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After a busy day yesterday I headed to Celtic Connections at The Mitchell Theatre to hear Sarah-Jane Summers and Hamish Napier perform their compositions. First Up was Sarah-Jane Summers’ Owerset – a reprisal of her 2018 New Voices commission. It featured 6 musicians – 2 fiddles, trumpet, accordion, double bass and guitar. I didn’t know […]
Greg Lawson and The GRIT orchestra were and are mesmerising! This years’ grand opening of Glasgow’s Celtic Connections festival was an explosion of sound, cultures, identity, tolerance, inclusivity, hope, and freedom in what Lawson described as a “diverse orchestral landscape” with a “kaleidoscopic landscape of sound”. The positive themes, which drew their inspiration from the […]
I had been looking forward to this gig all Celtic Connections festival. I enjoyed Ross and Ali’s CD – Symbiosis II and I was interested to see how it would be performed live. The first thing that was great about the gig was the lighting! Lighting engineer Gary Ebdy is a genius and from minute […]
Malinky celebrated twenty years as a band, with a programme of new songs and an all-star line-up of special guests at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. The performance presented a wealth of opportunity for the audience to join in on choruses and refrains, and despite the sit-down concert environment, which may put off the audience […]
When I arrived at this sold out gig it was lovely to see an array of BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award finalists from many years on the stage – so many memories! Performing were Graham Mackenzie (2013), Paddy Callaghan (2013), David Shedden (2018), Amy Papiransky (2018), Charlie Stewart (2017) and Luc McNally (2019). […]
Ok first a disclaimer. I’m married to the fiddler in Deaf Shepherd. I married Clare 1. because she’s beautiful and talented and 2. because she was in Deaf Shepherd! I mean what a band. Three fabulous albums of fiddle, bagpipes and Scots song. Last night was the band’s first gig in 9 years but you […]
I went up to the Tolbooth last night to hear Aidan O’Rourke’s latest project with with renowned organist and piano player Kit Downes and author James Robertson. I wasn’t really sure what I was going to be listening to but what an amazing night! Aidan’s music was inspired by James Robertson’s book of 365 Stories […]
Firmly resettled into their founding four-piece, Scottish instrumental powerhouse RURA continue to evolve and refine their traditionally-rooted but potently progressive sound, now adding piano to their line-up of bagpipes, fiddle, guitar and bodhran. On their seventh Celtic Connections appearance since forming in 2010, they’ll be firing up new material for 2018’s third album, before heading […]
In 1998, Bruce MacGregor assembled a selection of Highland and island fiddlers, spotlighting distinctive regional styles, for a one-off two-week tour, named to reflect the fiery young talents involved. Twenty years on, Blazin’ Fiddles rank securely among Scotland’s foremost folk acts, sought-after headliners across the Celtic scene. Today’s line-up – MacGregor, still, with Jenna Reid, […]
Bothy Culture & Beyond; a music-vision-dance-bike spectacular featuring The GRIT Orchestra & guests with special appearance by Danny MacAskill. Following its unforgettable debut at the opening concert of Celtic Connections 2015, the groundbreaking GRIT Orchestra presents another spectacular world première – a grand-scale live version of Bothy Culture, the late Martyn Bennett’s second album. Bennett’s […]
Sam Kelly and The Lost Boys didna need ony introduction an’ rippit intae the first sang, Greenland Whale wi’ rare vigour. I’ powerhouse o’ a band commandit attention fae I’ first nummer and fit impressed me, wis a’ the loons singin’ an takin’ different harmonies fae I’ ward go – mair lads need tae sing, […]
Approaching their 30th year, Swedish trio Väsen continue to win rapturous acclaim throughout the folk world and beyond. Matching consummate virtuosity with joyous ensemble synergy, deep traditional roots with dazzling original tunes, they’ve worked with acts as diverse as the Danish String Quartet and Snarky Puppy, and excelled themselves once more with their recent 17th […]
A collaborative triple bill of up-and-coming soul talent, highlighting the genre’s 21st-century vibrancy. Born in Nigeria, now Glasgow-based, Unoma Okudo has opened for Macy Gray and Alexander O’Neal, and won high praise for 2016’s debut EP Odyssey, reflecting her musical journey from childhood singing in church to contemporary jazz/soul stylings. London’s Sharlene-Monique, who’s toured with […]
Growing up in Dingwall, the young multi-instrumentalist and singer Innes White was involved with Fèis Rois from an early age, and is now one of Scotland’s most in-demand accompanists, working with Mischa Macpherson, Karen Matheson and John McCusker, among others. Playing guitar, mandolin and piano, he was nominated as Instrumentalist of the Year in the […]
One of Scotland’s most popular progressive folk acts as the 21st century dawned, Croft No. Five introduced a swathe of then-upstart talents, forging a highly influential fusion of trad, funk, world and EDM elements. Two decades after they formed, John and Misha Somerville, Barry Reid, Somhairle Macdonald, Paul Jennings, Adam Sutherland, Duncan Lyall and Innes […]
A former Songwriter of the Year in the Scots Trad Music Awards – and three-time Scots Singer nominee – Perthshire’s finest Jim Malcolm has steadily built on the acclaim he won while fronting the Old Blind Dogs for seven years, with the ensuing dozen firmly cementing his reputation as a captivating interpreter of traditional songs, […]
Bringing together six leading contemporary folk talents, sharing fruitfully diverse backgrounds, The Secret North began with five days’ intensive workshopping in a remote Highland studio last summer. Scotland’s Ailie Robertson (harp) and Donald Grant (fiddle), together with Jarlath Henderson (uillean pipes/whistles), Karen Tweed (accordion), Norway’s Sondre Meisfjord (bass) and Swedish/Norwegian mandola ace Marit Fält all […]
The end concert of Tinto Summer School 2017. Average Rating:
