Getting underway this weekend is one of the leading festivals of folk, roots and world music, Celtic Connections, which offers 18 days of music and entertainment.
Mid-January used to be a pretty bleak time of the year until Celtic Connections came along in 1994, when Glasgow became the warmest and brightest place to be.
Created as a result of requests for a broad-based Celtic music show, staff at Glasgow Concert Hall came up with the idea of a Celtic Connections Festival which put Celtic folk groups, singers, art, conversation and ceilidhs in the spotlight.
The rest, as they say, is history…
Since then, it’s become a runaway success, a global, must-attend event that attracts fans from villages and cities across Scotland – and from all over the world.
Donald Shaw, artistic director for Celtic Connections 2017, says: “From Thursday, January 19, to Sunday, February 5, 2,100 musicians from across the globe will take part in 300 events at venues throughout Glasgow, Scotland, for one of the leading annual festivals of world, folk and roots music.
“Eighteen days of concerts, ceilidhs, talks, art exhibitions, workshops, free events, late-night sessions and a host of special one-off musical collaborations will once again light up the Scottish winter when Celtic Connections returns.”
The opening concert stars award-winning folk singer songwriter Laura Marling, who will perform the world premiere of orchestrations of her songs by Kate St John with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and special guests. This is the first of this year’s celebration of inspiring women artists, with performances by Roberta Sá, Olivia Newton John with Beth Neilson Chapman, Karine Polwart, and legendary singer Shirley Collins among the other highlights.
The festival also focuses this year on artists who have lived through times of intense personal hardships and found success through their music and strength, such as world music star Aziza Brahim who grew up in an Algerian refugee camp.
Margo Price, St Paul and the Broken Bones, Darlingside, Hurray for the Riff Raff, the Mark O’ Connor Band and Calexico and are among the stars of Americana and Bluegrass who will be taking to the stage.
Travelling further down the path to explore connections between Scotland and the deep south of America, Jon Cleary and Dirk Powell will celebrate the Louisiana sound, inspired by Booker Prize-winning author James Kelman’s Dirt Road.
Billy Bragg and Joe Henry will perform classic railroad songs featured on their album Shine A Light which was recorded on a four-day journey by train across America.
Traditional and folk music remain at the heart of the festival with a dazzling line-up that takes in La Banda Europa led by Jim Sutherland, star-studded folk orchestra Unusual Suspects, fiddle super-group Session A9, Edinburgh’s Dallahan, the premiere of piping project Tryst, Ireland’s festival favourites Sharon Shannon and Four Men and A Dog, Gaelic rockers Manran and a 20th anniversary performance of Phil Cunningham’s Highlands and Islands suite.
Shooglenifty and special guests will come together for A Night for Angus, paying tribute to their friend, band member and inspirational fiddle player Angus R. Grant who so sadly passed away this month.
The festival will also celebrate the 150th anniversary of Canada to Glasgow with shows by leading Canadian artists such as Martha Wainwright, Le Vent Du Nord, De Temps Antan and Russell deCarle while the 70th anniversary of the Partition of India will be marked with a Celtic Connections premiere and commission for leading world percussionists Trilok Gurtu and Evelyn Glennie and classical violin star Jayanthi Kumaresh.
Other artists appearing at the festival include C Duncan, Pictish Trail, Fairport Convention, Liz Lochhead, Aidan Moffat, Seth Lakeman, Tom Paxton, King Creosote, Siobhan Miller, Orchestra Baobab, Robyn Stapleton, and Anna Meredith.
Meanwhile, the always popular programme of public workshops will give people of all ages and opportunities the chance during the festival to learn new musical skills and have fun along the way. There will also be a new venture, a collaboration with The National Whisky Festival, which sees a wide range of whisky tastings and music hosted at a new venue for Celtic Connections, SWG3, on Saturday, January 28.
And to complete the banishing of the chilly temperatures of the air in Glasgow – for a few glorious evenings at least – Celtic Connections is delighted to celebrate Brazil as the partner country for 2017, with performances by some of the country’s leading artists including Hamilton De Holanda, Yamandu Costa and Renata Rosa – and Roberta Sá.
Mr Shaw said: “Artists who have shaped the present day and artists who are re-defining music for the future will take to the stage. Artists whose lives and cultures could not be more different will come together to share their stories, passion and skill. At the heart of it all is the simple life-affirming experience of being at a live music performance during a world-leading festival. We can’t wait for Celtic Connections 2017 to begin.”
Celtic Connections 2017 runs until Sunday, February 5. For full details of events, information and tickets visit www.celticconnections.com