Every year at Celtic I am astonished by the musical
talent in Scotland and beyond. I wish the festival might not end (!) while I
know it must! It is intense, challenging,
rewarding, varied, colourful with packed out halls and venues all over Glasgow.
Some GREAT Celtic Connections concerts this year and even better than last year! How can they top things year on year! The high quality of the sound, lighting, great audiences, quality musicianship, exciting new younger musicians, the collaborations, beautiful singing. The festival is so enriching and obvious the care and thought that goes into bringing it all together.
Some GREAT Celtic Connections concerts this year and even better than last year! How can they top things year on year! The high quality of the sound, lighting, great audiences, quality musicianship, exciting new younger musicians, the collaborations, beautiful singing. The festival is so enriching and obvious the care and thought that goes into bringing it all together.
Transatlantic Sessions |
The opening concert this year was
just epic and a premier one off! The
Concert hall concerts are at 7.30 and if I'm doing photos I need to be there
before 7, so I go into the open mic for some nice live music beforehand. There
are also very fun ceilidh bands at the wonderful Old Fruitmarket venue, which
are usually later on and start about 9.30 or 10pm - I sat beside Eddi Reader at
one! It is fun to pass all the familiar
faces each year - Donald Shaw, Rab
Noakes, Phil Cunningham, Roddy Hart and others.
-Thankfully I did not miss the
awesome Opening Concert Nae Regrets
- We were treated to an outstanding opening
concert! Highly innovative.
Multi-talented, multi-layered orchestra. Put a smile on my face. -The Martin Bennett epic one off
opening concert - so worth watching in BBC iplayer. Martyn
Bennett's 2003 GRIT was given its live premier with a
colourful score by composer Greg Lawson and the concert proved one of
the best events I've been to at Celtic Connections music festival.
Bennett was a Scottish musician and composer and the
concert marked the tenth anniversary of his untimely death at the age of
thirty-three - poignantly he wrote the album while he was dying of cancer. The
album offers a musical journey - producing pounding bass rhythms, hesitant
strings, gradual and also unexpected crescendos, brass epic grandeur, haunting
Gaelic voices, thematic stirring pipes and also humour. The Grit album is about
pushing the boundaries and limitations. The orchestra of over 80 musicians on
the Glasgow concert hall stage tonight consisted of mostly younger folk, jazz
and classical musicians. I expect they enjoyed playing a new piece that felt
contemporary yet drawing strongly on past traditions. Conductor Greg appeared
overcome as he reached the summit tonight, after years in the planning and he
commented that he needed a crash helmet as it felt like his head might
explode!
ALSO...The festival always ensures
such a high standard of concerts. When the brochure arrives it is always a
challenge to select which concerts to attend - especially over the busy
weekends when there are often several events on on the same evenings. Also this
year there was such a heavy snowfall on the first Friday that I missed my first
Old Fruitmarket gig, Horizons, with Kate
Rusby and Karine Polwart and others. I made up for it though by enjoying the
wonderful Fruitmarket venue on the Thursday for the fun ceilidh bands - the highly
accomplished and entertaining Alan Kelly
Gang and Braebach, alongside the
soothing New Zealand sounds of Horomana Horo.
Punch Brothers |
Top events for me this year included - The Craig Armstrong concert of his film
music with full orchestra was incredible - he wrote music for Romeo and Juliet
and the Great Gatsby and more. New album out, wrote this - https://www.youtube.com/romeoandjuliet
The Punch Brothers were delightful with their high tempo banjos,
quality acapella vocal harmonies. They are a contemporary American bluegrass band
and they sang on the Coen Brothers 2013 film Inside LLewyn Davis (cool movie). The
concert for the life-affirming songs of folk revivalist Ewan MacColl, with Martin Carthy, Jarvis Cocker and Paul Buchanan. On top of all this it was a huge treat to hear
live the powerhouse voice and music of legend Van Morrison. Mind-blowing. And not to forget the perfect concert
with the Transatlantic band.
Concert for Ewan MacColls songs |
Celtic Connections 2016! will be announced in October 2015
when the popular concert hall concerts sell out quite fast. Much depends what
kind of concert you prefer - dancing ceilidh, singer songwriters, traditional,
indie, world music, Americana or other... Karine Polwart, Eddi Reader and Julie
Fowlis are all great singers.
There are
pure traditionalist who believe in keeping traditions alive (such as Ewan
MacColl, Dick Gaughan). There are folk musicians who believe the genre needs to
be taken forward - such as the incomparable Martyn Bennett (what a loss of
talent). I believe there is a need for both strands to run side by side, for
the roots and traditions to build on but also the need for creativity and
inspirations. This festival is for those who don't want their music brought to
them by big media outlets or by Radio One.
Sara Watkins |
A massive thanks to all the welcoming
media and artists who come together to make this such a vibrant festival. Back
a couple of decades ago it would have been unthinkable and only a dream that
folk musicians might one day play to packed out concert halls. In no small part
all this is thanks to those who worked for the folk revival both here and in
the US - including Ewan MacColl, Pete
Seeger, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Dick Gaughan and others.
This is my
eight year (where does time go!) covering Celtic and the festival gets better
year on year. it's culturally a great boost for Glasgow.
All in all yet another wonderful 18
days of Celtic music to warm the days and the soul..
http://www.celticconnections.com/Pages/default.aspx
Carthy Family |
McCrary Sisters |
Patty Griffith |
*Another
note. Celtic Connections festival is also run by a Scot, Donald Shaw, who is
from south of Oban, which is unusual (or rather unique!) in itself, as most
major creative arts post in Scotland are held by non-Scots. No Scot has been head of the Scottish
National theatre or Creative Scotland.