Gary Lewis and Tommy Sands lead Glasgow's MayDay festivities.

--> MayDay festivals have been celebrated since pre-Christian times. Earliest celebrations marked the beginning of summer and linked to many pagan festivals including the Gaelic Beltane. In 1891 MayDay was formally adopted as International Workers Day – primarily to mark the anniversary of the 1886 Chicago Haymarket Massacre, when four strikers were killed when police opened fire on a demonstration after a bomb was thrown. 

Despite the gravity of this event, and maybe because of earlier festival links, the celebratory side of International Workers’ Day is longstanding and international, especially in Glasgow. The story of labour in the west of Scotland is peppered with cultural input – choirs from the Orpheus to the Eurydice, theatre from the Glasgow Workers’ Theatre to 7:84 and Wildcat, Glasgow Trades Council even once ran a film society! This is the background to the increasing range of activities now being organised in the city by a range of TU, campaigning and labour organisations.

The now hugely successful Great MayDay Cabaret, organised by Glasgow Friends of MayDay (GFoMD), celebrates its third anniversary at Oran Mor on the Mayday Monday (4) evening. This year’s headliner is celebrated Irish singer and peace activist , Tommy Sands. Also performing are poet Elvis McGonagall, actress Juliet Cadzow, comedians Bruce Morton and Susie McCabe, and singers Arthur Johnstone and Siobhan Miller. Dave Anderson comperes.


In addition, Glasgow-based film actor Gary Lewis (Billy Elliot, Gangs of New York) stars in a specially commissioned rehearsed reading of John and Willy Maley’s play – From the Calton to Catalonia – republished last year by Calton Books. This play about their father’s experiences in the International Brigades launches, appropriately enough, in the Calton, then goes on a small tour during the period including Irvine’s Harbour Arts centre (2) and Oran Mor (3).

Chris Bartter, Chair of Glasgow Friends of Mayday said “This year’s celebrations have moved up a gear. Many more organisations and people are planning events and we are delighted that we’re able to add a theatre performance to the already successful Cabaret.”

Trade Union Councils throughout Scotland continue to organise MayDay marches and rallies on the Mayday Weekend (Sat and Sun 2/3 May). Plans and speakers are still being finalised.

An interesting project run by Glasgow Museums and Glasgow University plans to get trade union and campaign banners out of museum storage and into local communities, where people with a connection to the struggle will tell their story. One is scheduled in Glasgow’s Castlemilk on the afternoon of May 1 with banners from the local Anti-Poll Tax Union, and the Tailors’ and Garment Workers’ Union. Similar events are planned in Barmulloch and Govan later.

Love Music, Hate Racism have organised a gig in Glasgow’s Stereo on the evening of May 1 and are also showing the film, The Clash: Westway to the World on Sunday 10 May at the CCA.

Other film showings, include the third in a series of film showings at the CCA organised by a local GMB Branch. Linking International Workers’ Memorial Day (28 April) with MayDay, they are showing Ken Loach’s The Navigators on April 30.

A new MayDay tradition of walks through Glasgow’s heritage continues, with the Friends of MayDay organising a Women, War and Rent Strike walk on Saturday April 25. And the Glasgow Women’s Library has one of its Women of the Merchant City walks two weeks later (9 May).

Of course established venues often have relevant events – most obviously The Tron’s Mayfesto festival – an important part of which will be Rites, a powerful NToS and Scottish Refugee Council-backed piece by Cora Bissett on female genital mutilation. David MacLennan’s legacy– A Play, a Pie and a Pint- also serves up The War hasn’t Started Yet – a view from modern Russia from May 4–9.

Amongst a number of talks and discussions, the ever-interesting Morning Star Our Class, Our Culture series has an intriguing presentation by John Quinn of Glasgow School of Art – Portraying the Heroes of Red Clydeside in the STUC on 5 May. 

The festival events in Glasgow take place in the weeks before and after the MayDay weekend (this year Sat 2 – Mon 4) and are organised by a wide variety of trade union, cultural and campaigning bodies.

Tickets for both The (Third) Great Mayday Cabaret (4 May) and From the Calton to Catalonia on the 3 May are available from Oran Mor (over the bar) or via their website - http://oran-mor.co.uk/whats-on/ (booking fee).

(Currently the OM website is being revamped, so tickets for the cabaret on line are available from ticketweb here - http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/event/great-may-day-cabaret-tickets/163277. And the OM performance of From the Calton to Catalonia, here - http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/event/from-the-calton-to-catalonia-tickets/167595).

The full 2015 programme is due to be published early in April. It will be available on http://may1st.org.uk as well as Oran Mor, the STUC, trade unions and other outlets.

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!

Health & Social Care mergers - Knowledge is Power

My article on the issues and problems that potentially lie ahead for activists and campaigners trying to extract information from the new merged structures providing health and social care in Scotland has just been published by the Scottish Left Review. It is here, and the rest of the issue - which deals with other issues associated with this recent legislation can be found here.

The article is printed as written, so I would advise those who wish to peruse it, to visit the SLR website (links above).

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.