It was essentially a Nordic - or Northern - night at the RCH main hall on Saturday night, Feb 4. With Denmark and Sweden represented in Dreamers’ Circus and Finland in the shape of Frigg, Scotland’s own Kinnaris Quintet fitted in nicely as another member of the Nordic family - premonition of times to come, … Continue reading Celtic Connections 2023: Dreamers’ Circus, with Frigg and the Kinnaris Quintet
Tag: trad music
Celtic Connections 2023: Carty & McGoldrick, Ryan Young, Sarah Markey
Tuesday night, Jan 31, saw a feast of fully acoustic Celtic music at the RCH Strathclyde Suite. The excellent flute player Sarah Markey opened the evening with a solid set of Irish and Scottish tunes - very nice! The headliners, John Carty and Mike McGoldrick, were as good as you’d expect; it’s always a pleasure … Continue reading Celtic Connections 2023: Carty & McGoldrick, Ryan Young, Sarah Markey
Celtic Connections 2023: Ross & Ali Trio, with Startijenn and Beinn Lee
The evening of Sunday 29th at St Luke’s was a nicely balanced three-layer cake of music. We caught most of the Hebrides band Beinn Lee’s set and were duly delighted and entertained by the solid performance. Their trad stylings lean occasionally towards pop and, for me, it sometimes works for them and sometimes not so … Continue reading Celtic Connections 2023: Ross & Ali Trio, with Startijenn and Beinn Lee
Celtic Connections 2023: Cara Dillon with Vrï
We had checked out Vrï’s latest album before the festival and had been quite impressed with the three Welsh guys singing in Welsh. They sounded vibrant and self-assured on the album and likewise so on stage as the opening act for Cara Dillon on Sat. 28th. As far as I have understood, they play traditional … Continue reading Celtic Connections 2023: Cara Dillon with Vrï
Celtic Connections 2023: Ímar with FullSet and ‘Ndiaz
It was a full house in the Old Fruitmarket on Fri 27th as the music crowd gathered to witness three quite different acts. Ireland’s FullSet have been around for quite a few years now but I only discovered them in 2021. I loved their show, a pretty damn excellent serving of contemporary Irish trad. Fine … Continue reading Celtic Connections 2023: Ímar with FullSet and ‘Ndiaz
Celtic Connections 2023: John McCusker and friends; Beth Malcolm
Our Sunday’s CC menu consisted of two concerts decidedly less loud but just as enjoyable as the gigs on two previous days. Celtic Connections’ New Voices series has always showcased brilliant upcoming artists and Beth Malcolm’s song cycle on theme of growing up and finding yourself was no exception. She is an immensely talented songwriter: … Continue reading Celtic Connections 2023: John McCusker and friends; Beth Malcolm
Elizabeth Davidson-Blythe & Daniel Quayle: The Coast Road
I had never heard of Elizabeth Davidson-Blythe before and no wonder: she is a young American fiddler whose first album, The Coast Road, a collaboration with guitarist Daniel Quayle, was only recently released. But I will be very much surprised if I will not hear of her much more in the future, since The Coast … Continue reading Elizabeth Davidson-Blythe & Daniel Quayle: The Coast Road
Some jaw-droppin’ musicians! Have mercy…
By pure chance I happened to listen to some dazzling albums over the past week - dazzling in terms of musicianship, that is. If you play an instrument and need some inspiration to fire up your own practising, check these out… The amazing debut album An Den Day Made Tae (2020) by the Shetland brothers … Continue reading Some jaw-droppin’ musicians! Have mercy…
Beinn Lee: Deò
The band full of still quite young Hebridean talent released their second album a year ago already but for reasons I cannot explain, I only listened to it now. This is weird because Osgarra, the debut album from 2018, was so ready and together for a young band’s opening salvo and I really liked it … Continue reading Beinn Lee: Deò
Galician discoveries: Riobó
Since last year, I’ve been dipping my toes into Breton and Galician (and very recently Northern Portuguese) folk music; in other words, the more southern regions of Celtic music. I have been a fan of the Galician master piper Anxo Lorenzo for years now but have never really taken a closer look at that region’s … Continue reading Galician discoveries: Riobó
FolkNotes 