Cowboy Junkies, Donegal Connections and Real World Artists at Celtic Connections 2007 on Wednesday 31st January

Glasgow , Scotland – Celtic Connections welcomes Peter Gabriel’s record label to the festival to present its first ever Scottish showcase. Elsewhere today, a special concert dedicated to the music of Donegal takes place in the Concert Hall and a legendary Scottish band is joined on-stage by their equally legendary friends for a collaborative concert.

Celtic Connections takes place in 12 venues all over Glasgow. The focal point of the festival is The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, where performances take place in every available space, from workshops in the foyers to performances by world-class artists in the Main Auditorium. The City Halls and Old Fruitmarket, ABC, The Tron, The Piping Centre and Glasgow’s newest live venue The Classic Grand will all play host to Celtic Connections events this year over a period of nineteen days in January and February.

Program:

Celtic Connections School Concert
The Anna Massie Band
Wed 31 January, 11:00am
Free but Ticketed
The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Main Auditorium

Iain Anderson In Conversation with Richard Holloway
Wed 31 January, 12:30pm
£3.50
The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Exhibition Hall

Celtic Music Radio
Wed 31 January, 2:00pm
Free
The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Exhibition Hall

Danny Kyle’s Open Stage hosted by Gibb Todd
Wed 31 January, 5:00pm
Free
The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Exhibition Hall

Cowboy Junkies with Support
Wed 31 January, 7:30pm
£15
ABC

Donegal Connections
Wed 31 January, 7:30pm
£18, £16
The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Main Auditorium

Thanks to its geographic proximity, Donegal has always been the most Scottish of Ireland’s counties. Its connections with Glasgow, in particular, run both deep and wide. As recently as the 1960s and 70s, for instance, up to 30,000 people would make the eastward crossing each year to visit relatives during the Glasgow Fair.

Scottish influences, though, are only one element in Donegal’s famously rich musical traditions, which has been nourished and preserved by the region’s largely rural isolation. Tonight’s concert (part of our regional music series) seeks to explore and celebrate that proud local culture, in both its traditional and contemporary guises, while highlighting the strength and continuing vitality of its links with Scotland.

The program at Celtic Connections 2007 will feature both solo and ensemble performances, by Donegal’s most famous musical exports including Tommy and Siobhan Peoples, Tríona and Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill, Manus Lunny and Theresa Kavanagh and the famous Campbell fiddling family of Vincent, Jimmy and Peter. Also performing will be Donegal members of the famous Glasgow Comhaltas movement and the West Ocean String Quartet, famous for their wide-ranging appeal.

Ceolraidh:
Norrie MacIver with Julie Fowlis and Shona Mooney with John McCusker
Wed 31 January, 8:00pm
£10
The National Piping Centre

Jean-Michel Veillon with Jamie McMenemy and Friends
Wed 31 January, 8:00pm
£12.50
St Andrew’s in the Square

McCalmans and Friends with the White Hare Band
Wed 31 January, 8:00pm
£14
The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Strathclyde Suite

Besides the many friends sure to be in the audience tonight, those joining the McCalmans onstage will include Dick Gaughan, Allan Taylor, Sangsters and Jim Malcolm.

Support tonight comes from The White Hare Band, comprising Brendan Hendry (fiddle), Jim McKee (guitar, harmonica and vocals) and PJ McDonald (whistles and vocals) and hailing from Derry and Tyrone.

Songs & Music of Scotland:
Ayrshire, Dumfries & Galloway, Hosted by Doris Rougvie
Wed 31 January, 8:00pm
£8.50
Universal

Real World
Wed 31 January, 9:00pm
£18
Old Fruitmarket

Peter Gabriel’s eclectic record label, Real World, is delighted to present its first Scottish showcase. This represents an exciting new direction for Celtic Connections, as the festival seeks to share common ground and forge fresh new links between the folk and world music scenes.

In this one-off event, Real World brings uplifting voices, superlative musicianship, dub-heavy grooves and irresistible rhythms from West Africa to Central Asia, from London to Ohio – a truly global celebration, bursting with talent.

The legendary blues-and-beyond guitarist Skip McDonald, aka Little Axe, will be joined by the renowned rhythm section of Doug Wimbish and Keith LeBlanc (Sugarhill Gang, Tackhead) with Bernard Fowler (Tackhead, Rolling Stones) on vocals. They will be joined by production maestro Adrian Sherwood, of On-U Sound Records, who as well as producing their current album, Stone Cold Ohio, will also perform his own live sound-system.

Other special guests include the latest incarnation of pioneering Asian fusioneers Joi and the young Mauritanian singer-songwriter Daby Touré who has been described as an African Cat Stevens or Nick Drake. Also flying in is Sevara Nazarkhan – Uzbekistan’s ravishing young star and winner of a BBC Radio 3 World Music Award.

Thefestival will not be forgetting the much loved, much missed Martyn Bennett and will be paying tribute to his special legacy to Scottish music.

Celtic Connections Festival Club hosted by Gibb Todd
Wed 31 January, 10:30pm
£3.50
Holiday Inn – City West

Tickets can be purchased from the Box Office:

In person at: The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
2 Sauchiehall Street
GLASGOW
G2 3NY
Online at: www.celticconnections.com
By phone on: 0141 353 8000