CELTIC CONNECTIONS COMES OF AGE

2014 will see Celtic Connections really come of age as it celebrates its 21st year. The eclectic programme for next year’s festival is the biggest and most ambitious yet and includes some of the best-known musicians in traditional and roots music, world, indie, jazz, folk, soul and Americana. Over 2000 musicians from every corner of the globe will come to Glasgow between 16th January and 2nd February 2014.

Next summer Scotland will welcome the world in when the Commonwealth Games come to Glasgow. Celtic Connections has become the biggest celebration of the tunes and songs that connect Scotland’s musical legacy to the rest of the world and never will this be celebrated more than at next year’s festival.

Already utilising venues right across the city Celtic Connections 2014 will also see the festival expand into Scotland’s leading arena, the brand new SSE Hydro.

Among the artists appearing at Celtic Connections 2014 are Del Amitri, Imelda May, Capercaillie, Bobby Womack, Mahotella Queens, Salsa Celtica, Amadou & Miriam, Lúnasa, AR Rahman & Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Mogwai, Peatbog Faeries, Julie Fowlis, Elephant Revival, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Manu Dibango, Treacherous Orchestra, Shawn Colvin, Nicola Benedetti, Stocktons Wing, The Gloaming, Lau, Suzanne Vega, Seth Lakeman, RANT, Boban Marković Orchestra, Alkinoos Ioannidis, The Olllam, Bill Callahan, De Temps Antan, RM Hubbert, Lloyd Cole & the Leopards, Kathleen MacInnes, Tim Finn, Dick Gaughan and The Stray Birds.

Big Names at the Festival

Celtic Connections 2014 will see a number of famous faces come along to perform over the 18 days.

Arguably Glasgow’s best-loved outfit from that golden generation of Scottish bands who emerged in the 1980s, Del Amitri take to the city’s newest and biggest stage, the SSE Hydro, for their first UK show in over a decade – not to mention their Celtic Connections debut – which also launches a 12-date nationwide tour.

Glasgow five-piece Mogwai, formed by Stuart Braithwaite and Dominic Aitchison in 1995, will make their Celtic Connections debut next January. Well known for their electrifying live performances, their largely instrumental sound has always transcended pigeonholing, variously dubbed post-rock, art-rock and space-rock.

Multi-Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter will showcase her incomparable contralto as she gives a world premiere performance backed by the full splendour of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Having distilled a period of major personal travail and upheaval into her last album, 2012’s heart-wrenching but redemptive Ashes and Roses, Carpenter is clearly enjoying a renewed creative high.

Now in the seventh decade of his ever-extraordinary career Bobby Womack will be performing, amongst others, tracks from his 2012 album, The Bravest Man in the Universe, his first all-new recording since 1994. Throughout his distinguished career Womack has collaborated with a myriad of soul and rock legends including Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin and Sly Stone while his latest album and his recent collaboration with the Gorillaz has led to a whole new generation of fans.

As they continue their 30th anniversary celebrations, Capercaillie have long since secured their place among the world’s foremost contemporary Celtic bands. They were also among the first in connecting Scotland’s wealth of Gaelic tradition to the wider pop and world music. Their gorgeous new album, At the Heart Of It All, centres on Karen Matheson’s beautiful vocals. Their Celtic Connections set will showcase an array of tunes from across their 30-year back catalogue, in company with some of the new album’s guests, including Kathleen MacInnes, Sineag MacIntyre, Kris Drever and Gerry (banjo) O’Connor, plus familiar faces from earlier Capercaillie line-ups.

A.R. Rahman is often described as the “the Mozart of Madras” and “the John Williams of Bollywood”. He is a composer, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and philanthropist and is by some measures the world’s bestselling recording artist, with more album sales, via his movie scores, than Elvis, the Beatles or all the Jacksons combined. Above all Rahman is famed for his soundtrack to the 2008 smash Slumdog Millionaire.

Suzanne Vega is ranked as one of the most durable and versatile artists of her generation having originally spearheaded the 1980s wave of literate, folk-based female singer-songwriters. Vega enjoyed huge acclaim for her 2007’s Beauty & Crime and will perform new material from its imminent follow-up, alongside earlier classics, in the beautifully dramatic backdrop of Glasgow’s City Halls.

Imelda May is arguably one of the most incredible musical success stories to come out of Ireland in recent years. With rockabilly at the heart of her electrifying live performances and drawing inspiration from the ghosts of Elvis and Billie Halliday her Old Fruitmarket performance is sure to be a melting pot of swagger and attitude.

The Influence of Scottish Music on the Commonwealth

The Celtic Connections festival has always explored and celebrated the connections and influences of Celtic traditions and cultures across the globe. Celtic Connections will be showcasing elements of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme with a number of performances that explore Scotland’s influence on the cultures of the other Commonwealth countries.

A co-commission for Celtic Connections and the PRSF New Music Biennial for Glasgow’s Culture 2014 programme sees Scottish powerhouse Lau team up with contemporary-classical experimentalists The Elysian Quartet to perform their collaborative, part-improvised composition that seeks common ground between both groups distinct but mutually recognisable creative territories.

Cluaidh ’s a’ Cho Flaitheas ¦ The Clyde and the Commonwealth is a perfect example of a performance that explores the cultural ties and influences of Scotland with the rest of the Commonwealth. This show will celebrate the Gaels and Glasgow, and the River Clyde their gateway to the Commonwealth. This concert will take the audience on a musical and visual journey to Canada, Australia, India, South Africa, New Zealand and will look at the influences of Scottish traditional music on each of these countries.

Another commonwealth cultural connection performance is the Folk Nations Kolkata Project. Following a week-long residency last February in the West Bengali capital of Kolkata, as part of the British Council’s three-year Folk Nations project, musicians from Scotland, England, Wales and India - fiddler Patsy Reid, singer and clog dancer Hannah James, banjo player Dan Walsh, harpist/singer Georgia Ruth Williams, sarangi player Suhail Yusuf Khan and vocalist Saurav Moni – showcase the common creative ground they’ve charted between their diverse talents and traditions.

Showcase Scotland at Celtic Connections, the largest gathering of the international music community, will be working with two international partners from the Commonwealth at Celtic Connections 2014. Musicians from India and Australia will be performing across the Showcase weekend and the strong cultural ties between India, Australia and Scotland will be explored.

Folk and Trad at the Heart of the Festival

At the heart of the festival is the vibrant folk and traditional music scene, with some of the UK and Ireland’s finest musicians set to raise the roof this January and February.

In the space of just four years, the many-headed musical beast that is Glasgow’s Treacherous Orchestra has advanced from their first official Celtic Connections gig to the opening slot at 2013’s Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park, sharing the bill with the likes of Smokey Robinson, Manic Street Preachers, Jessie J and Simple Minds. Back to raise the Old Fruitmarket roof once again, they’ll be airing material from their forthcoming second album as well as older favourites.

Continuing the back-to-roots direction of 2012’s tales From the Barrel House, and his recent involvement with The Full English digital archive project, Seth Lakeman’s forthcoming seventh album Word of Mouth, due out in 2014, finds the Mercury-nominated singer, songwriter and fiddler revisiting and revitalising the oral folk tradition, in new songs inspired by stories and memories collected around his native West Country.

Combining some of Scotland and Irelands leading Celtic musicians with a stellar group of international salsa musicians Salsa Celtica is a stunning combination of virtuosity and energy. The group’s unique synthesis has been rapturously received around the globe, from the village halls of Scotland to the worlds greatest music festivals. With their long awaited new studio album to be released at the start of the year, 2014 is going to be a huge year for Salsa Celtica so what better way to kick start it than returning to the Celtic Connections stage.

Hailed as Ireland’s finest traditional Irish instrumental band of recent times, Lúnasa will be performing a selection from their back-catalogue of 7 highly acclaimed and award-winning albums. Their inventive arrangements and bass driven grooves have steered Irish acoustic music into surprising new territory.

Collaboration and Camaraderie


One-off collaborations have always been a key aspect of the Celtic Connections festival. Egos are left at the front door as artists join forces to produce unique musical experiences.

The Opening Night will see a special collaboration between one of the world’s most astounding classical music stars, the multi-award winning Nicola Benedetti. Nicola will be premiering new collaborative work with Scottish traditional musicians Julie Fowlis, Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham and unveiling material from her forthcoming Scottish-themed album.

Celtic Connections marks the start of World War I’s centenary commemorations with a reprise of the sellout festival highlight from 2012, Far Far From Ypres which will feature Scottish songs, stories and poetry that arose from the conflict. It’ll be performed by a stellar cast of over 20 singers including Barbara Dickson, Dick Gaughan, Phil Cunningham, Ian McCalman, Stephen Quigg, Sangsters, Siobhan Miller and Mairi MacInnes. Written and directed by Ian McCalman and based on the eponymous 2008 Greentrax double album the show combines soldiers’ songs, music-hall favourites and home-front anthems from 1914-18, plus subsequent songwriters’ reflections, with projected backdrop imagery. Broadcaster Iain Anderson’s resonant narration, interwoven with extracts from real-life letters and diaries, links the music through the story of Everyman Scottish soldier Jimmy MacDonald, following his odyssey to the Somme and eventually home again, in a hugely powerful act of musical remembrance.

Collaboration and camaraderie at the festival can’t be discussed without mentioning Transatlantic Sessions, the jewel in the crown of the festival. As always Transatlantic Sessions will serve up ultra-classy accompaniment and awesome instrumentals by the crème de la crème of US and Celtic talent. Appearing in her first Transatlantic Sessions, US singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin who remains as one of the leading luminaries of that 1980s generation will be performing. Multitalented new-acoustic prodigy Sarah Jarosz who may well choose a track or two from her stunning new third album, Build Me Up From Bones. Fellow Americana virtuosi and Transatlantic regulars Darrell Scott and Tim O’Brien are always welcome return visitors, especially having just released a long-anticipated duo album, Memories & Moments, while tonight’s Scottish vocal ambassadors include Julie Fowlis and Kris Drever. Double bass icon Danny Thompson again graces the all-star house band, along with musical directors Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas, Phil Cunningham, Russ Barenberg, Mike McGoldrick, John Doyle, John McCusker, James Mackintosh and Donald Shaw.


A World of Music

There is a strong world music strand at Celtic Connections 2014 when the festival will celebrate the musical connections with other countries from across the globe.

One of Africa’s most popular and successful musical exports over the last decade, the Malian husband-and-wife guitar/vocals duo of Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia who famously met at Bamako’s Institute for the Young Blind in 1977, will give their Celtic Connections debut performance.

Fresh from celebrating his 80th birthday in December, Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango, a pioneering giant of world music, long before the term was even coined, brings his mesmerising mix of Afro-funk, jazz, soul, pop, hip-hop and rock to the festival. Dibango was first African musician ever to reach the US Top 40, with his massive 1972 hit ‘Soul Makossa’.

A few eyebrows were raised when Jamaican reggae artist Winston McAnuff, known affectionately as "Electric Dread" because of his energetic stage performances, joined forces with French musician and accordion player Fixi. This exciting and original collaboration has entered its second chapter with the release of A New Day which they will be performing material from in the Arches during the festival and giving Glasgow audiences perhaps one of their first experiences of Jamaican singing to an accordion backing.

Americana at the Festival

Some of the World’s most exciting Americana and bluegrass talent will visit Glasgow this January.

The Pennsylvanian trio The Stray Birds have been described as one of the most exciting young Americana bands out there. Their close harmonies and textured instrumentalism make for a breathtaking sound drawn from the richness of American folk music traditions.

Co-founder of critically acclaimed roots country band The Gruff, Jenny Ritter will be showcasing her debut album Bright Mainland packed full of catchy, heart warming songs of the everyday.

Based in Boston, epicentre of the US new-acoustic scene, acclaimed contemporary string band Joy Kills Sorrow have evolved from their progressive bluegrass beginnings, channelling their multi-award-winning instrumental prowess into the full-bodied sound unveiled on new EP Wide Awake.

Comprising five Colorado-based singers, songwriters and multi-instrumentalists, Elephant Revival pool their talents at the contemporary intersection of folk, Americana, jazz and acoustic rock, with a flair and imagination that’s been likened to the Flecktones or The Sparrow Quartet. Bonnie Paine’s bewitching lead vocals feature in mainly original material, arrayed with radiant backing harmonies and accompaniment including banjo, mandolin, fiddle, guitar, bass, washboard and musical saw.

The Indie Strand

With the influence of folk on the indie scene the most prominent it has been for years, Celtic Connections once again features a top line-up of indie and rock artists in 2014.
Bill Callahan stepped from behind his longtime Smog alias back in 2007, with subsequent albums, including new 15th release Dream River, subtly expanding the lo-fi yet sensuous, broodingly bleak but darkly humorous Smog palette with touches of gospel, soul, blues and rock. Its onstage, though, that Callahans music attains its fullest potency.
After the sellout, standing-ovation success of 2013’s inaugural outing, the Roaming Roots Revue returns to celebrate the music of Laurel Canyon, that fabled LA neighbourhood which, for a decade or so from the mid-1960s, rang with the era-defining sounds of residents and regulars like Joni Mitchell, The Byrds, The Doors, the Mamas and the Papas, Frank Zappa, Crosby Stills & Nash, The Eagles, Jackson Browne, Carole King and Nico. Revisiting songs from this hugely influential time and place alongside their own work, tonight’s transatlantic, cross-generational array of artists includes rising alt-country star Lindi Ortega, gritty-voiced roots-rocker Cory Chisel and avant-folk powerhouse Lau. Curated and hosted again by Glasgow’s own Roddy Hart, with his Lonesome Fire line-up as house band, the show will feature performers both individually and in fresh collaborative combinations.

Irish singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow will be showcasing his greatly anticipated second album Post Tropical, which is out in January 2014. Setting his high tenor amid a greatly expanded sonic sound, including vintage keyboards and drum machines, marks the greatest example yet of McMorrow’s artistic vision.

Quotes

Donald Shaw, Artistic Director of Celtic Connections, said: “With the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games just around the corner we thought next year’s Celtic Connections would be the ideal stage to explore Scotland’s cultural connections with other Commonwealth countries. Next year’s line-up will be the biggest celebration yet of the tunes and songs that connect Scotland’s musical legacy to the rest of the world.

“It’s very exciting to be showcasing the festival at the brand new SSE Hydro with an International Burns night celebration and Glasgow’s own Del Amitri. The expansion into this world-class venue really demonstrates the ever increasing stature of the festival and firmly cements its place as one of the world’s top music festivals.”


Councillor Archie Graham, Chair of Glasgow Life and Executive Member for the Commonwealth Games, said: “The Celtic Connections festival will come of age in 2014 with the biggest and best line up yet. Over its 21 years the festival has firmly places Glasgow on the world music map and become a leading light in Scotland’s cultural calendar.

“The festival attracts visitors from all over the world and therefore contributes to a hugely positive cultural and economic impact for Glasgow and the rest of the country. Celtic Connections continues to have an international appeal and enhance the city’s reputation as a major tourist destination.”

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