11am-12.30pm / £7 / Buchanan Suite

HARP VILLAGE: TRISTAN’S WORKSHOP FOR IMPROVING BEGINNERS Tristan Le Govic, from Brittany will teach simple melodies with basic left hand harmonies in different styles. Basic technique will be worked on. Music will be available for those who are readers, but most work will be taught by ear. Tristan is a gifted tutor and will inspire all his harping students to develop their skills. Slow airs, dance tunes, marches - the Breton traditional music repertoire is full of beautiful pieces suitable to be performed on the harp. After learning a tune we will see how to arrange it and add variations and ornamentations. 11am-12.30pm / £7 / Lomond Foyer

UKULELE FOR IMPROVERS This workshop is for those people who have been caught by the ukulele bug and want to know lots more about chords and chord shapes. There’s something very satisfying about massed ukuleles so come along and join in the fun with Finlay Allison. If you have your own instrument, bring it along but we will have spares. This is your last chance in the festival so don’t miss it. 1.30-3pm / £7 / Clyde Foyer

HARP VILLAGE: MARY’S SCOTTISH HARP WORKSHOP Mary Macmaster will teach Scottish tunes which demonstrate different types of melody, mood and style. You will cover varied decorating techniques and learn to be confident with basic harmony and variation. This workshop will give you the opportunity to learn some Scottish airs, dance tunes and accompaniments arranged to suit players at beginners/elementary level. The workshop will be taught by ear with music given out at the end. 1.30-3pm / £7 / Lomond Foyer

HARMONY WORKSHOP - SONGS FROM ARCHIVES Alison Burns who leads the acclaimed Feral Choir in Dumfries and Galloway is a writer and arranger for choirs. She is very well known for her uplifting harmonies and easy teaching style. In this harmony singing workshop she will be teaching songs gleaned from research in various traditional song collections around Britain. She will also be demonstrating how to bring long forgotten songs back to life with harmonies and rhythm. 1.30-3pm / £7 / Exhibition Hall

GAELIC SONG Darren Maclean will lead a further workshop for those people who want to learn Gaelic song in more depth. Some familiarity with Gaelic would be an advantage, but don’t be put off if you have no Gaelic. All are welcome and Darren will teach you some lovely songs from the Isles.1.30-3pm / £7 / Buchanan Suite

SATURDAY 29TH JANUARYBIG GROUPWORK This is a really big magical session of great tunes played at a reasonable speed. This workshop is designed for people who are currently learning and can already play an instrument. Perhaps you don’t often have the opportunity to join in a session or maybe don’t have the confidence yet to just join in. Here it is then, on the last weekend of this big marvellous festival, let’s celebrate with a great big huge session in the Exhibition Hall with tutors from Glasgow Fiddle Workshop. This group work session is for fiddles, mandolins, accordions, whistles, harps, ukuleles and bodhrans. With some easy session tunes for people who are just learning their instruments, this workshop will be a lot of fun! 11am-12.30pm / £7 / Exhibition Hall

BODHRAN FOR PLAYERS Andy May will show you how to expand your repertoire of rhythms and make real progress with your playing. This workshop is for players who can play jigs, and reels at real reel time and want to develop their own individual style. Please bring your own bodhran. 11am-12.30pm / £7 / Buchanan Suite

BEGINNER MANDOLIN Have you been bitten by the mandolin bug yet? The Lanarkshire Guitar and Mandolin Association is on a mission to get us all playing this great wee instrument. Fiddlers and guitar players will find that mandolin rhythm skills complement their own techniques and styles. Instruments and excellent tuition will be provided. 11am-12.30pm / £7 / Clyde Foyer

HARP VILLAGE: CORRINA’S ACCOMPANYING AND ARRANGING WORKSHOP This will be a class for all of you who would like to accompany singing, or start out in arranging tunes. Corrina Hewat will teach you different shapes of chords you can play with both hands and what you can do to make your accompaniment more interesting in terms of rhythm and technique. We will look at what chords are and how you can get your fingers round them. Notes will be given to take away. 11am-12.30pm / £7 / Lomond Foyer

HARP VILLAGE: LAOISE’S IRISH WORKSHOP This class is intended for beginner and elementary players who have an interest in looking at traditional Irish music on the harp. Along with learning a number of traditional tunes by ear, (music will be given as a guide to those who wish it) Laoise Kelly will teach basic ideas for accompaniments. We will look at ornamental possibilities and some basic ideas for accompaniments. Technique is a big subject for those starting the harp, so time will be spent explaining how to execute ornaments and phrasing in the best way through understanding the techniques behind it. 1.30-3pm / £7 / Lomond Foyer

65

EMILY SM

ITH

GILLIAN BOUCHER

THE HALTON QUARTET

SAMPLE SHOWCASE SCOTLANDWhile the delegates generally spend their time scurrying frantically between different venues, our Showcase Scotland show on 27th January in the Old Fruitmarket (page 24) offers you the chance to sample a wide range of Showcase acts in a rather more relaxed style.

“SHOWCASE SCOTLAND PROVIDES A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE THE BEST ESTABLISHED AND UP AND COMING SCOTTISH FOLK ARTISTS AND ALSO TO MEET AND DISCUSS IDEAS WITH THE LEADING PROMOTERS OF CELTIC MUSIC FROM AROUND THE WORLD.”

Eddie Barcan, Cambridge Folk Festival

Approaching its 12th year, Showcase Scotland has become the nation’s largest international gathering of the music industry. Taking place at Celtic Connections over the final weekend it features an extensive range of home-grown acts, and is attended by over 200 international music-industry delegates, representing over 25 countries.

THURSDAY 27TH TO SUNDAY 30TH JANUARY

The Fiddle Village: Trad Strings Weekend Masterclass with Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas SATURDAY 22ND AND SUNDAY 23RD JANUARY 10.15AM-3PM £55 WEEKEND TICKET

Fraser & Haas will hold a special two day Trad Music Workshop/Masterclass for intermediate to advanced string players (fiddle, viola, cello and bass) based on the fiddle music of Scotland and beyond.

The goal is to explore playing traditional music in a group, with emphasis on arrangement ideas and the techniques that give traditional music its particular flavour. We will look at the elements of language and dance and how to put fiddle tunes together to form a medley or a larger piece of music.

Space is limited – advance booking essential for an unforgettable experience!

For information contact: [email protected] phone 01349 877434.

.

ALASDAIR FRASER AND NATALIE HAAS

ARTIST A – Z66

AAcoustic Butterfly 45Aerials Up 45Ainslie, Ross 8Alison Brown Quartet, The 34, 54Allen, Sarah 16Allison, Finlay 63, 64Allison, Rachel 48Andy Irvine & John Doyle 30Anderson, Iain 59Angus Nicolson Band 49Armstrong, Craig 24Atlantic Seaway, The 32

BBailey, Roy 53Bain, Aly 17Banda das Crechas 51Barenberg, Russ 17Barge, Jérôme 27Barker, Sally 20, 24Barnes, Sylvia 60Barrie, Ruth 32BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra 34Beaton Sisters, The 57Beaton, Dawn 57Beaton, Margie 57Big Groove 62Big Orkney Song Project, The 52Bird, Wallis 21Blanco, Leo 27Blazin' Fiddles 13Blind Boys of Alabama, The 14BMx Bandits 48Boclé, Gildas 27Boclé, Jean-Baptiste 27Boden, Jon 34Borders Tunesmiths 29

Boucher, Gillian 41, 65Boy Who Trapped The Sun, The 38Brady, Paul 17Bramley, Kate 31Brennan, Moya 35Broken Records 19Brown, Adam 57Brown, Barnaby 43Brown, Colin 40Browne, Ronan 43Bryan, Mike 27Bryden, Nell 15, 34Buchan, Harriet 63Bulley, Adam 24Burns Unit, The 19Burns, Alison 64Byrne, Steve 30Butler, Cara 9Byrne, Steve 29, 30Byrne, Tony 41

CCahoots 60Callaghan, Paddy 32Campbell, Kenna 51Campbell, Ruaridh 24Campbell, Seumas 51Campbells, The 51Cantrell, Laura 15Carr, Ian 37Carroll, Liz 27Carter, Sam 31Carthy, Martin 21Cash, Rosanne 15, 36Chaimbeul, Mairi 32, 36Chaloner, Pete 56Chaurasia, Rakesh 8Chester, Joe 16Chisholm, Duncan 26, 30

Ciorras 49Clark, Liz 65Cleveland, Ashley 17, 44Clutha, The 60Coogan, Anna 54Cook, Elizabeth 54Coope, Boyes & Simpson 28Cornish, Alex 39Cosker, Alyn 27Craig, Mary 59Creole Choir of Cuba, The 36Cromarty, Brian 34Crooked Still 40Cruikshank, Stewart 59Cumming, Jenna 8

Cunningham, Phil11, 14, 17, 20, 26, 41

Curl, Aimee 23Curran, Amelia 53Currie, Justin 40

DDaibhidh, Martin 43Dàimh 42Dalla 48Dalling, Tim 56De Dannan 34Deventer, David Van 23Dièse 3 44DiFranco, Ani 21, 39DJ Dolphin Boy 24Doghouse Roses 42Douglas, Jerry 17Doyle, John 9, 17, 27, 30Drever, Kris 15, 32

Drum Corps from the Boghall & Bathgate Pipe Band

8

Duncan, Jock 26Dunlop, Joy 51

Dutta, Prakriti 43

EEarle, Justin Townes 48Edey, Tim 28Egan, Seamus 27English, Clare 58Epping, Rick 51Eriksen, Tim 50

FFagan, James 53Farrell, Colin 60Fía na Roca 38Fiddlers' Bid 10Fife Constabulary Pipe Band 9Fifield, Fraser 32, 40Files, Tia 57

Findlay Napier and The Bar Room Mountaineers

39

Findlay, Professor Richard 59First Charge of the Light Brigade 45Fisherman's Friends 16Ford, David 44FOUND 24Fowlis, Julie 13, 17, 26, 35Fox Hunt, The 26Fox, Kate 31Frame, Gillian 49, 64Fraser, Alasdair 13, 30, 51, 65Fraser, Iain 29Freeman, Dr Fred 30Furnace Mountain 23Future Pilot AKA 24Future Pilot Indian Pop Art Orkestra 24Future Trad Collective 24

GGarrie, Nick 48


ARTIST A – Z 67

Gaughan, Dick 20, 46, 53Gavin, Frankie 28, 34Gerry O'Connor Quartet 41Giant Sand 38Gibbon, Sarah Jane 52Gillian Frame and Fiona MacAskill 49Gilmore, Thea 15Glackins, The 35Glasgow Fiddle Workshop, The 62,63Glass, Rodge 59Grant Lee Buffalo 18Grant, Aonghas 30Grant, James 10, 15Grant, John 53Green Fields of America 9Green, Ian 59Green, Mairearad 20, 27, 35Green, Martin 24Greenberg, Kenny 17

HHaas, Natalie 13, 51, 64, 65Hall, Mhairi 34Halton Quartet, The 24, 65Hamish Napier Quintet 37Harding, Mike 59Harvey, Kristan 36Harvey, Matt 31Harvey, Naomi 20, 43Hay, Donald 20Hayes, Gemma 15Healy, Fran 25Heathers 40Henderson, Allan 14, 30Henderson, Ewen 38Henrik Jansberg Band 44Henry Girls, The 26

Hewat, Corrina25, 31, 35,

62, 64

Hewerdine, Boo 31, 32Hidden Orchestra 24Hodgson, Alex 37Horslips 19Humbert Humbert 10, 39Hunter, Fiona 29Hussain, Zakir 8Hutton, Ali 27, 60Hutton, Watson and Somerville 60

IInnes, Gary 14, 38Irvine, Andy 30

JJackson, Billy 52

Jah Wobble and the Nippon Dub Ensemble

44

Jansberg, Henrik 44Jeana Leslie & Siobhan Miller 30Jeffrey, Craig 56Jerome, Michael 15Jerry Douglas Trio 40Jones, Malcolm 38Jordan, Cathy 51Joy Kills Sorrow 21, 39Julie Fowlis Band 13Junkera, Kepa 12

KKeenan, Paddy 55Kelly, John Joe 8Keltic Tales 27Kennedy, Brian 34Kennedy, Mary Ann 51, 58, 61Kennedy, Nuala 21Kennedy, Wilma 51Kerr, Nancy 53Kilairum 56

Kim, Katie 16Kimble, Paul 18Kliphuis, Tim 28Knicely, Danny 23Koshka 28Kumaresh 8

LLakeman, Seth 16Laki Mera 47

Lanarkshire Guitar & Mandolin Association

63, 64

Lau 32, 40LaVette, Bettye 14Lawson, Greg 30Le Bars, Ronan 27Lee, Sam 49Leioa Kantika Korala 12Leonard, Aimee 52Leslie, Jeana 30Leventhal, John 36Levy, Yasmin 11Lewis, Sharon 21Ligonniére, Archibald 27Lo, Cheikh 18Lorenzo, Anxo 42Lori Watson and Rule of Three 29Love and Money 10Lowe, Jez 31Lowthian, Ian 29Lucy Pringle & Chris Wright 52Lunny, Manus 35, 41Lurach 28Lyall, Duncan 27Lyon, Angus 24, 32LYY 29

MMabon 46

MacAllister, Archie 14MacAskill, Fiona 49MacColl, Lauren 35MacCollective, The 57MacCorquodale, Calum Iain 38MacCrimmon, Calum 44MacCuish, Alasdair 14MacDonald, Alistair 24MacDonald, Allan 26, 52MacDonald, Fergie 14MacDonald, Finlay 48Macdonald, Maggie 51

MacDougall, Lorne32, 36, 41,

46, 51

MacFarlane, Iain 30MacGowan, Shane 22MacGregor, Bruce 30, 58Macgregor, Jimmie 50MacInnes, Fraser 14MacInnes, Kathleen 43, 57MacIntyre, Douglas 10MacIver, Norrie 38, 41, 55Mackay, Scott 38Mackenzie, Eilidh 48Mackenzie, James 55Mackinnon, Maeve 20Mackintosh, James 17MacLean, Darren 13MacLean, Dougie 12MacLeod, Alasdair 14Macleod, Jayne 55Macleod, Kevin 61Macmaster, Mary 20Macmillan, Rua 32, 57MacMillan, Calum Alex 13, 55MacMillan, DC 55MacNeil, Tracey Dares 27MacPhee, Catherine-Ann 13, 43MacPherson, Ewan 20


ARTIST A – Z68

Mairearad and Anna 27Malinky 29Malo, Raul 42Mama Rosin 21Mànran 38Man's Ruin 44Margail, Blaise 16Marra, Michael 28, 34Martin, Paul 45Martin, Ronan 35

Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives

45

Massie, Anna 27, 32Matheson, Karen 11, 26Matthews, Julie 31, 37May, Andy 62May, Imelda 22McCalman, Ian 20, 59McComiskey, Billy 9, 27McCormack, Alyth 9McCulloch, Gordeanna 30McCulloch, Jim 48McCusker, John 17McFadyen, Sarah 32McGeechan, Paul 10McGoldrick, Michael 8, 17, 24McGonagall, Elvis 31McIntyre, Geordie 30McKay, Catriona 24McKenzie, Chas 24McKerron, Charlie 8, 14, 28McLennan, Ewan 52McLeod, Rory 31, 37, 53McMenemy, Jamie 37McMorland, Alison 26, 30, 59McNaughtan, Adam 30Mellon, Andy 31Mick West Band 24, 57Mid Argyll Pipe Band 40

Miller, Brian 60Miller, Siobhan 20, 30, 60Milligan, David 25Mitchell, Anaïs 21Moishe's Bagel 11Moldestad, Sigrid 41Molleson, Conrad 20Montgomery, Douglas 34Mooney, Gordon 29Mooney, Shona 29Moonshiners, The 60Moore, PJ 24Moore, Rich 54Moorer, Allison 17Morran, John 30Morrison, Iain 21, 39, 43Morrison, Morgan 23Mountain Stage 12Mulhearn, John 43Mundy 22Mystery Juice 42

NNa Seudan Òg 60Napier, Findlay 39

National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland, The

9

New Rope String Band 56Newton, Rachel 35Ní Dhomhnaill, Tríona 35Ní Dhomhnaill, Maighread 35Ní Mhaonaigh, Mairéad 35Niebla, Eduardo 37Noakes, Rab 15, 59Norrie MacIver and Ruairi Sutherland 41Notman, Ruth 31

OÓ hEadhra, Brian 43

O’Connor, Gerry 41O’Rourke, Declan 49O'Brien, Mollie 54O'Brien, Tim 15, 17, 23O'Connell, Robbie 9O'Connor, Fiach 41O'Dowd, Seamus 51O'Dwyer, Simon 52Ogilvy, Alistair 36Old Dance School, The 31Old Man Luedecke 25OqueStrada 18Orkestra del Sol 42Orr, Tom 14Otros Aires 20

PPastels, The 24Paterson, Rod 30Paul McKenna Band, The 22Peters, Joey 18Phillips, Grant-Lee 18Phillips, Hannah 32Pilatzke, Jon and Nathan 9Pittock, Professor Murray 59Plaskett, Joel 25Polwart, Karine 20, 32, 53Poozies, The 24Portman, Emily 47Powell, Ben 54Powell, Dirk 17Primrose, Neil 40Pringle, Lucy 52, 57Prodaniuk, Taras 15Purser, John 52

QQuebe Sisters Band, The 10, 50Queen, Monica 10

RRandolph's Leap 48Random Aspekts 40Rateliff, Nathaniel 36Rattray, Dave 32Reader, Eddi 11Red Hot Chilli Pipers 41Redman, Ben 29Reel Thing Ceilidh Band, The 58Rees, Tina 36Reid, Barry 27, 35Reid, Patsy 8, 20, 34Reilly, Tommy 56Richard Thompson Band, The 15Rideout, Bonnie 52Roach, AJ 54Roberts, Alasdair 55Roddy Hart & The Lonesome Fire 15Róisín Elsafty Trio 56Ross, James 26, 35Ross, Ricky 58Rough Coast Audio 20Rougvie, Doris 61Rouse, Josh 15

SSalem Tradition, The 18Saltfishforty 34Samling 43Sanderson, Joel 32Saoghal Sona 48Saunders, Ross 38Scott, David 48Scott, Eddie 64Scott, Mike 16ScottishPower Pipe Band 8Scoville Units, The 40Seattle, Matt 29


ARTIST A – Z 69

Seddon, Patsy 20Seonaid Aitken Set, The 50Sermanni, Rachel 24, 29, 39Sharks Took The Rest 53Sharma, Navin 8Sharon Shannon Big Band 22Shaw, Dave 62, 63Shaw, Donald 14, 17Shaw, Eilidh 14, 20Shee, The 29Shepherd, Robbie 58Siberil, Soïg 37Skerryvore 38Smellie, Elspeth 29Smith, Emily 31, 65Smith, Ian 37Somerville, John 35, 60Spiers & Boden 34Spiers, Fraser 10Spiers, John 34Srivastava, Sharat Chandra 28St Clement's School 43 Stanage, Sandy 60Staples, Mavis 12Stars Band, The 60Staves, The 39, 48StepCrew, The 9Stewart, Andy M 20Stewart, Calum 38Stewart, Douglas T. 48Stewart, Elizabeth 52, 59Stewart, Kathy 20Stewart, Margaret 13, 26Stewart, Sheila 26Stewart-Skinner, Chrissie 63Stinson, Harry 45Stoddart, Ian 32Strange Rainbow 24Sutherland, Ruairi 41

Swarbrick, Dave 53

TT with the Maggies 35Tannahill Weavers, The 28Taraf de Haïdouks 21Taylor, Sean 52Téada 51Tergis, Athena 9Thompson, Ian 37Thompson, Richard 15Thompson, Teddy 44Thorburn, Andy 20Thorpe, Daniel 29, 32Thoumire, Simon 37Tìr 56Tom Fun Orchestra, The 42Tonight at Noon 60Townes Earle, Justin 15, 48Toxic Cowboys 32Treacherous Orchestra 38Trembling Bells 47Túcan 51Turton, Emily 52Tweed, Karen 20Tyldesley, Jock 56

UUnusual Suspects, The 25Unwanted, The 51

VValdal, Anne Sofie Linge 20, 43Valdo, Muntu 55Valentine, Damon 39Vass, Mike 24Vaughan, Kenny 45Vernal, Ewen 10

WWaite, Andrew 36Walker, Rachel 35Walkmen, The 47Warren, Kyle 32Washburn, Abigail 23Waterboys, The 16Watson, Innes 27, 32, 60Watson, Lori 29Watson, Matheu 8, 35West, Mick 60While, Chris 37White, Alasdair 55Wickham, Steve 16Wild Biscuit 40Wilders, The 23Wilson, Gordon 10Wobble, Jah 44Wood, Dave 24, 29Wood, Richard 49Woomble, Roddy 53Wright, Chris 52, 57Wright, Sandy 32

YYorkston, James 37

ZZifkin, Joel 15Zorn, Pete 15

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITSLieve Boussauw: Inside cover - Old Fruitmarket (2), Rough Guide – workshop (7), Celtic Connections Ceilidh (14, 57), The Unusual Suspects (25), Henrik Jansberg Band (44), workshops (63)Ashley Coombes, EpicScotland: Torchlight Parade (8)

Susana Millman: Zakir Hussain (8)Annie Tuite: Phil Cunningham (12)Chris Strong: Mavis Staples (13)RobMcDougall.com: Dougie MacLean (13)Shannon Brinkman: Blind Boys of Alabama (14)Pamela Littky: Richard Thompson (15)Deidre O Callaghan: Seth Lakeman (16)Paul MacManus: The Waterboys (16)John MacKinnon: Jerry Douglas and Aly Bain (17)Youri Lenquette: Cheikh Lô (18), Taraf de Haïdouks (21)Chris Clor: Imelda May (22)Julie Broadfoot: Old Fruitmarket (22)Paul Andrews: The Wilders (23)Renzo: Craig Armstrong (24)Paul Campbell: Rachel Sermanni (24, 29)Niall Hepburn: The Unusual Suspects (25)John Soffe: The Fox Hunt and The Henry Girls (26)Ian Whitaker: Calum Maclean and Angus MacNeill (26)Carlospericas.net: Leo Blanco (27)Knuff Photography: Liz Carroll (27)Marco Borggreve: Tim Kliphuis (28)Thomas Gavin: Malinky (29)Cindy Funk: Andy Irvine (30)Hugo Morris: Spiers & Boden (34)Abby Ross: Rosanne Cash (36)Matt Harney: Seonaid Aitken (37)Louis DeCarlo: Treacherous Orchestra (38)Carlos Abal: Fía na Roca (38)Colin Gray: Justin Currie (40)Magnus Skrede: Sigrid Moldestad (41)James Perrin: Jah Wobble & the Nippon Dub Ensemble (44)James Wilson: Aerials Up (45)James Minchin III: Marty Stuart (45)Joshua Black Wilkins: Justin Townes Earle (48)Michael Murphree: Tim Eriksen (50)Chris Moscatiello: Bonnie Rideout (52)Alex Quest: Muntu Valdo (55)John Neilson: New Rope String Band (56)

We would like to thank all the photographers who may be uncredited, this was completely unintentional.


70

EDUCATION: AT THE HEART OF CELTIC CONNECTIONS

Whether it’s enabling children to experience live music for the first time, or giving adults the chance to try a new instrument, Celtic Connections is as committed to ensuring the future of traditional music as it is to celebrating the past and the present.

Up to 16,000 children each year attend special concerts by big-name Celtic artists in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall during the festival. For many, this will be their first experience of live music, and an unforgettable introduction to Scottish culture and its links to music from around the world. Free to schools and home educators throughout Scotland, the concerts attract schools from as far away as Tiree, Fort William and Dumfries & Galloway. The final education concert this year will also feature the winner of the ScottishPower Powerful Performance – a nationwide schools competition run by Celtic Connections’ principal sponsor, aimed at encouraging more children to celebrate Scotland’s musical heritage.

Over 2,000 Glasgow children annually benefit from in-school workshops, offering a hands-on introduction to everything from fiddle to Scottish step-dancing!

Since 1998 over 170,000 children from all over Scotland have participated in the Celtic Connections Education Programme. For more information on the public workshops run during the festival, please see pages 62–65.

“A wonderful opportunity for children to participate in this international festival. The Celtic Connections Education Programme gives children opportunities for new experiences which children may not otherwise have outside of school. The visit to the concert hall itself is an invaluable experience in terms of social education and citizenship, as the children have the opportunity to assemble with pupils from other schools from in and around Glasgow.” (St Stephen’s Primary School).

The Celtic Connections Education Programme is supported by Creative Scotland and Celtic Connections Friends.

MAP 71

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL2 Sauchiehall Street, G2 3NY 0141 353 8000 www.glasgowconcerthalls.com

CITY HALLS, RECITAL ROOM & OLD FRUITMARKETCandleriggs, G1 1NQ 0141 353 8000 www.glasgowconcerthalls.com

O2 ABC GLASGOW 300 Sauchiehall Street, G2 3JA 0141 332 2232 www.o2abcglasgow.co.uk

GLASGOW ART CLUB185 Bath Street, G2 4HU 0141 248 5210 www.glasgowartclub.co.uk

ÒRAN MóRByres Road, G12 8Qx 0141 357 6200 www.oran-mor.co.uk

ST. ANDREW’S IN THE SQUARE1 St Andrew’s Square, G1 5PP 0141 559 5902 www.standrewsinthesquare.com

BBC SCOTLAND40 Pacific Quay, G51 1DA 0141 422 6000 www.bbc.co.uk

TRON THEATRE63 Trongate, G1 5HB 0141 552 3748 www.tron.co.uk

CCA 350 Sauchiehall Street, G2 3JD 0141 352 4900 www.cca-glasgow.com

THE ARCHES253 Argyle Street, G2 8DL 0141 565 1000 www.thearches.co.uk

THE ART SCHOOL167 Renfrew Street, G3 6RQ 0141 353 4500 www.theartschool.co.uk

THE PEARCE INSTITUTE840-860 Govan Road, G51 3UU 0141 445 6007 www.pearceinstitute.org.uk

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TITLE: SUB TITLE 72

ScottishPower is proud to support Celtic ConnectionsScottishPower is proud to support Celtic Connections

13 – 30 JANUARY 2011CELTICCONNECTIONS.COMTICKETS: 0141 353 8000

PULL-OUTFESTIVAL

DIARY

SPONSORED BY FUNDED BY


PULL-OUT FESTIVAL DIARY2

TIME EVENT VENUE PAGE

ThURSDAY 13Th JANUARY 2011

4.45pm Celtic Connections Torchlight Parade 2011 George Square 8

7.30pmCeltic Connections Opening Concert: The Pulse of World featuring Zakir Hussain

Concert Hall: Main Auditorium 8

FRIDAY 14Th JANUARY 2011

12.30pm Iain Anderson in Conversation Concert Hall: Exhibition Hall 59

5pm Celtic Connections Danny Kyle's Open Stage Concert Hall: Exhibition Hall 37

7.30pm Green Fields of America with The StepCrew Concert Hall: Main Auditorium 9

7.30pm Treacherous Orchestra and Fía na Roca O2 ABC Glasgow 38

7.30pm Dick Gaughan and Friends Òran Mór 46

7.30pm Jimmie Macgregor's Gathering St Andrew's in the Square 50

8pm The Alison Brown Quartet and Anna Coogan Tron Theatre 54

8pm The Fox Hunt and The Henry Girls Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 26

8pm Jamie McMenemy and Soig Siberil and Ian Thomson Recital Room 37

9.30pm Grant Lee Buffalo and Support Old Fruitmarket 18

10pm Celtic Connections Festival Club The Art School 61

10pm Celtic Connections Late Night Sessions Concert Hall: Exhibition Hall 61

SATURDAY 15Th JANUARY 2011

11am Learn the Small Pipes in a Day with Dave Shaw Concert Hall: Buchanan Suite 62

11am Percussion for Wee Ones (4-7 years) with Big Groove Concert Hall: Lomond Foyer 62

11am come&try Fiddle with Glasgow Fiddle Workshop Concert Hall: Clyde Foyer 62

11am come&try Harmony Singing with Corrina Hewat Concert Hall: Exhibition Hall 62

12noon Kids' Percussion (8-12 years) with Big Groove Concert Hall: Lomond Foyer 62

12.30pm Celtic Connections Annual Piping Concert Concert Hall: Main Auditorium 9

1.30pm Already Harmony with Corrina Hewat Concert Hall: Exhibition Hall 62

1.30pm Beginner Fiddle with Glasgow Fiddle Workshop Concert Hall: Clyde Foyer 62

1.30pm Family Percussion with Big Groove Concert Hall: Lomond Foyer 62

2pmThe Future of Our Past Goes Large! featuring students from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama

Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 26


7.30pm Fiddlers' Bid with Special Guests and The Quebe Sisters Band Concert Hall: Main Auditorium 10

7.30pmBBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra featuring The Alison Brown Quartet, Michael Marra and Frankie Gavin & De Dannan

City Halls: Grand Hall 34

7.30pm Giant Sand and The Boy Who Trapped The Sun O2 ABC Glasgow 38

7.30pm Mabon with Lorne MacDougall Òran Mór 46

7.30pm Tim Eriksen St Andrew's in the Square 50

8pm School of Scottish Studies: A Celebration of 60 Years Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 26

8pm Alex Hodgson and Ian Smith City Halls: Recital Room 37

8pm Elizabeth Cook and AJ Roach Tron Theatre 54

8.30pm Cheikh Lô and OqueStrada Old Fruitmarket 18



SUNDAY 16Th JANUARY 2011

11am come&try Bodhran with Andy May Concert Hall: Clyde Foyer 61

11am Learn the Irish Pipes in a Day with Dave Shaw Concert Hall: Buchanan Suite 62

11am Percussion for Wee Ones (4-7 years) with Big Groove Concert Hall: Lomond Foyer 62

11am come&try Shape Note Singing with Tim Eriksen Concert Hall: Exhibition Hall 62

12noon Kids’ Percussion (8-12 years) with Big Groove Concert Hall: Lomond Foyer 62

1pm New Voices: Innes Watson Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 27

1.30pm Beginner Bodhran with Andy May Concert Hall: Clyde Foyer 62

1.30pm come&try Gospel with the Gospel Truth Choir Concert Hall: Exhibition Hall 63

1.30pm Percussion for Women with Big Groove Concert Hall: Lomond Foyer 62


PULL-OUT FESTIVAL DIARY 3


2.30pm Hazy Recollections O2 ABC Glasgow 39


7.30pm Love and Money Concert Hall: Main Auditorium 10

7.30pm Skerryvore, Mànran and Malcolm Jones O2 ABC Glasgow 38

7.30pm Spiers & Boden and Saltfishforty and Contours of Cairngorm City Halls: Grand Hall 34

7.30pm The Quebe Sisters Band and The Seonaid Aitken Set St Andrew's in the Square 50

8pm The Burns Unit and Broken Records Old Fruitmarket 19

8pm Mollie O'Brien & Rich Moore and Ben Powell Tron Theatre 54

8pm Leo Blanco and Keltic Tales Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 27

8pm Eduardo Niebla City Halls: Recital Room 37



MONDAY 17Th JANUARY 2011



8pm Liz Carroll & Friends and Mairearad & Anna Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 27

10pm Celtic Connections Late Night Sessions Concert Hall Exhibition Hall 61

TUESDAY 18Th JANUARY 2011



7.30pm Yasmin Levy and Moishe's Bagel Concert Hall: Main Auditorium 11

8pm Horslips and Support Old Fruitmarket 19

8pm Michael Marra and Coope, Boyes & Simpson Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 28

8pm Mary Ann Kennedy’s Global Gathering Pacific Quay 58


WEDNESDAY 19Th JANUARY 2011



7.30pmMonumental Scott featuring Phil Cunningham, Karen Matheson and Eddi Reader


7.30pm The Walkmen and Laki Mera Òran Mór 47

8pm World Fiddle Night Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 28

8pm Otros Aires and RoughCoastAudio Old Fruitmarket 20

8pm Alasdair Roberts and Muntu Valdo Tron Theatre 55

8pm 'Glesamericana night' with The Moonshiners and Cahoots Glasgow Art Club 60





7.30pm Kepa Junkera and Friends Concert Hall: Main Auditorium 12

7.30pm Ani DiFranco and Support O2 ABC Glasgow 39

7.30pm The Walkmen and Laki Mera Òran Mór 47

7.30pm The Campbells and Joy Dunlop St Andrew's in the Square 51

8pm Steele the Show Old Fruitmarket 20

8pm The Tannahill Weavers and Lurach Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 28

8pm Brian Kennedy and Nell Bryden City Halls: Grand Hall 34

8pm Ceol 's Craic at Celtic Connections CCA 43

8pm Paddy Keenan and Special Guests Tron Theatre 55

8pm Travelling Folk Pacific Quay 58





FRIDAY 21ST JANUARY 2011

7.30pmMountain Stage with Larry Groce featuring Mavis Staples, Dougie MacLean and special guests


7.30pm Justin Currie and Heathers O2 ABC Glasgow 40

7.30pm Henrik Jansberg Band and Dièse 3 The Arches 44

7.30pm Trembling Bells and Emily Portman Òran Mór 47

8pm Malinky and LYY Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 29

8pm Simon Thoumire and Ian Carr Recital Room 37

8pm 'Sèideadh a' Chuain' (Atlantic Blast) Tron Theatre 55

8pm Banda das Crechas and Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas St Andrew’s in the Square 51


9.30pm Hadestown and Joy Kills Sorrow Old Fruitmarket 21



SATURDAY 22ND JANUARY 2011

10.15am The Fiddle Village hosted by Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas Concert Hall: Exhibition Hall 65

11amcome&try Mandolin with The Lanarkshire Guitar and Mandolin Association

Concert Hall: Lomond Foyer 63

11am come&try Ukulele with Finlay Allison Concert Hall: Clyde Foyer 63

11am Lullabies for Wee Ones with Chrissie Stewart Concert Hall: Buchanan Suite 63

1.30pm Beginner Ukulele with Finlay Allison Concert Hall: Clyde Foyer 63

1.30pm come&try Whistle with Lorne MacDougall Concert Hall: Lomond Foyer 63

1.30pm Singin' On Yer Mammy's Knee with Chrissie Stewart Concert Hall: Buchanan Suite 63

2.30pm Fèis Rois is 25! City Halls: Grand Hall 35


7.30pm The Highland Sessions Concert Hall: Main Auditorium 13

7.30pm Crooked Still with Lau and Move O2 ABC Glasgow 40

7.30pm Jah Wobble & The Nippon Dub Ensemble and Man's Ruin The Arches 44

7.30pm Justin Townes Earle and The Staves Òran Mór 48

7.30pm Sligo Live Sessions with Téada and The Unwanted and Túcan St Andrew's in the Square 51

8pm Borders Night Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 29


8pm New Rope String Band and Kilairum Tron Theatre 56

8pm T with the Maggies and The Glackins City Halls: Grand Hall 35

8pm Tonight at Noon and The Stars Band Glasgow Art Club 60

8.30pm Taraf de Haïdouks and Mama Rosin Old Fruitmarket 21



10.45pm Celtic Connections All Star Ceilidh Band Concert Hall: Main Auditorium 14

SUNDAY 23RD JANUARY 2011

10.15am The Fiddle Village hosted by Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas Concert Hall: Exhibition Hall 65

11am Beginner Accordion with The Glasgow Fiddle Workshop Concert Hall: Lomond Foyer 63

11am Beginner Whistle with Lorne MacDougall Concert Hall: Clyde Foyer 63

11am Opening Your Voice One with Harriet Buchan Concert Hall: Buchanan Suite 63

1.30pmcome&try Mandolin with The Lanarkshire Guitar and Mandolin Association

Concert Hall: Lomond Foyer 63

1pm New Voices - Rachel Sermanni Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 29

1.30pm Opening Your Voice Two with Harriet Buchan Concert Hall: Buchanan Suite 63

1.30pm Whistle for Players with Lorne MacDougall Concert Hall: Clyde Foyer 63



7.30pm The Blind Boys of Alabama and Bettye LaVette Concert Hall: Main Auditorium 14

7.30pmJerry Douglas featuring Omar Hakim & Viktor Krauss and The Scoville Units

O2 ABC Glasgow 40




7.30pm BMX Bandits 25th Anniversary Òran Mór 48

7.30pm The Big Orkney Song Project St Andrew's in the Square 52

8pm The Legends’ Fiddle Competition Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 30

8pmSharon Shannon Big Band featuring Imelda May, Shane MacGowan and Mundy and The Paul McKenna Band

Old Fruitmarket 22

8pm Elsafty, Armstrong & Browne and Tìr Tron Theatre 56

8pm Sylvia Barnes & Sandy Stanage and Hutton, Watson and Somerville Glasgow Art Club 60



MONDAY 24Th JANUARY 2011



7.30pm Forever Young - A 70th Birthday Tribute to Bob Dylan Concert Hall: Main Auditorium 15

8pm BBC Scotland TV Special from the Festival Old Fruitmarket 22

8pm Andy Irvine & John Doyle and Jeana Leslie & Siobhan Miller Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 30


TUESDAY 25Th JANUARY 2011


1.15pm Culture Cafe – Completely Burns Pacific Quay 58


7.30pm Richard Thompson Band: The Dream Attic Tour Concert Hall: Main Auditorium 15

7.30pm Red Hot Chilli Pipers and Norrie MacIver & Ruari Sutherland O2 ABC Glasgow 41

8pm Tim O’Brien and Abigail Washburn Old Fruitmarket 23

8pm Chris While & Julie Matthews City Halls: Recital Room 37

8pm Hamish Henderson Night Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 30

8pm Rosanne Cash and Nathaniel Rateliff City Halls: Grand Hall 36

8pm The Clutha with Siobhan and Brian Miller Glasgow Art Club 60

8pm Mary Ann Kennedy’s Global Gathering Pacific Quay 58

10pmCeltic Connections Late Night Sessions – BBC Radio 3's World on 3 Live hosted by Mary Ann Kennedy

Concert Hall: Exhibition Hall 61

WEDNESDAY 26Th JANUARY 2011



7.30pm Seth Lakeman and The Fisherman's Friends Concert Hall: Main Auditorium 16

7.30pm Teddy Thompson with David Ford and Ashley Cleveland The Arches 44

7.30pm Bonnie Rideout with Allan MacDonald and Friends St Andrew's in the Square 52

8pm The Wilders with Furnace Mountain Old Fruitmarket 23

8pm All Along the Wall Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 31

8pm James Yorkston and Friends City Halls: Recital Room 37






7.30pm Transatlantic Sessions Concert Hall: Main Auditorium 17

7.30pm Gerry O'Connor Quartet and Sigrid Moldestad O2 ABC Glasgow 41

7.30pmAerials Up and First Charge of the Light Brigade and Acoustic Butterfly

The Arches 45

7.30pmNew Tradition with Ewan McLennan and Lucy Pringle and Chris Wright and Sean Taylor

St Andrew's in the Square 52

7.30pm Saoghal Sona with Eilidh Mackenzie and Dalla Òran Mór 48

8pm Shifting Sands Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 31

8pm Tommy Reilly and Craig Jeffrey Tron Theatre 56




8pm Rory McLeod City Halls: Recital Room 37

8pm Travelling Folk Pacific Quay 58

8pm Colin Farrell and Guests Glasgow Art Club 60

9.30pmShowcase Scotland featuring Rachel Sermanni, Mike Vass, The Poozies, The Halton Quartet and The Mick West Band

Old Fruitmarket 24



FRIDAY 28Th JANUARY 2011


7.30pm Transatlantic Sessions Concert Hall: Main Auditorium 17

7.30pm Dàimh and Anxo Lorenzo O2 ABC Glasgow 42

7.30pm Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives and Support The Arches 45

7.30pmThe New Tradition with Ciorras and Gillian Frame & Fiona MacAskill and Sam Lee

Òran Mór 49

7.30pm Alistair Hulett Tribute with very special guests St Andrew's in the Square 53

8pm Emily Smith and The Old Dance School Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 31

8pm The Beaton Sisters and Rua Macmillan Trio Tron Theatre 57

8pm Gerry O’Connor and Guests Glasgow Art Club 60

8pm Another Country with Ricky Ross Pacific Quay 58

9.30pm A Night of Celtronika Old Fruitmarket 24




SATURDAY 29Th JANUARY 2011

11am Great Big Groupwork with The Glasgow Fiddle Workshop Concert Hall: Exhibition Hall 64

11amBeginner Mandolin with The Lanarkshire Guitar and Mandolin Association

Concert Hall: Clyde Foyer 64

11am Bodhran for Players with Andy May Concert Hall: Buchanan Suite 64

11am Harp Village Concert Hall: Lomond Foyer 64

1pm Young Trad Tour with The Atlantic Seaway Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 32

1.30pm Harp Village Concert Hall: Lomond Foyer 64

1.30pm come&try Spoons with Eddie Scott Concert Hall: Buchanan Suite 64

1.30pmMandolin for Players with The Lanarkshire Guitar and Mandolin Association

Concert Hall: Clyde Foyer 64

1.30pm Singing Workshop with Gillian Frame Concert Hall: Exhibition Hall 64


5pm BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year Final 2011 City Halls: Grand Hall 36

7pm Take The Floor The Pearce Institute 58

7.30pm The Creole Choir of Cuba and Support City Halls: Grand Hall 36

7.30pm Tom Fun Orchestra and Orkestra del Sol and Mystery Juice O2 ABC Glasgow 42

7.30pm Declan O'Rourke and Support Òran Mór 49

7.30pm Roddy Woomble and Amelia Curran St Andrew's in the Square 53

8pm Sandy Wright and Guests Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 32

8pm Kathleen MacInnes and The MacCollective Tron Theatre 57

8pm Hamish Napier Quintet and Guests City Halls: Recital Room 37

9pm The Unusual Suspects and Old Man Luedecke Old Fruitmarket 25



SPONSORED BY



SUNDAY 30Th JANUARY 2011

11am come&try Gaelic Singing with Darren Maclean Concert Hall: Buchanan Suite 64

11am come&try Ukulele with Finlay Allison Concert Hall: Clyde Foyer 64

11am Harp Village Concert Hall: Lomond Foyer 64

11am come&try Burns Songs Concert Hall: Exhibition Hall 64

1pm New Voices – Angus Lyon Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 32

1.30pm Harp Village Concert Hall: Lomond Foyer 64

1.30pm Gaelic Song with Darren Maclean Concert Hall: Buchanan Suite 64

1.30pm Harmony Workshop – Songs From Archives Concert Hall: Exhibition Hall 64

1.30pm Ukulele for Improvers with Finlay Allison Concert Hall: Clyde Foyer 64


5pm Finale Showcasing Danny Kyle Open Stage Winners 2011 Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite 33

7.30pm The Waterboys: An Appointment With Mr Yeats Concert Hall: Main Auditorium 16

7.30pm Raul Malo and Doghouse Roses O2 ABC Glasgow 42

7.30pm Richard Wood and Angus Nicolson Band Òran Mór 49

7.30pm John Grant and Sharks Took The Rest St Andrew's in the Square 53

8pm Fran Healy and Joel Plaskett Old Fruitmarket 25



GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT hALL2 Sauchiehall Street, G2 3NY 0141 353 8000 www.glasgowconcerthalls.com

CITY hALLS, RECITAL ROOM & OLD FRUITMARKETCandleriggs, G1 1NQ 0141 353 8000 www.glasgowconcerthalls.com

O2 ABC GLASGOW 300 Sauchiehall Street, G2 3JA 0141 332 2232 www.o2abcglasgow.co.uk

GLASGOW ART CLUB185 Bath Street, G2 4HU 0141 248 5210 www.glasgowartclub.co.uk

ÒRAN MóRByres Road, G12 8QX 0141 357 6200 www.oran-mor.co.uk

ST. ANDREW’S IN ThE SqUARE1 St Andrew’s Square, G1 5PP 0141 559 5902 www.standrewsinthesquare.com

BBC SCOTLAND40 Pacific Quay, G51 1DA 0141 422 6000 www.bbc.co.uk

TRON ThEATRE63 Trongate, G1 5HB 0141 552 3748 www.tron.co.uk

CCA 350 Sauchiehall Street, G2 3JD 0141 352 4900 www.cca-glasgow.com

ThE ARChES253 Argyle Street, G2 8DL 0141 565 1000 www.thearches.co.uk

ThE ART SChOOL167 Renfrew Street, G3 6RQ 0141 353 4500 www.theartschool.co.uk

ThE PEARCE INSTITUTE840-860 Govan Road, G51 3UU 0141 445 6007 www.pearceinstitute.org.uk

VENUE DETAILS

BEEN ThERE, DONE ThAT… CELTIC CONNECTIONS 2011 T-SHIRTS £10 HOODIES £15Available from the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and online at www.celticconnections.com/tshirts

SUPPORT FOLK MUSIC’S FUTURE BY BECOMING A FRIEND

SEE P4 FOR DETAILS

WWW.CELTICCONNECTIONS.COM/CELTICFRIENDS


LISTEN AGAIN...Visit the Coda Music shop in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. The traditional and contemporary folk music specialists will be open daily selling CDs and DVDs by artists appearing at the festival. Perfect to pick up a souvenir or simply to add to your collection.

WWW.CODAMUSIC.CO.UK

Celtic Connections 2011 Brochure

Documents

Transcript of Celtic Connections 2011 Brochure