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353 8000. 7.30pm. £14. The winner of 2009 Best Emerging Artist at the Americana Music Awards is complemented by the tripartite harmonies of English sister act The Staves. ■ Sligo Live Sessions with Téada and The Unwanted and Túcan St Andrews in the Square, St Andrews Square, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £12.50. Celtic Connections teams up with the Irish Sligo Live Sessions festival for performances from instrumental five- piece Teada, classic guitar-rockers Tucan and the powerhouse transatlantic trio The Unwanted, made up of Cathy Jordan, Seamus O’Dowd and Rick Epping. ■ Borders Night Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 8pm. £12.50. Musicians from the bonny Borders showcase the rich cultural heritage of the region. Heading up this event are The Borders Tunesmiths, a transgenerational collective that includes notable players such as veteran songsmith Archie Fisher, fiddlers Shona Mooney, Lori Watson and Iain Fraser, and harpist Elspeth Smellie. Also on the bill are young all- women outfit The Shee and the Rule of Three, along with a duet between accordion ace Ian Lowthian and drummer Ben Redman. ■ Ceol’s Craic at Celtic Connections CCA, Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 8pm. £12.50. Saturday’s session features music from Glasgow’s Gaelic School, the poet Louis de Paor with piper Ronan Browne, and the Norwegian/Gaelic band Samling with singers Naomi Harvey and Anne Sofie Vadal. ■ New Rope String Band and Kilairum Tron Theatre, Trongate, 353 8000. 8pm. £12.50. The brilliant slapstick acoustic musicians/comedians bring their Python-flavoured brand of melodic humour to the Tron stage, performing tracks from their new album Myoosik alongside absurdist capering. They are joined by exciting young folk- jazz quintet Kilairum, former St Mary’s Music School students who carried off a Danny Kyle Open Stage award at last year’s festival. ■ T with the Maggies and The Glackins City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 8pm. £16.50. T with the Maggies is a joining of the voices of three women who stand large in the ranks of modern Celtic folk: Tríona Maighread Ní Dhomnaill, Mairead Ní Mhaonaigh and Moya Brennan were singers with pioneering Irish groups The Bothy Band, Coolfin, and Altan and Clannad respectively. Completing a quartet is Capercaillie’s Manus Lunny. They share the stage with the legendary Glackin fiddling brothers, Paddy, Seamus and Kevin. ■ Tonight at Noon and The Stars Band hosted by Mick West The Glasgow Art Club, 185 Bath Street, 353 8000. 8pm. £10. Tonight at Noon were part of the folk revival back in the 1980s and perform tonight alongside earlier folk club veterans The Stars Band, under the guidance of MC Mick West. ✽✽ Taraf de Haïdouks and Mama Candleriggs, 353 8000. 8.30pm. £16. Taraf de Haidouks are the international Roma band, having spawned a clutch of musical progeny over the last decade. A live performance from this ‘band of brigands’ is a phenomenon. They are joined on the billing by Mama Rosin, a Cajun music outfit from the bayous of – Switzerland! Culturally idiosyncratic they may be, but Jools likes them, and so do a growing number of besotted fans. ■ The Celtic Connections Festival Club The Art School, Renfrew Street, 353 4690. 10pm. £8. See Fri 21. ■ Celtic Connections Late Night Sessions Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 10pm. £5. See Thu 20. ■ Celtic Connections All-Star Ceilidh Band Glasgow Royal Concert Rosin The Old Fruitmarket,
CELTIC CONNECTIONS Music
Creole Choir of Cuba, with Raghu Dixit
Cuban music isn’t all salsa and Buena Vista Social Club, you know. There’s also a rich tradition of choir music in the Creole tongue – a mixture of African and native Caribbean languages, with English, French and Spanish thrown in. The Creole Choir of Cuba are, as you might expect, expert proponents of the genre, singing songs of rebellion and endurance from years gone by. Support will be provided by traditional Indian folk musician Raghu Dixit, who has become a critically acclaimed artist in his homeland for his impressive voice and ability to mix genres including rock, Arabic, Latino and reggae into India’s own music tradition. ■ City Halls, Glasgow, Sat 29 Jan. Part of Celtic Connections.
Hall, Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 10.45pm. £12. Strip the willow and strut your Gay Gordons stuff to a soundtrack provided by a stellar ceilidh band that includes Phil Cunningham, Donald Shaw, Fergie MacDonald, Alasdair MacCuish, Gary Innes, Eilidh Shaw, Archie McAllister and Charlie MacKerron. Dancing continues into the wee small hours in the main auditorium, where the seating is stripped out to leave a huge dance floor for this Scottish party night.
Sunday 23 Glasgow ■ Celtic Connections Public Workshops: The Fiddle Village Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 10.15am. £55. See Sat 22. ■ Celtic Connections Public Workshops: Beginner Whistle Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 11am. £7. If you’ve decided to learn the whistle but not really got started, this workshop is here to help you develop the basic skills and techniques necessary to progress to the next level. Whistles in the key of D are provided. ■ Opening Your Voice Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 11am. £7. A workshop to help you find your inner singer with vocal coach Harriet Buchan. ■ New Voices: Rachel Sermanni Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 1pm. £10.50. Young singer-songwriter from Carrbridge who has been quite the busy bee over the past year, touring with Stornoway and composing more of her own material. ■ Celtic Connections Public Workshops: Whistle for Improvers Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 1.30pm. £7. If you’ve already got a handle on the basic whistle techniques (and a whistle to play them on) this is the place to develop and extend your knowledge. Led by Lorne MacDougall.
■ Celtic Connections Public Workshops: Come&Try Mandolin Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 1.30pm. £7. See Sat 22. ■ Opening Your Voice 2 Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 1.30pm. £7. Discover the power of your own voice, with the help of instrumentalists from around the world. Harriet Buchan leads this workshop, teaching participants basic methods and skills. ■ Hazy Recollections with Special Guests O2 ABC, Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 2.30pm. £10. The Hazy Recollections group sessions aim to bring together diverse artists from the indie, folk and roots scenes, running with a different set of performers and acts every Sunday during the festival. Featuring female harmonists The Staves, Lewis singer-songwriter Iain Morrison and Boston bluegrassers Joy Kills Sorrow. FREE Danny Kyle’s Open Stage Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 5pm. See Thu 20. ■ BMX Bandits 25th Anniversary Òran Mór, 731–735 Great Western Road, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £12.50. Twenty-five years may have passed, but the BMX Bandits are still going strong. Tonight’s show, curated by founder and frontman Duglas T Stewart, features the latest of their ever-changing line-ups, including Rachel Allison, David Scott, Jim McCulloch, Finlay Macdonald and Jim Gash. They are joined by Randolph’s Leap, rediscovered psychedelic troubadour Nick Garrie and other surprise guests. ■ Big Orkney Song Project St Andrews in the Square, St Andrews Square, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £12.50. Although apparently being ‘predominantly known for fiddlers,’ the Orkney Islands also possess a rich singing heritage that a two-year Lottery- funded project has been doing its best to chronicle and archive. A choice selection of some of the 1000+ items that have so far been catalogued is performed here
tonight, from ancient traditional songs to works from new songwriters. Singers including project leaders Sarah Jane Gibbon, Emily Turton and Aimee Leonard. ■ The Blind Boys of Alabama and Bettye LaVette Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £18–£23. Despite several of these boys being well into their 80s, their voices are still as powerful, harmonious and uplifting as they were when they formed the group back in 1939. Yep, 1939. In the course of 60 years on the road, they’ve managed to notch up five Grammys and also starred in The Gospel of Colonus at last year’s Edinburgh International Festival. They are joined by soul legend Bettye LaVette. ■ Jerry Douglas featuring Omar Hakim & Viktor Krauss and The Scoville Units O2 ABC, Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £16. Twelve- time Grammy winner Jerry Douglas is a dobro guitar legend and a Celtic Connections veteran. He collaborates with the line-up he unveiled at Telluride: Omar Hakim, drummer with both David Bowie and Weather Report, and Viktor Krauss, bassist for Lyle Lovett and Alison Krauss. Finally come the Scoville Units, an aptly spicy combination of guitarist Ed Boyd, banjo player Leon Hunt and double bassist Miranda Sykes. ■ Elsafty, Armstrong & Browne and Tir Tron Theatre, Trongate, 353 8000. 8pm. £12.50. Roisin Elsafty joins her moving Irish sean-nos vocals to the rare and beautiful sound of the medieval Irish harp played by Siobhan Armstrong. They are joined by Scottish/Irish/Welsh trio Tir.
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20 Jan–3 Feb 2011 THE LIST 71