CELTIC CONNECTIONS
P H O T O :
K E T H M O R R S
I I
SCOTTISH
AMERICANA WORLD/JAZZ
BEST OF THE REST
The native backbone of Celtic Connections may set a standard for traditional prowess, but the festival is a fierce champion of up and coming talents with one foot in the future too. Look out for:
CHEMIKAL UNDERGROUND Acclaimed Glasgow krautrockers The Phantom Band headline a celebration of 15 years of indie accomplishment, including Arab Strap’s Aidan Moffat previewing new work with Bill Wells, a first performance from ex- Aereogrammers The Unwinding Hours, and label founders Alun Woodward and Emma Pollock.
ST KILDA TAPES/ ALASDAIR ROBERTS Playing the multimedia visuals of his evacuee’s story like an instrument alongside looped guitar and sampler, David Allison has entranced audiences in London, Ireland and Canada. Sharing the bill, the splendidly idiosyncratic Alasdair Roberts is at the cutting edge of Scottish folk. A SCOTTISH SONGBOOK King Creosote, Kris Drever, Karine Polwart and the rest of the stellar cast assemble to pay tribute to native excellence, with this look back at songs of the last hundred years. Pop and folk classics, surprises and special guests are promised in what should be an affirmation of a rich heritage.
AN TOBAR SESSIONS This salute to the island of Mull’s arts centre is an anti-parochial jamboree, bringing together fiddler Aidan O’Rourke (of Lau and Blazin’ Fiddles) with inspirational pianist Dave Milligan, while Colin MacIntyre unpacks the post-Mull Historical Society songs recorded in his former Tobermory classroom.
From genuine 60s icons (including Tom Paxton and Buffy Sainte- Marie) to the latest experiments (check out the fusion of bluegrass and rap purveyed by the Deadly Gentlemen’s Greg Liszt, late of Springsteen’s Seeger Sessions Band) there’s no shortage of transatlantic hot tickets:
THE LOW ANTHEM The fast-rising trio’s classic folk virtues have made Oh My God, Charlie Darwin Uncut magazine’s Americana album of the year. Measured, unhurried tunes and finely-crafted harmonies built around Ben Knox Miller’s smoky tenor mix winningly with raucous stomping. LAURA VEIRS Promoting her seventh album July Flame (see review, page 64), the bespectacled Portland, Oregon-based girl returns after a self-imposed songwriting hiatus with catchy tunes and musical invention, and her four- piece band – the newly-christened Hall of Flames – should add some oomph.
BEARFOOT The journey from Anchorage, Alaska, hasn’t prevented this effervescent five- piece from following the Dixie Chicks and Nickel Creek to the distinguished title of Telluride Bluegrass Band Champions. Beguiling female vocals jostle with instrumental virtuosity and covers of the Beatles and John Hiatt.
POKEY LAFARGE AND THE SOUTH CITY THREE Like a Leon Redbone for a new generation, LaFarge draws on ragtime, acoustic blues and jugband music from the 20s and 30s to cook up a bubbling brew that is sprightly, soulful and thoroughly satisfying.
As well as the perennial Irish influx, and exotica from Celtic outposts like Galicia and the Isle of Man, this year’s programme features artists from Brazil, Portugal, Japan and Norway. A few ones to watch:
NIKAIDO KAZUMI This Japanese indie girl’s musical palette is whimsically derivative, but her voice is a thing of wonder - now girlishly flirtatious, now stridently soaring, or sinking to the heartfelt intensity of a Johnsonless Antony. Maverick Scottish guitarist Bill Wells may bring out the best in her. TRILOK GURTU BAND WITH JAN GARBAREK AND SHANKAR MAHADEVAN Connoisseurs will find it hard to resist the reunion of these storied collaborators, joining Gurtu’s beguiling percussive shenanigans and Mahadevan’s extraordinary voice with Jan Garbarek’s keening soprano saxophone.
DEOLINDA Reinventing the passionate Portuguese tradition of fado with a pop sensibility, this young quartet conjure up a flamboyantly theatrical narrative of Lisbon life that has seduced audiences of all ages. The album ‘Cancao ao lado’ was one of the world music triumphs of 2009. THE LEGENDARY GYPSY QUEENS AND KINGS Emphatically not the 80s purveyors of ‘Volare’ and other flamenco lite, this barnstorming Romany royalty features high-octane Bucharest band Mahala Rai Banda (much remixed by devotees of club-friendly Balkan Beats) with top- notch singers and dancers from Macedonia, Bulgaria and Romania. (see competition, page 67)
Determined to broaden our musical horizons and prove that Celtic Connections goes far, far beyond ‘folk’, here are some of the best of the rest: SONGS OF NICK DRAKE Scotland is well represented at this foray into the contemporary English songbook, with guests like Belle & Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch and resurgent Edinburgh-based folkie Vashti Bunyan joining legendary producer Joe Boyd and sundry others paying tribute to the late singer- songwriter.
CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS This trio of musicians from Carolina’s Piedmont region bring bouncy banjo music, teamed up with the fiddle, in true Southern antebellum style. Their late-January gig also marks the launch of their album Genuine Negro Jig.
NATURALLY 7 The festival boasts a true acapella superstar in Bobby McFerrin, but fans of the genre will also be hunting down the exciting LA group Sonos, as well as this award-winning, YouTube- celebrated New York septet (whose mimicry of instruments inclines them to prefer the label “voice play”).
RY COODER & THE CHIEFTAINS Also featuring Mexican-American five- piece Los Cenzontles, stepdancers and other guests, this promises to be an extraordinary one-off show – part history lesson, part hoedown – as these legendary heroes of roots music on both sides of the Atlantic join forces to tell the true story of a band of doomed Irishmen who fought for Santa Anna’s Mexican army against the United States in the 1840s. 7–21 Jan 2010 THE LIST 29