Monday, May 06, 2013

Celtic Connections 2013: Images

Celtic Connections, which takes place each January in Glasgow, in Scotland, is an experience like no other. In the snow and sleet and wind of Scottish winter, musicians and listeners gather in venues ranging from a hotel conference room to a historic church to a lively pub to a grand concert hall to, at times, stairwells and concert hall steps to share the bonds of music which connect across time and space and place. The Celtic and the Connection are equally strong elements of the festival, which this past January marked twenty years.

Artists and listeners came from across the word, from Mali and Senegal, from Mongolia and Portugal, from all across the United States, from Canada, from Ireland, and from every part of Scotland as well, rising artists and established stars, sharing their songs and stories in one of the world’s most vibrant music cities.

I’ve been fortunate to attend Celtic Connections through many of the years of its two decade history. The Ireland and Scotland strands of music are those I most often follow. What’s above is a bit of what that looked like this year. If I’ve done my job well, you will hear a bit of the music through the silence of these images.

These photographs were made with permission of the the festival, the artists, and the venues involved. They are copyrighted, and I thank you for respecting that. The artists shown here include Mick McAuley, Cara Dillon, Zoe Conway. Mike McGoldrick, Mairéad Ni Mhaonaigh, Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill, Karen Matheson, Tim Edey, and Cyril MacPhee..

you may also wish to see
Shamrock City
Celtic Connections 2011: images, part two
T with the Maggies

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posted by Kerry Dexter at

7 Comments:

Anonymous Brette said...

Your photos always make me think I can almost hear the music

5:34 PM  
Anonymous ruth pennebaker said...

I'm thinking that any music festival in as drafty and cold a place as Glasgow in the inhospitable month of January has to be wonderful to survive.

5:57 PM  
Anonymous She said...

Wonderful photos. I'll bet the festival is great fun.

8:51 PM  
Anonymous Christine said...

What Brette said. I can "feel" the music through these evocative photos.

9:01 AM  
Blogger Jane Louise Boursaw said...

I definitely can feel and hear the music through your photos. What a neat event, and how fun it would be to hear Celtic music in a pub or historic church. I'm putting that on my list of things to do.

1:27 PM  
Anonymous Alexandra said...

Stairwells? No, really? Sounds like the music was reverberating throughout the city. Thanks for alerting me to this festival.

3:48 PM  
Anonymous HeatherL said...

This sounds like a lovely festival with lots of venues and impromptu music as well as the scheduled kind.

12:55 PM  

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