Kelvinside Aspects
A dreich Glasgow Monday afternoon in January isn’t the best time to tempt an audience out of doors. The Danny Kyle Open Stage at the 30th Anniversary Celtic Connections managed it fine. In defiance of the grey, a long queue filled the hall and, first up, The Pilgrims Society, made it all worthwhile. The six-piece …
Continue reading “The Pilgrims Society – antidote to a dreich Monday @ccfest”
STORM, a 10 meter high sea goddess arose from the River Clyde last Saturday morning 18 January 2020 in the calmer wake of her big brother Brendan who had battered these shore a few days previously. Made entirely of recycled and natural materials, STORM is said to be the largest puppet in the UK. With …
Continue reading “STORM FORCE Celtic Connections – Coasts and Waters 2020”
Martyn Bennett’s second studio album Bothy Culture was given the full orchestral treatment on Saturday 27 January in Glasgow’s Hydro arena – mid-point highlight of this year’s sell-out Celtic Connections 25th Anniversary Festival. Building on the success of Greg Lawson’s arrangement of his friend Bennett’s album Grit – Nae Regrets – premiered at Celtic Connections …
Continue reading “Bothy Culture & Beyond – pure Cirque d’Ecosse @ccfest #ccfest18”
Celtic Connections columnist Anni Donaldson reviews one show looking at the life and music of Margaret Barry This article first appeared in Common Space https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/10265/anni-donaldson-century-apart-art-margaret-barry-and-karine-polwart THE gulf separating the lived experience of singers Margaret Barry and Karine Polwart could hardly be wider. Margaret, born into a family of street musicians in Cork in 1917, and Karine, …
Continue reading “A century apart – the art of Margaret Barry and Karine Polwart”
https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/10254/anni-donaldson-james-kelman-dirt-road-lafayette Our Celtic Connections columnist Anni Donaldson goes on a musical journey with Dirt Road author James Kelman JAMES KELMAN in conversation with Alan Bisset at a packed ‘meet the author’ session at this year’s Celtic Connections festival was full of surprises. The ‘connection’ celtic-wise between Kelman’s latest novel, Dirt Road, and Glasgow’s annual music …
Continue reading “James Kelman on the Dirt Road to Lafayette”
https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/10202/anni-donaldson-it-time-scotland-paid-new-piper Our Celtic Connections columnist, Anni Donaldson, explores the politics of gender in Scottish traditional music WITH the chants of a women’s anti-Trump demonstration booming outside Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall, it was an auspicious moment to start a new conversation about gender and Scottish traditional music. Judging by the audience’s response to the lively discussion …
t This review first appeared in The Lennox Herald 29 January 2016 Linsey Aitken and Ken Campbell pull off a musical world tour at their first Celtic Connections gig. Like the wild geese taking off above Linsey Aitken and Ken Campbell’s home in Gartocharn on Loch Lomondside, a full house at the Glasgow Art Club …
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THE sight of 10 women – some of the UK’s most creative and uniquely versatile traditional musicians – walking on stage at the Mitchell Theatre on Sunday 24 January for Songs of Separation as part of Celtic Connections had quite an impact.
This review first appeared in Common Space 15 January 2016 “GIVE us a song!” Growing up in Glasgow in a large extended family of first and second generation Irish immigrants – all good singers – this was an order, not a request. I grew to realise the importance of song to those not long removed from …
Continue reading “@ccfest: Celtic Connections thunders in on The Carrying Stream”
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