Celtic Music in the Wider World
SUE WILSON reflects on the lessons to be drawn for Scottish musicians from the Womex world music convention in Gateshead
SINCE ITS FABLED invention as a marketing strap-line by a […]

Inverness Airport Restaurant, 10 September 2012
EVEN looking across its younger generational stratum, today’s folk scene often still appears a largely male-dominated realm, so the affirmative action embodied by […]

Belladrum, near Beauly, Inverness-shire, 3-4 August 2012
EVEN as the country’s lower reaches found themselves inundated once again, northern Scotland’s enviable track-record for festival weather this summer […]

Lews Castle, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, and other venues, 11-14 July 2012
WITH ticket sales up by 7% on last year, and merchandise by a whacking 38%, the 17th Hebridean Celtic Festival was rated by many regulars […]

Inshriach Estate, by Aviemore, 15-17 June 2012
GIVEN that the concept of combining music and sport was partly what put paid to the Outsider festival – inadvertent parent to the contrastingly bijou and successful […]

Various venues, Orkney, 31 May-3 June 2012
TO SAY that Orkney’s 30th folk festival was celebrated in suitably splendid style would be a somewhat gargantuan understatement.

AS THE event’s director, Bob Gibbon, […]

CCA, Glasgow, 26 May 2012
SINCE 2004, Ceòl ’s Craic (“music and banter”) has been a social and cultural home from home for expat Gaels in Glasgow, combining elements of club, concert and ceilidh to showcase […]

Shetland, 3-6 May 2012
AS THE Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian once observed, reflecting on the travelling musician’s lifestyle, “If you ever wonder why we ride the carousel/We do it for the stories we can […]

Celtic Music in the Wider World
SUE WILSON reflects on the lessons to be drawn for Scottish musicians from the Womex world music convention in Gateshead
 
SINCE ITS FABLED invention as a marketing strap-line by […]

Broadford Airfield, Isle of Skye, 23-24 March 2012 EVEN after 19 years of its parent festival in Glasgow, now securely ranked among the world’s top music events, the Celtic Connections Big Top on Skye still represented a considerable leap in the dark. WHILE the idea of an outdoor satellite event beyond the city has been mooted for […]

Clickimin Centre, Lerwick, Shetland, 3 February 2012 IT MIGHT seem a totally insane idea, transporting the entire 17-strong line-up for Celtic Connections’ flagship Transatlantic Sessions concerts all the way up to play in Shetland, in between their two sellout dates in Glasgow – not least since the festival’s artistic director, Donald Shaw, was o…[Read more]

Perth Concert Hall, 3 December 2011 HIGHLANDS and Islands artists once again featured prominently among the winners in this year’s ninth Scots Trad Music Awards. THE event was attended by around 900 movers, shakers and supporters of Scottish folk music in all its manifestations, who made another mighty night of it in Perth. Coinciding with the s…[Read more]

Various Venues, Islay, 16-18 September 2011
LAGAVULIN, Laphroaig, Bruichladdich, Bowmore, Ardbeg: not just the litany of legendary single malts treasured by whisky-lovers worldwide, but also the locations, in both distilleries and village halls, for most of the concerts making up the Islay Jazz Festival.

Jointly promoted by Jazz Scotland and…[Read more]

Glengarry Community Hall, Invergarry, 14 September 2011 EVENTS like this one fully exemplify that the Blas festival’s strapline of Moladh na Gàidhealtachd – Celebrating the Highlands – is much more than some glib branding exercise. Staged in his local village hall – in the area that his father’s side of the family have called home since Culloden […]

Badenoch Centre, Kingussie, 13 September 2011 WHILE songs in English have featured less in Capercaillie’s repertoire over recent years, lead vocalist Karen Matheson has steadily broadened their inclusion among her solo material, here performing several newly-arranged contemporary covers and a traditional Child ballad – works-in-progress for her n…[Read more]

Inverness Airport, Inverness, 12 September 2011 REFLECTING the allied home-grown and international nature of Blas itself, the festival’s resident band for 2011, The Outside Track, comprises two Scottish members, harper Ailie Robertson and accordionist Fiona Black; two from Canada – Cape Breton fiddler Mairi Rankin and Vancouver-born s…[Read more]

Strathpeffer Pavilion, 11 September 2011 HAVING kicked off its silver jubilee year with a big celebratory extravaganza at Celtic Connections in January, Fèis Rois continued the festivities with a rejigged line-up and format for this Blas festival showcase. THE eponymous “Roots and Shoots” denoted the dozen or so leading professional musicians – a…[Read more]

Empire Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness, 10 September 2011 BAGPIPE music enthusiasts come in many different shades of predilection (and aversion), but all would surely have found something to enjoy in this year’s Blas festival piping night – a considerable achievement in itself. SETTING the bar resplendently high was a magisterial opening set from…[Read more]