Celtic Connections: Seeing Music

Celtic Connections is one of winter’s largest -- and most interesting -- festivals. It is held across nearly three weeks beginning in mid January every year in Glasgow, Scotland. The center of it is music -- there are more than three hundred official cocnerts during the festival, as well as talks, workshops, walks, and other events.

Here is a bit of what Celtic Connections looked like recently. I invite you to stay tuned for more to come...

Rhiannon Giddens, who appeared backed by a bespoke Celtic orchestra in a moving and uplifting performance

Siobhan Miller (with Meghan Henderson on fiddle) who offred a lively and gracious set of tunes new and old, original and traditional -- and it turned out, was celebrating her birthday as well

Appearing with the eclectic Blue Rose Code, Eddi Reader was as always in fine voice and having a fine time. One of the high points of the evening at City Halls happened when she got the whole hosue singing the chorus of her hit song Perfect along with her

The four women of the Gaelic a capella group Sian collabrated with Malian singer and ngoni player Basseyou Kouyate to the audience's -- and their own -- delight

Kathy Mattea and Bill Cooley offered a set at times introspective, and times sharing humor, always filled with good stories spoken, sung, and played

You may also wish to see
Scotland’s music: Emily Smith:Echoes
Ireland's music: Cara Dillon: A Thousand Hearts
Singer, poet, Scotland:Eddi Reader and Robert Burns

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Celtic Connections 2015: images

Celtic Connections is perhaps Europe’s best winter festival -- it is certainly one of the world’s best music festivals. Held in Glasgow, Scotland, in the latter part of January each year, the festival hosts concerts of music both traditional and not, from the many traditions of Scotland and the Celtic lands, from the Commonwealth countries, and from other traditions such as, in recent years, those of Malawi, Mali, and Mongolia.

Events are held in venues across the city center, ranging from the Royal Concert Hall to the repurposed church that is now Oran Mor, from the National Piping Centre to City Halls to the Old Fruitmarket to The Tron Theatre. There are exhibits of visual art, late night song and music sessions and an after hours festival club, as well as competitions for rising stars and live radio broadcasts.

Here is a bit of what some of the events looked like this winter past

... and there will be more to come.

Photographs are by Kerry Dexter and were made with permission of the artists, the festival, and the venues involved. Thank you for respecting copyright.

You may also wish to see
Celtic Connections: 20 Years of Extraordinary Music at Wandering Educators
Celtic Connections 2014: reflections, part one
Celtic Connections 2013: Images

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Celtic Connections 2014

by Kerry Dexter

Celtic Connections: each year in January, this major music festival fires up concert halls. clubs, theaters, and other performance spaces across the city center of Glasgow with music that includes both the Celtic side of things and music that reaches out into the connections of music across the world.

Through the hundreds of gigs on offer, it is always an individual journey of what music to take in. Several highlights of the 2014 edition of Celtic Connections for me included

Hearing classical violinist Nicola Benedetti talk about -- and play -- collaborations with Scottish musicians including Aly Bain, Phil Cunningham, andJulie Fowlis, which they have been working on for an album that native Scot Benedetti plans to release this summer

Seeing fiddler Duncan Chisholm bring his straight from the Highlands of Scotland music to the stage of Glasgow Royal Concert Hall that same evening, and knowing he was part of the opening concert at the first Celtic Connections festival twenty one years back

It wouldn’t be Celtic Connections -- or Scotland -- without the pipes. One of my favourite pipers this year was James Duncan Mackenzie, playing both traditional music and his own compositions as part of a concert at The Mitchell, and sharing stories of the tunes with a lively wit

Speaking of lively wit, that was as much in play as was world class music and dance as Cherish the Ladies with bandleader Joanie Madden

brought the heritage of Ireland to the stage of the Royal Concert Hall, to the delight of a sold out house. Among the guests was singer and songwriterCathie Ryan, who along with Madden and guitarist Mary Coogan was part of the group’s first appearance at Celtic Connections twenty years ago.

Photographs are by Kerry Dexter. They were made with permission of the festival, the artists, and the venues involved, and are copyrighted. Thank you for respecting this.

There will be more to come of windows into the sights and sounds of Celtic Connections 2014 here along the Music Road. You might also like to see

Celtic connections: twenty years of extraordinary music
Cherish the Ladies: storytellers in music
Celtic Connections 2013: Images

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..

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Shamrock City
Celtic Connections 2011: images, part two
T with the Maggies

-->If you'd like to help support Music Road,
here is a way to do that, through PayPal. Note that you do not have to have a PayPal account to do this.Thank you.

Celtic Connections 2012: the music continues

Celtic Connections, in Glasgow, Scotland, is one of Europe’s and the world’s premiere winter festivals, bringing hundreds of artists for sharing of tune and song, in venues ranging from a rock club to a cathedral, from a quiet song session in a concert of the concert hall building to a grand performance onthat same buildnig’s main stage. As the music continues, here’s a bit of what all that looks like












artists in these images include Archie Fisher, Caroline Herring, members of the Lothian and Borders Police Pipe Band, June Tabor, and Corinna Hewat.

photographs were made with permission of the artists and the festival, and are copyrighted. thank you for respecting that.

you may also wish to see
Music Road: Caroline Herring: Golden Apples of the Sun
Music Road: Scottish music a different way: The Unusual Suspects
Music Road: Celtic Connections 2011: images, part two
and

Delicious Baby's Photo Friday, where travelers offer new insights to the world each Friday.

-->Your support for Music Road is welcome and needed. If you are able to chip in, here is a way to do that, through PayPal. Note that you do not have to have a PayPal account to do this. Thank you.

Celtic Connections 2012: the music begins

January. Glasgow. Celtic Connections.

Celtic Connection's is Europe's premiere winer festival, and one of the top music festivals across the world. Both the Celtic side of things, with artists from all across Scotland, from ireland, the United States, Canada, and elsehwere in the Celtic world come to share their music, as do musicians from other traditions.

Celtic Connections 2012. The music begins...

with the Scottish Power Pipe Band playing to launch the first night of the festival, as the steps of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall are lit with fire and music



















The fire continued inside on the first evening, as the main auditorium at the Royal Concert Hall was lit with music from Bela Fleck and friends.








More to come on this concert and others as the music continues.

photographs made with permission of the festival and the artists, and are copyrighted. thank you for respecting this.




you may also wish to see

Celtic Connections:
an overview of events at this year's festival, at Wandering Educators
Music Road: Celtic Connections 2011: images

and

Delicious Baby's Photo Friday, where travelers offer new insights to the world each Friday.

silence and music

Musicians often have a practice of taking a moment of reflection before going on stage. This may be, literally, a moment, which isn’t apparent to anyone but the musician, or it may be a shared time with others working the gig. That moment of interior silence, of centering, then flows out into the music. Here are three moments of stillness within the sound.
















the artists here are
Cathie Ryan, with bodhran
Laoise Kelley, with harp
Lauren MacColl, with fiddle

photographs taken at the Tron, in Glasgow, Scotland, and Glor Music Center in Ennis, Republic of Ireland and were made with permission of the artists, and are copyrighted. thank you for respecting this.

you may also wish to see

Music Road: Celtic Connections 2011: images
Music Road: Cathie Ryan: Songwriter
Music Road: artists of the decade

and

Delicious Baby's Photo Friday, where travelers offer new insights to the world each Friday.

Celtic Connections 2011: seeing music

Celtic Connections, held in January of each year in Glasgow, Scotland, is one of the world's premiere Celtic music festivals. There are hundreds of artists and listeners, many concerts and venues. Yet, with all that, the festival -- thanks to the good will of artists, listeners, organizers and venue workers -- keeps an air of welcome and focus on the gifts and connections shared through music.









these photographs were taken with permission of the artists and are copyrighted. thank you for respecting this

you may also wish to see
Music Road: Celtic Connections 2011: images, part two
Music Road: from Donegal: T with the Maggies

and

Delicious Baby's Photo Friday, where travelers offer new insights to the world each Friday.

Celtic Connections 2011: images, part two

Listen to the music through the silence...












these photographs are from the Celtic Connections Festival 2011 in Glasgow. they were made with the kind permission of the artists, and are copyrighted. thank you for respecting this.

artists are from Scotland, Kathleen MacInnes, and from Ireland, John Doyle and Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh.

yuo may also wish to see
Music Road: Scott-Land at Celtic Connections
Music Road: Celtic Connections 2011: images
Music Road: harps and Celtic Connections


and

Delicious Baby's Photo Friday, where travelers offer new insights to the world each Friday. Music Road may receive a small commission if you make a purchase through links found here. Your cost does not increase. Thank you for supporting Music Road.

Celtic Connections 2011: images

Stories with words will come from
Celtic Connections this year...
here are stories told through images.
There will be more of these as well.



please note that these photographs were taken with the kind permission of the artists, and are copyrighted. thank you for respecting this.

you may also wish to see
Music Road: harps and Celtic Connections
Music Road: Best Music, 2010
a bodhran story

and

Delicious Baby's Photo Friday, where travelers offer new insights to the world each Friday.

Celtic Connections 2011:first look

The Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow is in full swing, with artists and listeners from all over the world joining in for more than three hundred events that light up the January nights and days across eighteen days' time.


Whatever the numbers, it is a festival which honours and celebrates the immediacy and intimacy created through music...

this photograph is of Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh at the City Halls Grand Hall.

photograph made with permission of artist and festival, and is copyrighted. thank you for respecting this


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Music Road: Altan: 25th Anniversary Collection
Music Road: Celtic Connections coming up

Delicious Baby's Photo Friday, where travelers offer new insights to the world each Friday.

Christmas gifts: live music

When someone plays their music for you, when you listen, when you have the chance to be present at a performance, in concert hall, a club, or around the kitchen table, it is an exchange of gifts. One of the very best gifts to give, and receive, at this holiday season.















thanks to the musicians in these shots for sharing their gifts. they are Del Suggs, Pierce Pettis, Liz Simmons, Hannah Sanders, Tish Hinojosa, Marvin Dykhuis, Matt Heaton, and Shannon Heaton, in concerts given in Tallahassee, Florida, and Cambridge, Massachusetts.



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Music Road: fourth week in Advent: quiet
Music Road: listening to Christmas: Shannon Heaton, Cathie Ryan, Mary Black, Hanneke Cassel
Music Road: Best Music, 2011


Delicious Baby's Photo Friday, where travelers offer new insights to the world each Friday.

-->Your support for Music Road is welcome and needed. If you are able to chip in, here is a way to do that, through PayPal. Note that you do not have to have a PayPal account to do this. Thank you.