Hidden Orchestra: epitomising blurred musical boundaries Pic: Jemima Thewes
Danny Kyle's Open Stage
- Thu 2 February, 5:00pm
- Free
- Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Exhibition Hall
Hosted by Danny Kyle's good friend Liz Clark, the Open Stage is a chance to see new musical talent as they try to win a coveted support slot at next year's festival - and all absolutely free!
Transatlantic Sessions
- Thu 2 February, 7:30pm
- £28 (premium seats - limited availability), £25
- Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Main Auditorium
If it ain't broke, don't fix it: like its similarly long-running TV counterpart, the Transatlantic Sessions at Celtic Connections has grown into a treasured and world-famous musical institution, latterly spinning off into a phenomenally successful touring project. The organically-evolved secret ingredient is the balance between comfy-old-furniture, kick-back-and-cut-loose familiarity and thrilling novelty - thrilling equally for first-time guest stars, discovering this uniquely auspicious yet intimate camaraderie onstage; for the house-band regulars, getting the chance to play with an annual array of heroes and favourites, and for each year's sellout audience.
Talking of sellouts, Raul Malo's sensational headline ABC show was widely raved-about as a top highlight of Celtic Connections 2011, and we're delighted to welcome him back for his third consecutive festival visit, and his first Transatlantic Sessions. Malo's decade-long, post-Mavericks solo career, starting back touring small clubs by car, attained its latest triumphant fruition with his 2010 album Sinners & Saints, a deeply soulful distillation of his Latin heritage with a wide-ranging love of country, blues, jazz and vintage rock'n'roll. He joins tonight's distinguished guests ahead of the Mavericks' recently-announced reunion tour, kicking off at California's Stagecoach festival in April.
While the Wailin' Jennys take a year's break, Ruth Moody, the dulcet soprano of that exquisitely harmonised threesome, is building on the fervent critical praise that greeted her 2010 solo debut The Garden.
Riding high on rave reviews for his recent third album Mag Pai Zai, which stripped its predecessors' glossier pop appeal back to subtler acoustic arrangements, Irish balladeer Declan O'Rourke joins the Celtic vocal team, along with Eddi Reader and Karen Matheson, while the Stateside posse also features Tim O'Brien, Darrell Scott and Bruce Molsky. Musical directors Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas lead the ever-stellar house band, including John Doyle, Russ Barenberg, Danny Thompson, Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker, Donald Shaw and James Mackintosh.
Jonathan Wilson and Support
- Thu 2 February, 7:30pm
- £14
- The Arches
Not to overplay the narcotic analogies, but the Guardian approvingly likened alt.country mover and shaker Jonathan Wilson's first solo album, 2011's Gentle Spirit, to "a free reflexology treatment and a small dose of diazepam", while NME concluded: "As California dreamin' goes, this is almost as good as heading for the hills, reaching for a hand-tooled native American bong and calling yourself Moon Unit." Despite their best efforts at 21st century cynicism, both critics - along with numerous others, either side of the Pond - were blissfully seduced by Wilson's slow-matured, all-analogue homage to the timeless virtues of classic early-70s country-rock.
Hidden Orchestra and Chapelier Fou
- Thu 2 February, 7:30pm
- £14
- Oran Mor
Epitomising the blurred - or simply irrelevant - musical boundaries common to so much great Scottish music right now, the Hidden Orchestra (formerly Joe Acheson Quartet) have previously won both the indie/guitar-dominated T-Break contest and a place in Radio Scotland's A-Z of jazz greats, meanwhile frequently featuring guests from folk and classical backgrounds. Duelling acoustic and digital percussion, piano, violin, bass and samples forge an enthrallingly accessible yet experimental sound.
The nom de plume of one Louis Warynski, from Metz in north-east France, Chapelier Fou creates playful, poignant collages of electronica and live instrumentation, reinventing the one-man band for the 21st century.
Blues of the World featuring Moussu T, Pura Fé & John Trudell, Errol Linton and Keith B. Brown
- Thu 2 February, 7:30pm
- £15
- O2 ABC Glasgow 1
Setting aside Chicago and the Mississippi Delta's rival claims to blues-heartland primacy, this international gathering brings together artists whose lineage and traditions stretch from southern France to Central America, Native American to British Caribbean, highlighting the blues' rich diasporan diversity. For Provençal quartet Moussu T e lei jovents, singing in the ancient Occitan language, the interface is the their home port of Marseille, gateway to Africa and the Americas; for singer- songwriters and activists Pura Fé (of Puerto Rican and Tuscarora Nation parentage) and John Trudell (Santee Sioux/Mexican) it's the shared slave history of Native and black Americans. Brixton-born harmonica wizard and singer Errol Linton, meanwhile, infuses his blues with shades of reggae and ska. Also performing is Memphis born Keith B. Brown whose mastery and knowledge of Delta Blues Styles has put him at the forefront of a small but important new generation of African-american country-blues artists. His music represents a homogenous coexistance of traditional blues and more contemporary compositions.
Kathryn Tickell: Northumbrian Voices
- Thu 2 February, 8:00pm
- £13
- Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Strathclyde Suite
Lovingly created by Northumbrian pipes virtuoso Kathryn Tickell, in collaboration with award-winning theatre director Annie Rigby, this captivating words-and-music performance reflects Tickell's own formative experience of learning her craft, directly from relatives and other older players around her native North Tyne region. Transcripts from recorded interviews with these sources form the narrative element of the show, conjuring past and present aspects of Northumbrian life and lore, delivered by Tickell, her father Mike Tickell and Hannah Rickard. These anecdotes and dialogues are complemented by both traditional and original music, with Kit Haigh (guitar/piano), Patsy Reid (fiddle) and Julian Sutton (melodeon) completing the line-up.
Woody Sez
- Thu 2 February, 8:00pm
- £13
- Tron Theatre
The political strand within Celtic Connections' 2012 programme overlaps wholly organically with our centenary celebration of Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (1912-1967), the "dust bowl troubadour" who both chronicled and protested the Great Depression, "singing for the plain folks and getting tough with the rich folks." Named for his Daily Worker newspaper column, this dynamic production features four multi-talented actor-musicians - playing guitars, fiddles, banjo, mandolin, dobro, autoharp, dulcimer, jaw harp and spoons - who bring to life both Guthrie's own colourful, arduous story and the rich cast of characters who shared in it. Featuring around 30 classic Guthrie songs, from desolate ballads to defiant rallying-calls, the show pays fittingly heartfelt, uncontrived and freshly topical tribute to a towering folk icon. "Knocks big West End biopics such as Jersey Boys into a heap of dust. . . stirringly captures the rebellious spirit of Guthrie's times, and of our own." (Guardian)
Produced by Mary Cossette Productions in association with UK Arts International
BBC Radio Scotland 92-95FM & 810MW Live Radio Broadcasts
Travelling Folk
- Thu 2 February, 8:00pm
- *Free but ticketed
Bruce MacGregor presents a special live show featuring some of the best music from this year's festival, from BBC Scotland's headquarters at Pacific Quay. Live on BBC Radio Scotland.
Andy White
- Thu 2 February, 8:00pm
- £10
- The Glasgow Art Club
Belfast born and raised, Andy White has earned a global following for blending folk and pop stylings with a poet's sensibility. Working with the greats of Irish music - Sinead O'Connor, Van Morrison - and writing with Peter Gabriel and Neil and Tim Finn, Andy has won Ireland's top songwriting awards and toured the world many times over.
Four Men and a Dog Big Band and Broken Strings
- Thu 2 February, 9:30pm
- £16
- Old Fruitmarket
Now in their 22nd year, Four Men and a Dog are one of Ireland's most enduringly popular outfits, a happily self-perpetuating status thanks to their present policy of only playing gigs they know they'll particularly enjoy. It's their incandescent, irrepressible live sets that primarily fuel their reputation, primed in turn by superlative musicianship and a distinctive blend of Irish and US, traditional and original material. Leaving the dog aside, tonight they number no less than eight men, including core members Cathal Hayden (fiddle/banjo), Gerry O'Connor (banjo/fiddle), Gino Lupari (percussion/vocals), Kevin Doherty (guitar/vocals) and Dónal Murphy (accordion), plus keyboards, bass and drums.
Winners of the Orkney Folk Festival Open Stage in 2010 and a Danny Kyle Award in 2011, the seven school pals collectively known as Broken Strings have now attained the grand old age of 15, cooking up a rich, buoyant sound on four fiddles, banjo, bagpipes, accordion, mandolin, guitar and cajon.
Celtic Connections Late Night Sessions
BBC Radio 3's World on 3 Live hosted by Mary Ann Kennedy
- Thu 2 February, 10:00pm
- £6
- Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Exhibition Hall
Mary Ann Kennedy will present four special editions of BBC Radio 3's World on 3, broadcast live from the Exhibition Hall featuring special live performances from top artists appearing at Celtic Connections 2012.
Celtic Connections Festival Club
- Thu 2 February, 10:00pm
- £8
- Apollo 23
Our late night club ensures that there is even more music to enjoy after all the gigs are over. With inspired line-ups that are never divulged before the night - the Festival Club is a late-night jam session to end all jam sessions.
Sparkling host Kevin Macleod will guide you through proceedings and you never know who you'll bump into as you join the throngs in the bar.
