Culture and the labour movement - a key role for Trades Councils

Last Tuesday,  Jamie Caldwell – Unite Community Co-ordinator for Scotland – penned a piece in the ‘Voices from Scotland’ section of the Morning Star arguing the importance of arts, music and culture in bringing people to politics and inspiring them to join the movement for change.

It is a timely reminder of the importance of the labour movement’s involvement in the arts and cultural scene – an involvement that goes back at least as far as the Rose Schneiderman quote from 1911/2 - "The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too." It was a prominent part of socialist and labour movement work in thirties and forties Glasgow with the Unity Theatre, Left Book Club groups and the Trades Council’s Film Society. Similar organisations existed in other cities.

In more contemporary times the TU movement was key to the formation of  Glasgow’s MayFest, - as were left theatre groups such as Dave MacLennan’s Wildcat -  and it is good to see increasing arts and musical input more recently around the International Workers’ Day celebrations. Glasgow’s own Friends of MayDay programme is one of these developments.

The role of Trades Councils can be crucial in the success of this co-ordination, and it is good to see a recent increase in such activities by Trades Union Councils (the new name for Trades Councils) in and around Glasgow.

Jane McAlevey

Glasgow Trades Council itself starts the list this week with their hosting of the book launch by American union organizer and author, Jane McAlevey. Entitled No Shortcuts, Organising for Power, it’s on tonight at the Lighthouse and while it has been sold out, there might be some returns available via the FB page.

Jamie’s article mentions the Ken Loach film I, Daniel Blake, and the work of Unite and the People’s Assembly in promoting it. One of these screenings is being hosted in Clydebank Town Hall, by Clydebank Trades Council with support from the Morning Star and a multitude of TUs, on Thursday this week at 7.00pm. Tickets here.

Clydebank TC are also prominent in a mini tour of the play Dare Devil Rides to Jarama. A play about motorcycling and the Spanish Civil War, it is produced by Townsend Productions – who gave you The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropist and the Shrewsbury pickets play United We Stand. It is also playing Clydebank Town Hall (on 6 March), tickets here. If you can’t make this showing, there is also one organised by South Lanarkshire TC in the Blantyre Miners Welfare two days previously (4 Mar). Tickets from UNISON South Lanarkshire 01698 454690 or from the Blantyre Miners Welfare itself.

30 years ago elsewhere in South Lanarkshire (in Uddingston actually) workers at the Caterpillar factory occupied their workplace to prevent it being closed. The occupation lasted 103 days. Our friends at FairPley – other valuable contributors to the increase in cultural activity on the left – have commissioned two, one-act plays from Anne Hogg on the aftermath of the occupation. Out of the Bad and Butterfly are premiering at Motherwell Civic Theatre on February 25. Tickets from Culture NL here..

Not a bad contribution to Jamie’s important call for the use of cultural events in socialist and labour movement organizing. I have no doubt that there are other Trades Union Council’s across Scotland who are organising similar events. If so, it would be good to support them and to promote them using social contacts, both digital and otherwise. And if they are not – what about getting them to do so?

As a wee add-on, while I was in London on a break, the Morning Star published my final round-up

Shirley Collins, pic Eva Vermandel

review of Celtic Connections. Concentrating on the CC theme of Women of Song it can be found here.  And while we’re on the topic of the Star and Arts/Music coverage, there’s a nice interview by Mike Quille with a former star of  Celtic Connections, Chris Wood, in the weekend’s edition. He is a great example of how contemporary folk music is being created right across these islands.

Celtic Connections 3 - crossing borders

The first of my two articles reviewing this year's Celtic Connections was in the Morning Star yesterday here. It dealt with two themes, the continuing connections between British and Irish music and the roots music from the US - particularly timely given recent US events, and the remarkable standard of so-called 'support' bands in the festival.

Rab - pic Brian Aris

As it is likely that I won't be able to get a review of Rab Noakes' 70/50 concert at the Old Fruitmarket last night into my next, I thought I'd post it here. Noakes, who has recently come through a draining series of treatments for tonsillar cancer, was celebrating his forthcoming 70th birthday (no they didn't wheel a Gene-Pitney-style cake onto the stage, although there was one backstage apparently!), and the 50th Anniversary of his first paid gig - at the Glasgow Folk Centre appropriately enough.

He slipped onto the stage after the band, almost unnoticed until he revealed his suit! But he soon took command. The intro promised a selection of 'landmark' songs - so-called because he hasn't had any hits, he pointed out! - and new material. The former included Lindisfarne's 1969 hit, Together Forever and the song he wrote inspired by the great Scottish folk singer Alex Campbell, Gently Does It with its touching line -"you'd been on this road so long. Now they're building a highway to take you home." - a sentiment that could be applied to Rab himself. 

The concert was packed out, a testament to the affection that his fans have for him, an affection that was almost tangible. The concert was as meticulously crafted as we've come to expect from Noakes - albeit with a slight trip over the song order! Contemporary songs in his inimitable country folk style were prominent - four of the six tracks on the new EP. (Reviewed here) and (at least) three from I'm Walking Here.

But the best of the contemporary songs were two that he wrote while getting back into his Scottish music roots. The Handwash Feein' Mairket is a song about the exploitation of asylum seekers forced into illegal work by our brutal restrictions, and what he called Tramps and Migrants - a mash-up of Bob Dylan's  Pity the Poor Immigrant and the Scottish traditional Tramps and Hawkers, beautifully assisted by Gaelic singer Kathleen MacInnes.

His backing band - Una MacGlone, Innes Watson, Stuart Brown, Christine Hanson, Lisbee Stainton and Jill Jackson - more than did him justice, and his voice - if a bit lower in register - has clearly not been damaged by the treatment. A beautiful 'cello treatment of the love song I always will stood out amongst the closing tunes. Rab is perhaps even better now than he was when he first hit the musical big time. He starts a short tour of UK towns in March. If you're around - get along!

An embarrassment of riches - Celtic Connections '17 Preview

This is a preview piece for this year's Celtic Connections, that was printed in the Morning Star on Thursday (19 Jan). The link to the article on line doesn't seem to be working, so here (with a little updating) is the article as written. Updating as well, prompts me to mention that fact that the Lions of Lisbon, has not only had to have an extra performance scheduled, but both are now sold out! Never mind, it will appear later in the year. Watch - as they say - this space! 

Rab Noakes

Having an embarrassment of riches is sometimes a mixed blessing. Imagine being a concert scheduler with Celtic Connections – the very successful music festival that started in Glasgow on Thursday. With the acts attending, clashes must be a perennial concern. This year on one night (2 Feb) you could see Orchestre Baobab, Eliza Carthy, Rab Noakes and Martin Green’s impressive collaboration, Flit, except you couldn’t of course, because they’re all on at the same time.

Still, there are plenty of other shows that are worth seeing, in particular the re-emergence of Shirley

Shirley Collins (photo Eva Vermandel)

Collins (4 Feb), who has released her first new album for 38 years. She leads a strong female presence at this year’s festival. Highlights include Mary Chapin Carpenter (30 Jan), Martha Wainwright (3 Feb), Sharon Shannon (3 Feb), rising star Siobhan Miller (26 Jan) and the ubiquitous Karine Polwart - her Wind Resistance performance spreads over four days (24-28 Jan) at the Tron. Even the Roaming Roots Review this year concentrates on Women of Song (28 Jan).

This year also has a sense of ‘back to traditional folk’, not just the reappearance of Shirley Collins after 35 years, but a concert from Tom Paxton (25 Jan) and both Fairport Convention (24 Jan) and Rab Noakes (2 Feb) celebrating 50 years performing.

Having said that, there is also plenty of new talent performing at this year’s festival. CDuncan (26 Jan) has already created a stir, and I’m looking forward to seeing the Southern Tenant Folk Union (30 Jan). It is often the ‘outside’ venues that break these new acts, and this year brings a couple of new venues to Celtic Connections in South Glasgow’s Glad Café and the West End’s Hug and Pint.

Finally, if you are ‘all folked out’ and fancy something a little different, two important British composers feature this year. Eclectic composer, singer and clarinettist, Anna Meredith is on 4 Feb, and Craig Armstrong and Calum Martin present the outcome of their collaboration to write new music inspired by Hebridean psalm singing (3 Feb).

Too much music? How about a day at the footie? FairPley are reviving The Lions of Lisbon, the play by Willy Maley and Ian Auld about Celtic’s triumph in the European Cup 50 years ago! (29 Jan - two performances). Get tickets on line at www.celticconnections.com

Travelling to come together.

This is my review of the highlights of 2016 . Compiled for the Morning Star (who published it here) this is the original. The Star is excellent at shaping my sometimes unweildy prose into shorter pieces. occasionally however something goes awry. In this case the title of Martin Green's exceptional Flit has disappeared in the Star piece, so here is the full text.

 Celtic Connections kept its key ‘front of the year’ role. Lau and the Unthanks produced a powerful and at times overwhelming concert at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall that showed us where folk music can go when seized by imagination, talent and technical ability; electronic wizardry fused well with the pure sound of the human voice.

Songs of Separation musicians come together

Another concert demonstrated both cross-fertilisation and how life impacts on art. Inspired by the debates around the Scots independence referendum of 2014, it was the culmination of two years work by ten female Scottish and English musicians living together on Eigg. Organised by double bassist, Jenny Hill, it included Eliza Carthy, and Karine Polwart amongst others. Ironically, although entitled Songs of Separation, the dominant theme was a coming together of national and regional traditions, producing new material, particularly poignant when it dealt (as it often did) with the human tragedy of the migrations across the Mediterranean (Glasgow, Mitchell Theatre). 

Martin Green's Flit

Migration rang out too, in a magnificent highlight to the Edinburgh International Festival (EICC). Again this featured Martin Green (of Lau) and Becky Unthank, along with Dominic Aitchison, Adam Holmes, Aidan Moffat, Karine Polwart and Adrian Utley. Flit married all these talents with the wonders of whiterobot’s (Will Anderson and Ainslie Henderson) torn paper visuals and told us stories of forced and chosen travelling – searching for a place where we feel comfortable

 Elsewhere in Edinburgh we saw a glimpse of the former strength of Scottish drama – with a rehearsed reading of David Greig’s Europe at the Edinburgh International Book Festival – a prescient glimpse back (forward?) into European crisis and its relationship with moving peoples.

The 1916 Easter Rising gave us a number of shows, including Edinburgh TUC’s dramatic and musical look at James Connolly at The Hub as part of the EIF; labour leader, rebel general, family man, and songwriter (who knew?). The centenary provoked one Scottish event after another, including a great new historical walk around Glasgow, and a new play on the little-known Margaret Skinnider – schoolteacher, feminist and sniper – whose story was the successful centrepiece of 2016’s Glasgow MayDay Cabaret in Oran Mor.

Finally, the world of Cuban film cemented the second Havana Glasgow Film Festival in November. The key themes of music, history, community and real life featured in the celebration of Cuba’s Cine Pobre festival. And the look at the key role of the Soviet Union in sustaining the Cuban revolution – Los Bolos en Cuba – took us neatly forward to next year’s important centenary.

Two acts at the peak of their powers - Celtic Connections 5

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Unthanks and Lau - ***** - GRCH

If anyone thinks that folk music is some immutable, traditional monolith, they need to see one of these two bands. Come to think of it, they need to see these two bands anyway.

Rachel (l) and Becky Unthank. photo Sarah Mason

Both the Unthanks and Lau take folk as a basis, and then add layers of invention.

The Unthanks pare songs back to basics - many of them, like Thursday night’s Testament of Patience Kershaw, or Died for Love, traditional songs – but they then add value, with a string quartet, trumpet or their own clog dancing rhythms! Incidentally, isn’t it interesting how many folk tunes work so well with brass accompaniment?

They are also wont to take material from other genres – on Thursday the honour of their pure delivery went to the King Crimson track – Starless. A peerless performance was topped off by the title track of the current album – Mount the Air.

Lau, on the other hand, while they also base their music on folk roots, use them as a jumping off

Lau (l-r Aidan O'Rourke, Kris Drever and Martin Green)

point for their compositions that build multiple layers of sound with electronic and traditional instruments, upon that base. They also used a string quartet, and in a nice touch the backing vocals to the first two tracks were provided by Rachel and Becky Unthank!

While Torsa harked back to earlier albums, most tracks came from their soon-to-be-released album The Bell that Never Rang. First Homecoming, and Ghosts showed what consummate musicians Lau are, while the title track formed the final hurrah to a hugely impressive concert. And the lighting was a joy in itself!

Pulling down the walls – or how to arrange an ensemble concert – Celtic Connections 4

Songs of Separation - ***** - Mitchell Theatre

In a festival that has made a feature of ensemble concerts, where a number of artists come together around a theme or event, ten women from Scotland and England showed last night how it should be done!

Jenny Hill

Brought together on the Isle of Eigg by bassist, Jenny Hill, this impressive array of talent showed the importance of both ensuring the variety of distinct contributions were given their own space, but working together to deliver a concert greater than the sum of its parts.

From Karine Polwart’s opener Echo mocks the Corncrake, we were treated to a wide-ranging

Karine Polwart

discourse on Separation – from each other, from the land, from family, from life itself. Sparked by the consideration of 2014’s referendum, the project didn’t come together until after that event, and this produced much more wide-ranging consideration, covering Gaelic, Norn, Bulgarian and music hall songs, as well as newly written work.

As Eliza Carthy pointed out – as they met, the unfolding tragedy of refugees gave a very different and human story of separation. That is reflected in the ensemble piece Over  the Border which powerfully combines, the Scots post-Flodden song,  ‘Floo’ers of the Forest’, the English First World War song ‘Flowers of Knaresboro’ Forest’  and the Scots  pipe tune, ‘Blue Bonnets O’er the Border’ in a call to get ‘the gates, and their borders all wede away’.

Rowan Rheingans

The concert constantly referred to how the project had reinforced connections between the musicians – both directly like Rowan Rheingans and Hannah Read’s arrangement of Robert Frost’s poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.  - and indirectly, such as watching all the women singing Gaelic choruses.

Indeed the musicians – who included Hannah James, Hazel Askew, Jenn Butterworth, Kate Young, and Mary McMaster as well as those above – molded together so well in support of each other, that it’s impossible to believe they haven’t been playing together all their lives! Pull down those walls again, please!

The concert was part of a tour to showcase the album created from the women’s time on Eigg. It is released on the 29 January – check the NavigatorRecords website for more info.

Our nation deserves better songs - Celtic Connections 3

Scotia Nova – Songs for a better nation ***  GRCH,  Strathclyde Suite

The problem with projects like this, is that you end up with a bunch of compositions, some of which won’t be as good as others.  That problem is magnified when you base it on such a crucial event as Scotland’s referendum, where strong opinions abound and the capacity for

And this is what has happened with Scotia Nova – a parallel musical project to the similarly-titled selection of poetry published last year  - some of the songs are very good, some are frankly, poor.

The diamonds are often those that address real issues – rather than vague appeals to abstract notions or continued harking back to the constitution. Brian McNeill – self proclaimed socialist – was probably the high point with his piece The War of the Crofter on the fight of the Assynt crofters to buy their own crofts. Scott Murray’s song about Edinburgh’s homeless – Duke Street to Jericho, taken straight from their own words, and Mari Campbell and Dan Francis’ O Man, Jock Tamson, a lament for the impoverished, also both shone out.

I’m afraid Charlie Milne’s Scotland’s Future didn’t really deal with our future in any real way, and Simon Kempston’s We must unite, for all its laudable aims, failed to grasp – well anything really.

The Soul of the Estuary - Celtic Connections 2

--- and this is the second - a tour-de-force by Chris Wood

Chris Wood - ***** - Glasgow Art Club

Chris Wood - stepping up to the mark

It is a common misconception that the tradition of ‘folk music’ that addresses contemporary social issues doesn’t come from the South East of England, but must derive from the gritty urban north. Chris Wood blew that myth apart in this concert, and staked a strong claim to be- not just ‘an Estuary Soul’ singer, but ‘The Soul of the Estuary”.

Appearing on his own for a nearly two-hour concert he held a packed audience (nb to the organisers – he could fill a bigger venue!) entranced. Partly, it is the sharpness of the songwriting. His songs can take you straight into contemporary working class life - None the Wiser; So Much to Defend, minor league football – It’s only a Friendly, or they can pass stinging comment on politics as in Spitfire.

But if that were not enough, he operates on other levels. Hollow Point, telling the story of the killing of Charles de Menezes is guaranteed to freeze the blood, and his (admittedly risky) re – writing of the tune to Jerusalem has the result of bringing out Blake’s original call to arms.

Chris Wood’s triumph lies in his ability to both recognise unsung talent – his selection of the underrated and sadly-missed Ronnie Lane’s The Poacher to round-off the first half was a piece of magic – and his ability to write beautiful, simple lyrics that draw complex comments on contemporary society with humour and a sharp eye.

It can be difficult for an English folky to come up to Scotland and get an audience. If this concert is to go by, Chris Wood has broken through that barrier. Let’s hope he’ll be back soon.

The Carrying Stream - Celtic Connections 1

This is the first of a series of reviews of Celtic Connections concerts. I'm doing a couple of summary reviews for the Morning Star (and indeed did a preview piece here.) but I thought some of these concerts deserve a full review to themselves. Here is the first, of the opening concert

The Carrying Stream ****  Royal Concert Hall

The 50th anniversary of an association formed to promote and preserve Scottish Traditional music sounds a bit 'worthy', conjuring up images of bearded men in Aran jumpers! But the difference between the image and the reality of traditional music in Scotland is soon exposed. Celtic Connections' opening concert for 2016 was directed by young singer Siobhan Miller - Radio 2 Young

Siobhan Miller

folk singer of the year a few years back, and twice winner of the Scots Singer of The Year award at the Scottish Trad music Awards. And the TMSA is at least as concerned with nurturing new talent as preserving old. That is immediately obvious from the impressive opening from he National Youth Pipe Band, backed up by the amplified guitars of the house band!

The concert also varies between standards from the Scottish traditional music scene, like Shepheard, Speirs and Watson, and Adam MacNaughon and more recent innovators like Kris Drever, sparky Gaelic singer Mischa Macpherson and - youngest of the lot! - the Ceilidh Trail Band, just back from a tour 'to see how professional musicians can survive' as MC Mark Stevens put it. Any illusion that only Scots from the Highlands are part of the 'carrying stream' was also put to rest with slots from US singer Rayna Gellart and - even further out - Londoner Sam Lee!

Sheena Wellington

Stalwarts of the Scottish folk scene there were in plenty - Arthur Johnstone and Brian Miller, Sheena Wellington (reprising her Scottish Parliament-opening A Man's a Man), Barbara Dickson, Malinky and surprise (and welcome) guests, Aly Bain and Phil Cunninghame, but the real strength of the TMSA is its willingness to absorb and protect traditional acts while nurturing and developing new talent. It is that which enabled Siobhan Miller to get away with bringing Barbara Dickson on for only one song. It is that which led the packed stalls of the Royal Concert Hall to welcome every act with warmth and affection, and it is that which meant the packed stage could sign off with Freedom Come All Ye and The Parting Glass without a false start.

Joyous Johnstone Jamboree!

I've just realised that I promised to put my review of Arthur Johnstone and Friends at The Mitchell Theatre, Glasgow up once it had been published in the Morning Star, and I've forgotten to do this! (although I did tweet a link to it). Here it is -

THIS turned out to be a memorable night of song and celebration with and for Arthur Johnstone at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections festival.

Celebrating 50 years of song and protest by the veteran, the packed hall lapped up a great bill in an evening ably compered by singer and actor Dave Anderson.

Luminaries abounded. Tommy Sands delivered a beautiful There Were Roses, matched by Rab Noakes’s Jackson Greyhound and 16 Tons, while Danny Couper and Martin McDonald joined rising talents Siobhan Miller and Paul Sheridan, actor David Hayman and Gaelic singer Maeve McKinnon to pay tribute to Johnstone’s talent and commitment to the labour movement.

The emotive heart of the concert was the return of the Patton brothers to reform The Laggan for the night. The band’s John McDermott, who had died since the group disbanded, was represented by his banjo, played by Billy Patton.

The Laggan reunite! l-r Tony and Billy Patton (with John McDermott's banjo), Arthur Johnstone, ably assisted by Brian Miller.

Awards and tributes showered down. From the STUC’s lifetime achievement award — invented, said deputy general secretary Dave Moxham specifically for Johnstone because “he is in a group of one” — and Brian Filling, consul for South Africa. And there was a tribute from the Morning Star’s Scottish Campaign Committee because, as its secretary Keith Stoddart said: “This concert is a sell-out but Arthur has never sold out!”

Johnstone, performing solo or with old or new band mates, took centre stage. Songs not heard for some time, such as Four Green Fields and Doomsday in the Afternoon, were interspersed with old favourites It’s My Union and The John Maclean March and the concert wound up all too soon with Hamish Henderson’s rousing Freedom Come All Ye.

Top talent, top evening.

Rounding up the Festival - bar one!

 The Morning Star have today rounded up a few of my reviews (and one by FairPley's Stephen Wright) into a compilations piece, here. The review for Canzionere Grecanico Salentino/Complete has already been published on this blog (previous article). Below is the full version of the reviews of Blood and Roses - the excellent Ewan MacColl tribute, and The Music of Craig Armstrong, with the composer and the Orchestra of Scottish Opera. Both were at the Royal Concert Hall.
I think that Arthur Johnstone and Friends should have a review to itself and I think the Morning Star is planning that for later this week.

It's a family affair

Ewan MacColl

What’s the best way to celebrate your dad's 100th birthday? Particularly if that dad was a Marxist, actor, singer, songwriter, playwright, folk revivalist and documentary producer? What better way, thought Calum and Neill MacColl, than to gather together the family, friends, and those influenced by their dad, Ewan, and have them sing his songs. On Sunday at Glasgow's Celtic Connections, the city's Royal Concert Hall resounded with the result. Starting with Calum reading a message from his mum and Ewan's widow, Peggy, the night was full of family connections. In addition to sons Neill and Calum, who curated the concert, grandsons, Jamie, Alex, and Tom MacColl and Harry Mead were on hand to play and sing.

Eliza Carthy

Other family connections were provided by a different folk dynasty, Eliza Carthy was joined by her father and mother, Martin Carthy, and Norma Waterson to harmonise strongly on The Moving On Song, and Thirty Foot Trailer.

Pulp's Jarvis Cocker and many other luminaries joined them to demonstrate the breadth and depth of MacColl's talent. From the use of peoples' own testimony to document their working (and travelling lives) - Chaim Tannenbaum on Shoals of Herring, and the Waterson:McCarthy family on Shift Boys, Shift, through to socialist and campaigning songs - Go Down you Murderers, again from the talented Tannenbaum, and the irrepressible Dick Gaughan with the Spanish Civil War song, Jamie Foyers.

Paul Buchanan

But MacColl's talent also ran to the deeply personal yet universal love songs. Calum MacColl and Karine Polwart duetted on Nobody Knew She Was There, his song for his mother, Betsy Miller, and the Blue Nile's Paul Buchanan managed to deliver a deeply felt and poignant version of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, a song  covered by so many people the versions were described by Ewan and Peggy as their 'chamber of horrors! Possibly the most personal however, was the ending of the first half by the sons and grandsons gathering to sing the shanties that MacColl sang around the house.

All in all, a tremendous concert and a fitting tribute to a tremendous socialist talent. Where else would you be able to see Jarvis Cocker and Norma Waterson duetting on Dirty Old Town? 

The Music of Craig Armstrong  

Craig Armstrong

This was one of the concerts that Celtic Connections throws into the mix from time to time to broaden its musical appeal, to open ears to something different, and – let’s face it – to stir up controversy! An orchestral concert featuring film scores is guaranteed to get the critics harrumphing ‘it’s not Celtic Connections’.

As it is far from clear what the criteria are (or if there are any), it is probably best to judge concerts on their merits. The Music of Craig Armstrong  was worth a five star rating by this standard. Armstrong is probably not a household name, certainly he gives the impression of being uncomfortable in the limelight, but it is almost certain that you have heard his music.

He has written the music for numerous films; Love Actually, Moulin Rouge, Romeo & Juliet, The Quiet American, Far from the Madding Crowd amongst them. Yet the main enthusiasm he expressed is for his work with fellow-Glaswegian, Peter Mullan – Armstrong wrote the music for both Mullan’s Orphans and The Magdalene Sisters – and played the main theme from Orphans.

The concert covered many of Armstrong’s film scores and his own albums, with particular emphasis on his new album, It’s Nearly Tomorrow. Armstrong has a huge talent to get feeling into his music, and he and the musicians he works with are equally good in getting it back out again!

Lucia Fontaine

The massive concert featured a galaxy of fine musicians – James Grant, and Katie O’Halloran sang particularly fine versions of Nature Boy, and One Day I’ll Fly Away respectively. Amongst other guests were former Scottish Ensemble leader, Clio Gould and cellist Alison Lawrence, but the standout was young singer Lucia Fontainé whose voice on Crash outshone the recorded version.

At this Festival, Connections are Key

-->My Review of the Celtic Connections concert featuring Luka Bloom and Bella Hardy was in Wednesday's Morning Star. it can be found here.

Another  concert that the Star hasn't had the space to print, but I felt deserved to be published is one from Friday 23 January at the O2ABC, featuring two bands - Canzionere Grecanico Salentino, and Complete. While their connections to Scotland and Celtic Music are not immediately apparent, they nevertheless became evident!

Celtic Connections is often criticised for including acts who seem to have little connection to ‘Celtic’ music. Friday’s concert from Canzionere Grecanico Salentino (right) – a band from Puglia in Italy making their first appearance in Glasgow - showed that the connections may be more than is immediately obvious. 
Given their origin (and name) you might be expecting influences from Greece and North Africa – and you would be right! You might not expect bagpipes and bodhran’s – but you got ‘em (well, OK the bodhran’s were really large tambourines)! The pipes were shorn of drones and had grown a second chanter, but the sound was unmistakable.

The performance, too, had links to Scotland in its emphasis on dance. Salento in Puglia is after all home to the Tarantella – and dancer Silvia Perrone was a classic exponent of the pizzica tarantata. The music had the rhythm and intricateness of ceilidh bands while Maria Mazzotta’s vocals came from Greece via North Africa and the Iberian peninsula (think flamenco song meets fado). The audience were on their feet early in the set, clearly infused with the infectious rhythms. Many stayed dancing throughout.

A different set of connections were in evidence from support group, Complete (left). A South African a cappella group in the Isicathamiya style they varied South African songs with some lesser known African standards like Paul Macartney’s Yesterday, and even My Yiddische Momma! A great version of (Ladysmith Black Mambazo) Joseph Shabalala’s Homeless namechecked one influence - and their link with Hugh Masekela – took us back to their appearance with the great man at last year’s Nelson Mandela International Day concert.

It is in the nature of music to be repeated round the world, to be adapted and to link peoples. This festival is showing that its Connections are at least as important as its Celtic.

Festival making much of their Connections

 This is by way of  a compilation of my reviews of Celtic Connections concerts so far published in the Morning Star.

The festival is well on course to be a classic year. In particular the theme of Connections seems to be a major part of it. While it has always been a significant festival factor, this year seems to be emphasising connections in almost all of the events.

Probably one of the most significant will be tonight's concert celebrating the centenary of the birth of

MacColl. huge influence

Ewan MacColl. At Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall, Jarvis Cocker (Blur), Paul Buchanan (The Blue Nile), Dick Gaughan, Karine Polwart, and Martin and Eliza Carthy are among the galaxy of talent lined up to pay tribute to MacColl, dramatist, singer, marxist, broadcaster and the man most responsible for Britain’s folk revival. Curated by two of his sons – Calum and Neil - and also featuring four of his grandsons, this concert celebrates the legacy of the songwriter who gave us Dirty Old Town, and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and many others.

Karine Polwart links Horizons and MacColl

Previous concerts have been the Horizons concert in the Old Fruitmarket a week past on Friday. A good idea which needed tighter control of outside interference. It is reviewed here.

Sam Sweeney's Fiddle was a great piece of work that deservedly attracted a standing ovation from the audience in the Tron. Review here.

keep tuned for reviews of Luka Bloom - and the fire alarm! - and Canzionere Grecanico Salentino!

Celtic Connections - bringing the world together.

My preview of this year's Celtic Connections festival is printed in today's Morning Star, here. They have made some (entirely legitimate) editorial changes to my original article - mainly reordering the concerts thematically rather than by date. However, I thought I'd put my original up here - not because I think it is better written (it isn't), but because in the editing the date of Arthur Johnstone's concert has been lost (it is on the 31 Jan), and more importantly, the point that I was making about the significance of the Horizon's project in bringing together music from the nations of the British Isles, has been somewhat obscured. Here is the original.

In 2015's programme, Celtic Connections Donald Shaw suggests that for some parts of the world, 'music is the best hope of bringing people together', and acts from Van Morrison to the Congo's Konono No 1 show the festival's success in that.

While he probably doesn't mean to include the UK, there is at least one event that seeks to do exactly

Kate Rusby

that. Horizons (16 Jan) is an intriguing partnership promoting music from the British Isles' constituent nations. The concert features Karine Polwart (Scotland), Kate Rusby (England), Damien O'Kane (NI), the Republic's Declan O'Rourke, and Welsh balladeer Al Lewis (playing with Alva Leigh).

Sam Sweeney's Fiddle (16 & 17 January) is a multi-media performance about a fiddle bought by Sam Sweeney, whose maker turned out to have died in the First World War. The performance will also feature Sweeney's Bellowhead band mates, Paul Sartin, Rob Habron, and storyteller Hugh Lupton.

One of the Festival's international acts are Canzionere Grecanico Salentino (23 Jan). A band from the 'heel' of Italy, they blend music, song and dance to deliver the unique cultural tradition of the region's mixed history.

Ewan MacColl

A major feature must be the concert of Ewan MacColl's music (Blood and Roses 25 Jan). Curated by his sons Calum and Neil, the concert includes performances by Kate St John, Dick Gaughan, Martin and Eliza Carthy and Karine Polwart.

Craig Armstrong is a local Shettleston boy who now writes music for Baz Luhrman's films, winning many awards. He's worked with U2, Madonna, Texas, Tina Turner et al and he's still based in Glasgow. Here he plays latest album It's Nearly Tomorrow, with the Scottish Opera orchestra and guests (27 Jan).

Arthur Johnstone

Political singer, Arthur Johnstone invites guests from his original band, the Laggan, the Stars Band, Tommy Sands, actor David Hayman and many others, to celebrate his enduring contribution to working people's struggles (31 Jan). Arthur deserves the widest recognition and the concert's sell out testifies to his enduring popularity.

Also sold out is Frances Black and Kieran Goss's return to their 1992 partnership (27 Jan) although a second night has been added (26 Jan). 2015 may be shaping up to be another success story. Listings and tickets - www.celticconnections.com.