The Mackintosh church is probably the most beautiful of all Celtic Connections venues. The late 1800’s designs by the famed architect Rennie James Mackintosh are like music themselves – what better place for a Celtic music gig?
As the evening’s first act, Gaelic singer Gillebrìde MacMillan performed songs from his new album, “Sèimh: A State of Calm”, released today on Feb 3. Joining him were an impressive group of musicians, including Karen Matheson, Fraser Fifield and Mhairi Hall. Beautiful songs in beautiful surroundings.
The fabulous headliners Rachel Walker and Aaron Jones performed their new album “Despite the Wind and Rain”. All the songs on the album are inspired by the real lives of brilliant but often overlooked Scottish women in the fields of science, social reform and art.
It’s a beautiful work and the songs and their background facts came fully alive in Rachel and Aaron’s warm presence. They also had excellent backing by Emily Smith, Duncal Lyall and the string quartet led by Seonaid Aitken.
A lovely evening in all, and I even got to quickly thank Karen Matheson (after Annu noticed her and prodded me to do so 😄) for her music and singing with Capercaillie, as they really opened Celtic music and its underlying culture to me almost seven years ago.
FolkNotes 