‘ t‘OIWI‘e‘L‘TIODS
listings compiled by Norman Chalmers
Information
Venues: Unless otherwise stated. all concerts are at venues within the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. 2 Sauchiehall Street; others take place at The PIpIng Centre. 30 McPhater Street, Cowcaddens; Adelaide’s. 209 Bath Street; The Barony IIaII. MacLeod Street; the Fruitmarket. Albion Street; and the Festival Club. 10.30pm—3am at the Central Hotel. Gordon Street. There are exhibitions of painting and photography. record and merchandise stalls and live radio broadcasts from the GRCH. See the Celtic Connections official programme for a full list of workshops and masterclasses.
Tickets and lnfonnatlon:
lnforrnation line 014] 353 4137. Credit card booking 014! 287 5511. Tickets also bookable from the Ticket Centre. Candleriggs.014l 287 5511. Special access information on the Accessibility Hotline Oldl 332 6633. ext 4137.
FRIDAY 24
I Reeltime Piping Centre. 6pm. £5. Vigorous. youthful Irish music from a quartet of talent. led by vocals. fiddle and button box.
I Alasdair Fraser Band/Bachue Cafe Main Auditorium. 7.30pm. £10.50. £8.50. US-exiled Scots fiddle champ brings his North American group. Sec Celtic Connections Mttsic preview. Support from classy. ja/zy Edinburgh piano. harp and vocal duo.
I Rita Connolly Rand/Voice Squad Strathclyde Suite. 8pm. £9.50. Heavenly Irish vocal sounds. Connolly is Sean Davey's (Brendan Voyage. Granuaillc. Siege of Derry etc) long-term
I Sean Keane: Among the very best of his generation, Sean Keane sings in a manner that marries the old ‘sean nos’ style and the contemporary expression of music from the Irish tradition. From his Galway roots he has, like sister Dolores, taken his music round the world, often, as in Glasgow, accompanied by some of Ireland’s best accompanists.
Sean Keane, Strathclyde Suite, GRCH. Sun 26 Jan, 8pm.
collaborator. The Voice Squad is a legendary trio of exquisite a cappella singers.
I Sgathach Adelaide‘s. 8pm. £6. The Young Gaels. Pipes. fiddle and a full instrumental line-up. but more beautiful Gaelic song in all its forms. from the best of Highland Scotland’s young musicians and singers.
I Shooglenifty/Flook Old Fruitmarket. 9.30pm. £8.50. The famous inventors of hypnofolkadelia lay down Scots folk funk grooves. supported by the wildest. most inventive quartet of flute players on the planet. Brian Finnegan and Michael McGoIdrick are virtuoso traditional players. and the group includes uillcan pipes and guitar.
I CDC Connections Exhibition Hall. 2.30—4.30pm. Free. Live music. bands and guests from the Festival.
I Festival Club Central Hotel. l0.3()pm. Free.
SATURDAY 25
I Sin FJFIook Strathclyde Suite. 2pm. £6. Original Irish dimensions and textures from a great sextet featuring Eastern percussion. uillean pipes. arresting vocals and strong instrumentals. Flook; see Fri 24. I Chantan Piping Centre. 6pm. £5. Vocal harmony trio features Scots lasses Christine Kydd. Elspeth Cowie and Corrina Hewat (who plays superb small harp). I Burns Supper Concert Hall. 8pm. £30. Digestible fare includes haggis and neeps etc. then there‘s Iain (Fine Tunes) Anderson. Sheena Wellington. Dougie Pincock. Brian Beattie. Karen Matheson. members of Stramash and Palaver. anti the Cloud Howe Ceilidh Band. I Brendan Power Band/Mick West Band Strathclyde Suite. 8pm. £9.50. Harmonica genius. currently starring in the Riverdance band. brings his own five- piece including Ian Carr and Gerry O’Connor. Glasgow singer West has a rare talent for traditional song and brings keyboards. sax. small pipes and acoustic bass. I Celtic Voyages Old Fruitmarket. 6pm. £l I. Costume drama time with the Scottish Early Music Consort including Paul Rendall. tenor. a Mod Medallist Gaelic singer. kids from Mull and a theme of sacred anti secularjourneys. and early Christian pilgrimage. using plainchant. dance and contemporary and traditional music. I Rock, Salt and Nails/Sin E ()lti Fruitmarket. 9.30pm. £8.50. Shetland band now endlessly touring Europe and beyond with a rough-edged rootsy mix of original songs. cover versions. the odd trad vocal and dancey fiddle. For Sin Ii. see 2pm. today. I Festival Club Central Hotel. l().30pm. Free. I Ceilidh Exhibition Hall. l0.30pm. £5. gluic from Cloud IIowe Ceilidh Dance an .
SUNDAY 26
I Fiddle Forum Piping Centre. 2pm. £5. The Barra MacNeils from Cape Breton. Alasdair and Iain Fraser. and Angus Grant answer your questions and play a bit.
I Karen Weed and Ian Carr Piping Centre. 6pm. £5. A very sympathetic duo create beautiful. eclectic music on accordion and guitar.
I Equation/Swap Strathclyde Suite. 2pm. £6. Youthful rootsy pop music from English band with ambition. See Celtic Connections Music preview. Swap are an unusual and musically adventurous melding of British. Irish and Scandinavian
styles with guitarist lan Carr and accordionist Karen Tweed joining fiddlers Ola Backstrom and Carina Normansson. I Sean Keane Band/Sandy Brechin Band Strathclyde Suite. 8pm. £9.50. The best of the emerging bands in Ireland and Scotland. Sean is Dolores's younger brother. and at least her equal as a singer. Brechin is a tastefully dangerous piano accordion star.
I Sharon Shannon Band/Kathryn Tickell Band ()ld Fruitmarket. 9pm. £l2.50. The leading ladies of the glossy folk mags are great ambassadors for their native music. and both are marvellous. expressive players. Shannon on Ireland's button accordion (and fiddle) and Tickell on Northumberland‘s small-pipe (and fiddle). I Festival Club Central Hotel. 10.30pm.
Free.
MONDAY 27
I Celtic Conversations Strathclyde Suite. lpm. £3.50. Tom Weir talks about a lifetime in the countryside of Scotland. I David Allison Piping Centre. 6pm. £5. Itmovative and tlextrous performer on the acoustic guitar now using more and more electronics.
I Brian Kennedy/Equation Main Auditorium. 7.30pm. £12.50 (£l().5()). Belfast boy Kennedy has a remarkably beautiful voice. guests with Van the Man among many other stellar names. and sells out everywhere. Equation. see Sun 26.
I Barra MacIIeils/Swap Strathclyde Suite. 8pm. £9.50. As is usual with Canadian Celtic and Cape Breton bands. their instrumental tnusic is mighty. but their songs are often weak with a twangy country sincerity. For Swap. see Sun 26. I BBC Connections Exhibition Hall. 230-430an Free. Live music. bands anti guests from the Festival.
I Festival Club Central Hotel. l().3()pm. Free.
TUESDAY 28
I Celtic Conversations Strathclyde Suite. lpm. £3.50. Sheena Wellington. The Scots singer is never lost for words.
I Donald Black/Malcolm Jones Piping Centre. 6pm. £5. The leading Scots exponent of the traditional mouth organ accompanied by Runrig's guitarist in acoustic mode.
I Eddi Reader Band/Michael Marra Main Auditorium. 7.30pm. £l3. £l I. £8.50. Idiosyncratic songs and body language from the celebrated Scots songwriter in her essentially acoustic rootsy pop style. Marra‘s voice is as mysteriously cratered as the far side of the moon; he is Scotland's finest songwriter and here holds court at the piano.
I Kathryn Tickell and Friends/T he Cast Strathclyde Suite. 8pm. £9.50. The doyenne of Northumbrian small-pipers. who also handles fiddle. supported by Scots pair Dave Francis and Mairi Campbell on guitar and fiddle/vocals.
I BBC Connections Exhibition Hall. 2.30—4.30pm. Free. Live music. bands and guests from the Festival.
I Festival Club Central Hotel. l().3()pm.
Free.
WEDNESDAY 29
I Celtic Conversations Strathclyde Suite. lpm. £3.50. John Rodger on Flora MacDonald. Highland Heroine“?
I Bachue Cafe Piping Centre. 6pm. £5. See Fri 24.
I Paul Brady/Mary Coughlan Main Auditorium. 7.30pm. £l3. £l I. Two of
I Stri is Gaelic for ‘struggle’ and the name of the first part of a specially commissioned piece of work which Celtic Connections have asked up-and- coming composer Tommy Fowler to write for the festival. The next two parts will be performed over the next two years and comprise a dance piece for solo percussionist and an opera/music theatre piece in Gaelic. The aim of the work is to traverse the barriers of taste and style and appeal to a wide cross- section of potential audiences. The world premiere of Striwill be performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and The Iron Horse (pictured above) as the concluding concert of the fourth Celtic Connections. 0f the work, Fowler says: ‘Most of the so-called ‘cross-over’ pieces involving traditional and contemporary music have taken traditional ideas as a starting point. I have approached from a different direction using the contemporary orchestral medium as a basis upon which to build aspects of traditional style.’
The Tommy Fowler Contemporary Music Project, Barony Ilall, 8pm, Sun 2 Feb.
Ireland‘s consummate vocal performers: Brady‘s songwriting emerged from a folk background (he once played in Planxty) to its contemporary enigmatic AOR idiom; Coughlan is a blues-inflected. passionate nippy sweetie from Galway.
I Fisher Family/James Malcolm Strathclyde Suite. 8pm. £9.50. Archie. Cilla and Ray sing the songs of their native Scotland. and then some; Malcolm moves between vocals. mouth organ and guitar with skill. smooth confidence and self-penned songs.
I Fallen Angels/Ewen Sutherland Adelaides. 8pm. £6. Four experienced Dublin women do their vocal thing with Irish music. Sutherland chooses his songs with care. and writes some himself.
I Shane MacGowan and The Popes/Great Big Sea ()Id Fruitmarket. 9pm. £l l. The Brent Spar of Celtic music - full ofcrutl and nowhere to go. Maybe swap him for the support. Newfoundland's finest. gold album band who use acoustic traditional instruments with guitar. bass and a neat line in songwriting.
I BBC Connections Exhibition Hall. 2.30-4.30pm. Free. Live music. bands and guests from the Festival.
I Festival Club Central Hotel. l0.30pm. Free.
20 The List 24 Jan-6 Feb I997