FOLLOWING on from last year’s 15th anniversary celebrations, Celtic Connections has again revealed an ambitious programme sure to excite and enthuse as the festival enters into its second quarter century.
Alongside the usual firmament of folk music stars will be others from outwith the traditional music community as well as artists from across the globe.
Celtic Connections creative producer Donald Shaw promises the 2019 programme will be the most diverse yet.
“Every year we strive to programme the most diverse and eclectic festival yet and 2019 is shaping up to be just that,” says Shaw.
“From artists who have influenced the current scene, to musicians who are redefining the music of tomorrow, Celtic Connections 2019 will continue to embrace a huge range of styles and genres that showcase artists and cultures from across the world.”
Among the many highlights will be a series of collaborations featuring established artists accompanied by musicians more used to a variety of different genres.
On January 25 at the City Halls, Jarlath Henderson and Rachel Sermanni, two of traditional music’s finest and most innovative artists, will play together along with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and treat the audience to new arrangements of their respective repertoires. The concert is part of a series entitled Above The Surface, which aims to blur the lines between genres and explore folk music’s place in the world as a universal language, bringing cultures together.
The series begins with a collaboration between perhaps Scotland’s foremost Gaelic singer Kathleen MacInnes and Icelandic collective Amiina on January 19 at the New Auditorium at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. The strings of the Icelanders have been a feature of Sigur Ros albums over the past decade and now they will be paired with MacInnes’s distinctive throaty vocals in a performance that is sure to be a festival highlight.
Also appearing as part of Above The Surface will be Gaelic singing trio Sian – Ellen MacDonald, Eilidh Cormack and Ceitlin LR Smith – who will be performing alongside Mali’s Bassekou Kouyate and his band Ngoni Ba at the Old Fruitmarket on January 25.
KOUYATE is a master of the ngoni, which is an ancient traditional lute native to West Africa. He is also known as an innovator and a master of Malian folklore.
The Gaelic harmonies of Sian, meanwhile, have most recently been showcased on Niteworks’ Air Fair an La and the rising trio are definitely not to be missed.
Perhaps the most exciting pairing, however, brings together possibly the country’s two top singer songwriters in Karine Polwart and Kris Drever, above.
As well as being a founding member of Lau, probably British folk music’s greatest current exponents, Drever has also forged a stellar solo career, culminating in the release of 2016’s If Wishes Were Horses, which saw the Orcadian named as BBC Radio Two’s Folk Singer of the Year and the album’s title track named Best Original Track in 2017.
Polwart, meanwhile, has been crossing the artistic disciplines with her theatrical debut, Wind Resistance, which played to sold-out audiences across the country and was won the Best Music and Sound Award at the Cats (Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland) in 2017. In addition, she was named as BBC Radio Two Folk Singer of the Year for 2018.
Drever and Polwart will be performing alongside the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at the King’s Theatre on January 27.
Elsewhere, the weekend of January 25 and 26 will be a big one at the Barrowlands when two of the country’s finest and most exciting bands will be headlining the famous old venue.
First up, on Friday, January 25, will be stalwarts Shooglenifty supported by the excellent Kinnaris Quintet. It promises to be a raucous event as the Shoogles, fronted by their new fiddler Eilidh Shaw, bring their trademark Acid Croft to the East End. Dancing shoes will most definitely be required, especially given the exuberance of the support act who were a revelation at Skye Live.
The following night belongs to Skye electro-trad stars Niteworks, hot on the heels of the release of their excellent second album Air Fair an La and who will be joined onstage by all the support acts on the album including Sian, Iain Morrison and Julie Fowlis.
Other favourites to catch at the festival include Elephant Sessions who play the Queen Margaret Union on January 19, Hamish Napier at the New Auditorium on January 18, The Chair and Daimh also on January 18, Siobhan Wilson on January 26 at St Luke’s, Breabach at the Old Fruitmarket on January 26, and Blazin’ Fiddles at the King’s Theatre on January 31.
However, while Celtic Connections is always a showcase for the best in homegrown talent, it is also a festival that likes to take risks and explore the links between genres, and 2019 is no different.
The stand-out one-off collaboration for this edition will see artists from across the musical spectrum pay tribute to one of Scotland’s finest exports, John Martyn.
The life of the tortured poet who began as a folk-blues guitarist but embraced everything from rock to reggae as he grew into one of the world’s most distinctive and genuine voices, will be celebrated on January 27 at the Royal Concert Hall.
The festival has brought together a dream line-up of artists including Paul Weller, Lucy Rose, Eddi Reader, Ross Wilson, Rory Butler, Eric Bibb, John Smith and Katie Spencer, who will sing the words and music of a genuine soul-poet. They will be accompanied by a master bass guitarist Alan Thomson, Martyn’s keyboard player Foster Paterson and drummer Arran Ahmun, and a string section led by Greg Lawson, and of course, Martyn’s long-time friend and double bass titan Danny Thompson, who will also be musical director for the evening.
OTHER less obviously traditional concerts see Mull Historical Society (aka Colin MacIntyre) and Bernard Butler of Suede come together on January 25 at the CCA, and Blue Rose Code who will present his exploration of Caledonian soul on January 19 at the City Halls.
All in all, Celtic Connections 2019 is certain to bring some much-needed light to the dark days of January and February.
As councillor David McDonald of Glasgow Life says: “Year on year Celtic Connections is a cultural highlight for Glasgow and Scotland. As Europe’s largest winter music festival, which recorded a phenomenal 130,000 attendances last year, we welcome audiences and artists from around the world to Glasgow during what would otherwise be a very quiet time of year. Celtic Connections has been brightening up dark January nights for 25 years and it really is a fantastic time to be in the city. I can’t wait for the festival to return in 2019.”
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