CELTIC CONNECTIONS
CELTIC CONNECTIONS
LISTINGS
Some events take place in the Grand Ballroom of the Hospitality Inn. Renfrew Street. All others at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. 2 Sauchiehall Street. Enquiries Line: 041 353 4131.
Credit Card Booking Line: 041 227 5511. Tickets may be ordered by post from the Concert Hall or in person from the Concert Hall and at Ticketlink Box Offices at The Ticket Centre. Candleriggs; Centre for Contemporary Arts. Sauchiehall Street; Citizen‘s Theatre. Gorbals; Mitchell Theatre. Charing Cross; Tron Theatre. Trongate; and the Greater Glasgow Tourist Board.
THURSDAY 5
I Cloud Howe Ceilidh Band/Phil Cunningham’s All Star Ceilidh Band/T he Tartan Amoebas Exhibition Hall. 9pm. £8. (£6). Opening night ceilidh dance spectacular. A new look and sound to the Cloud Howe with added flute. keyboards and guitar and excursions into European music. _
FRIDAY 6
I Beginners Clarsach Strathclyde Suite. 10am. £5 (£3). Charlotte Peterson gives a course suitable for absolute beginners. Instruments will be provided and classes are limited to ten. With Charlotte Peterson.
I Morning Concert Exhibition Hall. 11am. £1 in advance £1.50 on day. TBC. I Carnyx Demonstration Strathclyde Suite. lpm. Free. Musicologist. John Purser. gives a talk on the history of the Carnyx. a large bronze trumpet-like instrument of the ancient Celts.
I Guitar Accompaniment Buchanan Suite. 2pm. £5 (£3). Chris Newman gives a class for people who have a grasp of playing the guitar. Numbers limited to twelve.
I Irish Harp Masterclass Strathclyde Suite. 2.30pm. Free. Renowned musician Maire Ni Chathasaigh reveals the secrets of the Irish harp.
I Alan Stivell and his Band, Tannas and Y Monlars Main Auditorium. 7.30pm. £6.50—£8.50 (concessions and standing area available). The visionary Breton harpist had a major influence in the early days of folk/rock and makes a rare visit with his current group (see panel).
I The Humpit Family and Tartan Amoebas Strathclyde Suite. 8pm. £7.50 (£5.50). Cheerful musical anarchy as raunchy Celtic Humpff hillbilly meets the Dashing White Sergeant samba. ' I Hugh MacDiannid’s Haircut Exhibition Hall. 10.30pm. £5 (£3.50). Another great new wave Edinburgh ceilidh dance band. with blistering bagpipes.
SATURDAY 7
I Step Dancing Exhibition Hall. 10am. £3 (£2). Suitable for all ages and abilities. Maggie Moore will teach the steps while Bruce McGregor fires up the limbs with a Cape Breton-style accompaniment.
I Percussion Class Strathclyde Suite. 10am. £3 (£2). Mouth Music’s James McIntosh. with Jim Sutherland and Tom Bancroft. Shake them things and beat them skins.
I Ceilidh Dance Workshop Exhibition Hall. 12.30pm. £3.50 (£2). Bob Blair teaches the basic. and some more advanced dance steps to people of all abilities.
I The Caledonian Fiddle Orchestra Main Auditorium. 1.30pm. £5. Democratic massed fiddles plus a few accordions. An acquired taste.
I Did Blind Dogs and Anna Murray Strathclyde Suite. 2pm. £3.50. Hard working Aberdeen band with a contemporary vocal slant on Scottish songs old and new. and an up-and-at-‘em approach on percussion and congas. guitar. cittem and fiddle. Ms Murray is a young Lewis Gaelic singer. Mac/lair actress and very good piper. both on the Highland and smaller bellows-blown sets. I la Toque Bleue Exhibition Hall. 3pm. £3.50. Afternoon ceilidh with the Newcastle band which looks to Canada‘s Cape Breton Island for its fiddle-based sound.
I Scottish Harp Buchanan Suite. 2pm. £5 (£3). Judith Peacock of the Whistlebinkies gives an intermediate class.
I Dige, The Simon Thoumire Three and Maire Hi Chathasaigh and Chris Newman Strathclyde Suite. 8pm. £8.50 (£6.50). Youthful. tasteful all-acoustic traditional music and beautiful song from the North of Ireland’s Oige; fleet-fingered extemporisation on concertina. jazz guitar and bass from young Scots squeeze box wizard; and virtuoso Irish harp and guitar in an eclectic instrumental/vocal duo.
I The Living Tradition Concert Main Auditorium. 10.30pm. £6. The folk magazine Living Tradition presents an evening of Scottish music. featuring Kentigern. the seminal 70s Glasgow folk band re-formed for the occasion; Scots rhythm and swing from The Easy Club; authentic Old Glasgow street song. Scots trad. and Adam MacNaughton's wordy wit in Stramash; the heritage of North East song and music on fiddle. whistle and concertina by the long-established Caugers; Ossian's Billy Jackson on harp. keyboards. whistle and pipes; and : unaccompanied singers Hay Fisher and Arthur Johnstone. l I Wild Cigarillos Exhibition Hall.
10.30pm. £5 (£3.50).
This Edinburgh ceilidh dance band is I really a rock and roll outfit — or is it the ‘ other way around?
a SUNDAY 8
I Open Workshop Exhibition Hall. Noon. Free. Top instrumentalists Dougie Pincock. Corrina Hewat. Bruce McGregor and John Kenny demonstrate the range of the pipes. harp. fiddle. carnyx and bodhran.
I Afternoon Concert Strathclyde Suite. 2pm. £3.50. TBC.
I All Day Music Platform Grand Ballroom. 4pm. £8.50 (£6.50). Hours of variety featuring the acoustic-orientated pop songwriting skills of the River Detectives. Martin Stephenson. and Yamaha award winning Fiaere. with the folk/rockery of the seven Journeymen. and special guests.
I Relativity and Did Blind Dogs Main Auditorium. 7.30pm. £10.50—£l2.50 plus concessions. Two sets of siblings make up Relativity; Scots fiddle and accordion brothers Johnny and Phil Cunningham. and Ireland's Triona and Micheal 0 Domnhuill from the great Bothy Band (see panel). See Sat 7 for Old Blind Dogs.
I Michael Marra and Seelyhoo Strathclyde Suite. 8pm. £7.50 (£5.50). Here with his rock/soul band. pianist and guitar player Marra is Scotland‘s subtlest songwriter. with a wonderful. distinctively textured voice. and an ever-increasing following. Seelyhoo is a new amalgam of young but experienced players rooted in Scots and Irish traditional music but putting their own skilled. expressive slant in vocal and instrumental arrangements.
MONDAY 9 .
I The Joumeymen Exhibition Hall. 11am. £lin advance. £1.50 in advance. Veteran singing banjo player Gibb Todd introduces the seven-strong folk/rock entertainers in the Joumeymen.
I Jimmie McCregor Strathclyde Suite. 1pm. £1.50 in advance. £2 on the day. Media Scot. and vintage folk singer
McGregor kicks off the Celtic Conversations series with ‘In The Footsteps of Bonnie Prince Charlie.‘
I Mr Anderson’s Fine Tunes Exhibition Hall. 3pm. Free. BBC Scotland’s lain Anderson broadcasts from the festival with live music and some celebrity interviews.
I The Dubliners and Na l.ua Main Auditorium. 7.30pm. £lO.50—£I2.50 plus concessions. The original Irish Guinness- soaked vocalists have never been out of favour. but their chart-topping relationship with the Pogues brought their unmistakeable harmonies and repertoire back to public consciousness. Here the five elderly Dublin lads are teamed with the easily digested Galician music of the long-established Na l.ua. the sounds of Celtic northern Spain married to Latin and world music grooves.
I Eleanor McEvoy and her Band and The Lost Soul Band Strathclyde Suite. 8pm. £8.50 (£6.50). Recently anointed star Irish songwriter and instrumentalist. currently on the Woman’s Heart tour. is much more in mainstream popular music than the Irish tradition. and shares the honours with the Lost Soul trio performing an unplugged set of their energetic soft rock and country-style songs.
TUESDAY 10
I Gaelic Song Strathclyde Suite. 10am. £5 (£3). £8 (£6) for two days. One of Gaeldom‘s greatest vocalists. lshbel McCaskill from Lewis gives a class for singers of all abilities.
I Scots Song Buchanan Suite. 2pm. £5 (£3). £8 (£6) for two days. Leading Scots traditionalist.Sheena Wellington gives a class for people of all abilities. Numbers limited to twenty.
I iia Lua Exhibition Hall. 11am. £1 in advance. £1.50 on the day. Formed in 1980. this is their first Scottish visit. See Mon 9.
I Rhoda MacDonald Strathclyde Suite. lpm. £1.50 in advance. £2 on the day. MacDonald. head of Gaelic at Scottish Television. gives a talk entitled ‘Gaelic: Renaissance v Preservation‘.
I Mr Anderson’s Fine Tunes Exhibition
I Paul Brady and The Eleanor Shanley Band Main Auditorium. 7.30pm.
£ l().50~£l2.5() plus concessions. From his acoustic roots in The Johnstons. and later in Planxty. Brady has emerged as one of Ireland's premier rock songwriters. a cult at home and abroad. and numbering Dylan and Joni Mitchell among his fans. I Tom Paxton and Jennifer and Hazel Wrigley Strathclyde Suite. 8pm. £7.50 (£5.50). One of the greats of folk music. revered from the early American post-war revival to the respect he‘s held in today by the likes of Dick Gaughan. he gives a concert of voice. guitar and an amazing repertoire of committed, compassionate. satirical and amusing song.
I Altan and David Allison Grand Ballroom. 8pm. £8.50 (£6.50). Simplicity within the exceptional skill and knowledge of their Donegal tradition. both vocal and instrumental. that's the hallmark of Altan. back on the road as a living celebration of the achievement of their late founder and flute player Frankie Kennedy. David Allison is one of Scotland's most creative guitarists. who ploughs his own furrow originating acoustic and electric pieces. in the main introspective. exploratory. and rooted in folk guitar styles.
WEDNESDAY 11 .
I Gaelic Song Strathclyde Suite. 10am. £5 (£3). See Tue 10.
Hall. 3pm. Free. Live radio. See Monday 9.
I Scots Song Buchanan Suite. 2pm. £5 (£3). See Tue 10.
I Emma Christian Exhibition Hall. 1 lam. £1 in advance. £1.50 on the day. Delightful. ear-opening song and instrumental music on harp and recorder from the young champion of Manx culture.
I Ian Crichton Smith Strathclyde Suite. lpm. £1.50 in advance. £2 on the day. The author. poet. humorist and Gael gives a talk entitled ‘Confessions ofa Bilingual Writer.‘
I Mr Anderson‘s Pine Tunes Exhibition Hall. 3pm. Free. Live radio. See Monday 9. I Capercaillie and Llan de Cubel Main Auditorium. 7.30pm. £l().50—£12.50 plus concessions. Scotland‘s most popular folk-into-rock band put on their usual glossy show of controlled. polished performance. uplifting trad/funk instrumental dance tracks and the centrepiece vocals. in Gaelic and English. of star singer Karen Matheson. Galicia. the Celtic region of northern Spain. is the home of Llan de Cubel. who make a welcome return visit to Scotland with a fiery. contemporary expression of their own traditional music.
I Tom Paxton and Allan and Ingrid Henderson Strathclyde Suite. 8pm. £7.50 (£5.50). Troubador Tom Paxton. see Tue 10. The Hendersons are Fort William teenagers. already established as fine performers on the fiddle. pipes. clarsach and piano.
I Wolfstone (unplugged) and Ha Lua Grand Ballroom. 8pm. £8.50 (£6.50). The hugely popular Highland folk/rockers have piper Martyn Bennett with them (remember the music in the Drambuie advert?) and are performing this gig unplugged. or only partially plugged.
I The Muckle Dran Strathclyde Suite. 10am. £5 (£3). The Big (Scots) Song (Gaelic). lshbel McCaskill and Sheena Wellington explore the similarities and differences between Gaelic and Scots song. I Carnyx Workshop Buchanan Suite. 2pm. £5 (£3). Trombonist. John Kenny. looks at the links between the ancient carnyx and modern brass instruments. I llan de Cubel Exhibition Hall. 1 lam. £1 in advance. £1.50 on the day. Galicia's Tannahill Weavers in concert. I Dr Winnie Ewing Strathclyde Suite. lpm. £1.50 in advance. £2 on the door. As part of the Celtic Conversations series. SNP politician and member of the European Parliament gives a talk on ‘Scotland in Europe'. I Mary Ann Kennedy Exhibition Hall. 2.30pm. Free. BBC Radio Scotland presenter broadcasts live with Festival guests. I Capercaillie and Shooglenifty Main Auditorium. 7.30pm. £10.50—£12.50 plus concessions. Star Scottish band Capercaillie. see Wed 11. Shooglenifty are the originators of Celtic trance dance and hyp‘nofolkadelia. I hartoum Heroes and Bongshang Strathclyde Suite. 8pm. £7.50 (£5.50). A noisy dance feast pairing the punk/roots energy of the Heroes. formed from the ashes of the Skuobhie Dubh Orchestra and Miraclehead. with the elemental young fiddle/rock leaders of the current Shetland music explosion. See panel. I John Martyn and New Celeste Grand Ballroom. 8pm. £8.50 (£6.50). Mellow roots/rock originating in 60s and 70s Glasgow. Martyn created and defined a stylised musical language on guitar and attenuated vocals and as a songwriter has been consistently creative over the three decades.
Celtic Connections continues until 22 January (see advert p 81).
Full details of the final 10 days will'be included in the next issue of The List out on 12 January.
24 The List 16 December 1994—12 January 1995