Tuesday 25 October 2022

Celtic Connections 30th Anniversary Festival 2023!

Phil Cunningham, Aly Bain, Jerry Douglas

 The festival will run from Thursday 19 January to Sunday 5 February 2023.   @ccfest

Celtic Connections is one of the world’s largest winter festival that celebrates roots, folk and world music. Celtic Connections began in 1994, when it offered 66 events at one venue. Since then it’s grown in adventurousness, experimenting and diversity each year and now offers thousands of events in locations across Glasgow.



Opening Concert will celebrate the festival with artists who’ve featured over the years, along with new folk talent - reflecting Celtic Connections' multi-generational breadth, its Internationalism and collaborative, cross-genre spirit. And includes Karine PolwartSierra HullBascoPeat & DieselTRIPFergus McCreadie & Matt CarmichaelMaeve GilchristRachel Sermanni and more.


With the Big Band, originally conceived 2021 digital festival’s Opening Night - Patsy ReidGraham MackenzieLaura WilkieMichael McGoldrickHannah FisherRoss AinslieAnna Massie, Alyn CoskerJames MackintoshDuncan Lyall and Sorren Maclean, along with guests.

Dance. World premiere of Moving Cloud – a collaboration of contemporary dance and traditional music with a new score by Celtic Connections and Scottish Dance Theatre led by Artistic Director Joan Clevillé  with TRIP, SianGreg Lawson and Alice Allen




**PLUS festival FAVOURITES - Irish-American Cherish the Ladies, Scots strings Blazin’ Fiddles, trad fusion powerhouse Treacherous Orchestra, Colin Hay, of Australia’s Grammy-winning Men at Work.. 

The Irish Chamber OrchestraRóisín ReImagined , with award-winning singer Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh’s renditions of classic sean nós songs, of richly ornamented songs. The (SCO) Scottish Chamber Orchestra returns with Chris Stout (fiddle) and Catriona McKay (Clarsach) (SCO) Scottish Chamber Orchestra returns with Chris Stout (fiddle) and Catriona McKay (Clarsach).African and Gaelic music with Malian’s Trio Da Kali with Gaelic singers Jenna Cummings and Kim Carnie. 


Collaborations. Piper Ross Ainslie, and American Old-Time and roots musician Dirk PowellOrchestral Qawwali will showcase a unique collaboration. The Song Circle show with vocals of Mary Chapin CarpenterKarine Polwart, Julie Fowlis and Robert Vincent at The Theatre Royal.


Festival highlight Transatlantic Sessions celebrate 20th Anniversary with all-star line-up - Martha Wainwright, Hothouse Flowers frontman Liam Ó Maonlai, Capercaillie’s Karen Matheson and Amethyst Kiah. House band of top Celtic and Americana roots talent – Phil Cunningham, John Dole, Michael McGodlrick, John McCusker, Donald Shaw, James Mackintosh and Daniel Kimbro and masters of ceremonies Sherland fiddler Aly Bain and dubro master Jerry Douglas.



Braebach



Gaelic. Scottish folk band Breabach album Fàs–meaning ‘growth’, inspired by the natural environment of ScotlandGaelic singer of the Year at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Award the haunting vocals of Kim Carnie –new album And So We Gather,


Plus live mic at the Danny Kyle stage the Late Sessions and Folk club and much more. 

Showcase Scotland 2023 will see Brittany showcased, to advance opportunities, along with Wales, to celebrates the folk traditions of two of Scotland’s closest Celtic cousins. 

**Tickets for Celtic Connections 2023 will be available from 10am on Wednesday 12th October at www.celticconnections.com.


Rachel Sermanni

Sarah Jarosz

Donald Shaw, Creative Producer for Celtic Connections, said: “Our 30th anniversary is a hugely important moment for the festival, especially considering the last couple of years. We will, of course, be paying homage to the musicians, bands and artists who have contributed, supported and inspired the festival over the last three decades, but importantly this is also a moment to look to the future. The last two years have been incredibly tough for so many musicians and the live entertainment industry in general, so Celtic Connections 2023 is an opportunity to commemorate how far the festival and the Scottish music scene has come, and to also celebrate the fact that we are still here. 

“Celtic Connections is still showcasing some of the best music Scotland and the world has to offer, established and emerging musicians are still here creating and performing, audiences are still here enjoying the cultural exponents of our country and other nations  from across the world. Sharing our music and our arts is a vital part of our human existence, connecting us and enriching lives, and we have missed that. I can’t wait to revel in a live festival once again and celebrate the resilience and the longevity of our sector.”



Scots hero Ian Hamilton

So sorry to hear of the death of Scots hero Ian Hamilton – who was an early fighter for Scotland’s freedom. On Christmas Eve he and other students took the Stone of Destiny from Westminster abbey, that was used for centuries for Scots kings, and was stolen by Edward I in 1296.  It’s an incredible story of bravery and fighting for our freedoms. 

 

He’s an inspiration. Worth watching the film “Stone of Destiny” and visiting Arbroath abbey, where Hamilton recites the Declaration of Arbroath, 

"  for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself."

 

Submitted in Latin, the Declaration was little known until the late 17th century, and is unmentioned by any of Scotland's major 16th-century historians. In the 1680s, the Latin text was printed for the first time and translated into English in the wake of the Glorious Revolution, after which time it was sometimes described as a declaration of independence

 



The Declaration of Arbroath 

is the name usually given to a letter, dated 6 April 1320 at Arbroath, written by Scottish barons and addressed to Pope John XXII

. It constituted King Robert I response to his excommunication for disobeying the pope's demand in 1317 for a truce in the First War of Scottish Independence. The letter asserted the antiquity of the independence of the Kingdom of Scotland. denouncing English attempts to subjugate it. 

Generally believed to have been written in Arbroath abbey by Bernard of Kilwinning (or of Linton), then chancellor of Scotland and Abbot and sealed by fifty-one magnates and nobles, the letter is the sole survivor of three created at the time. The others were a letter from the King of Scots, Robert I and a letter from four Scottish bishops which all made similar points. The Declaration was intended to assert Scotland's status as an Independent, sovereign state and defend Scotland’s right to use military action when unjustly attacked.

Submitted in Latin, the Declaration was little known until the late 17th century, and is unmentioned by any of Scotland's major 16th-century historians. In the 1680s, the Latin text was printed for the first time and translated into English in the wake of the Glorious Revolution after which time it was sometimes described as a declaration of independence, the Declaration was little known until the late 17th century, and is unmentioned by any of Scotland's major 16th-century historians. In the 1680s, the Latin text was printed for the first time and translated into English in the wake of the Glorious Revolution, after which time it was sometimes described as a Declaration of Independence. 

 

 

**Ian Hamilton KC  (1925 – 2022) was a Scottish lawyer and nationalist, best known for his part in the  return of the Stone fo Destiny from Westminster Abbey to Arbroath Abbey in 1950. Hamilton was born in Paisley Scotland, on 13 September 1925, the son of a tailor. He attended the John Neilson Institution in Paisley before going on to the University of Glasgow to study law, after having served in the British army. National activism It was at University where Hamilton became politically active. A participant in debates at the Glasgow university, he was a member of the Glasgow University Nationalist Association and Scottish Covenant Association. He was also the campaign manager for the successful bid to have John MacCormick elected rector fo the university. 

 

 

***Stone of Destiny[

On Christmas Eve 1950, Hamilton, along with three other student Scottish nationalists including Kay Matheson removed the Stone of Destiny from its place under the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey. London. Originally used for the coronation of Scottish monarchs, the Stone had been removed to England by Edward I in 1296 to bolster his claim to the throne of Scotland. After the Acts of Union 1707 between Scotland and England, it was used for the coronation of British monarchs. 

As such, Hamilton's action in returning the Stone to Scotland was applauded as a symbolic triumph for Scottish nationalism. The Stone was turned over to the Church of Scotland, which passed it to the authorities in April 1951. Hamilton and his accomplices were charged, but never prosecuted. The Stone was eventually returned 

 

Scotland Rising – Gerry Hassan

 


A systematic exploration of the arguments for Scottish independence from a sympathetic angle.

The Scottish independence question is one of the pivotal questions facing British politics and the future of the United Kingdom. It is also one of the most contentious and misunderstood. 

In Scotland Rising, Gerry Hassan addresses the fundamental questions covering the Scottish independence debate so that people can better understand the case for independence and the nuances, contours, and implications for the whole country. Looking beyond the merits and shortcomings of the SNP and the Conservative government in Westminster, Hassan tackles the larger driving dynamics of 'the Scottish Question' - a growing desire amongst many Scots for an explicit discussion about society, public policy choices, and wider values.

Addressing the constitutional framework, and questions about the role of government and democracy, the nature of the British state, society, and capitalism, Scotland Rising makes an urgent and intelligent contribution to one of the defining political questions of our time.  https://www.amazon.co.uk.Scotland-Rising-


Gerry Hassan ]is a Scottish writer, commentator and academic. He is Professor of Social Change at Glasgow Caledonian University, having previously worked at the University of Dundee and the University of the west of Scotland where he completed his doctorate[. He has also previously worked for the Institute for Public Policy Research and Demos where he led their Scotland 2020 and Glasgow 2020 programmes and Open Democracy. He has written widely in the Scottish and UK press, including The ScotsmanThe HeraldHolyroodSunday Mail, The Guardian, The National (Scotland) on topics and issues related to the United Kingdom, particularly Scotland and Scottish Independence.