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This week, Celtic Connections celebrates its 20th festival. | 0:00:15 | 0:00:19 | |
January may not be the most obvious month | 0:00:19 | 0:00:21 | |
to host an annual international event, | 0:00:21 | 0:00:24 | |
but launched in 1994, it was an instant hit, | 0:00:24 | 0:00:27 | |
and is now one of the country's most important music festivals. | 0:00:27 | 0:00:30 | |
January, to me, is Celtic Connections. | 0:00:33 | 0:00:36 | |
It's a pure music festival, | 0:00:38 | 0:00:40 | |
and the people who go really, really appreciate that. | 0:00:40 | 0:00:43 | |
It's great music. We always believed that. | 0:00:45 | 0:00:47 | |
Even in the beginning, when it looked almost impossible. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:50 | |
It's about instilling pride amongst young people in their own music. | 0:00:52 | 0:00:57 | |
Over the next hour, we'll be celebrating the festival, | 0:00:57 | 0:01:00 | |
its impact on the Scottish and international music scenes | 0:01:00 | 0:01:03 | |
and sharing once again some of the great musical performances | 0:01:03 | 0:01:06 | |
that have made Celtic Connections such a unique and important event. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:11 | |
With music from Capercaillie... | 0:01:11 | 0:01:13 | |
# Cha teid Fionnlagh a dh'Eige Ged nach posda e feasda | 0:01:13 | 0:01:14 | |
# Cha teid Fionnlagh a dh'Eige Dh'Eige cha teid Fionnlagh | 0:01:14 | 0:01:17 | |
# Cha teid Fionnlagh a dh'Eige Ged nach posda e feasda | 0:01:17 | 0:01:18 | |
# Cha teid Fionnlagh a dh'Eige Dh'Eige cha teid Fionnlagh. # | 0:01:18 | 0:01:21 | |
..Nanci Griffith... | 0:01:21 | 0:01:23 | |
# It's a hard life, it's a hard life | 0:01:23 | 0:01:26 | |
# It's a very hard life | 0:01:26 | 0:01:28 | |
# It's a hard life wherever you go. # | 0:01:28 | 0:01:32 | |
..the Treacherous Orchestra... | 0:01:33 | 0:01:35 | |
..Tom Jones... | 0:01:42 | 0:01:44 | |
# Maybe there ain't no Heaven | 0:01:44 | 0:01:46 | |
# Or no burning Hell | 0:01:46 | 0:01:49 | |
# Maybe there ain't no Heaven | 0:01:49 | 0:01:52 | |
# No burning Hell. # | 0:01:52 | 0:01:54 | |
..Paul Brady, and many more. | 0:01:56 | 0:01:58 | |
# He opens the door, he's got that look on his face | 0:01:58 | 0:02:02 | |
# And he asks you where you've been | 0:02:02 | 0:02:05 | |
# You tell him who you've seen | 0:02:05 | 0:02:07 | |
# And you talk about anything. # | 0:02:07 | 0:02:08 | |
The first festival ran across 15 nights | 0:02:08 | 0:02:11 | |
and featured many big names from the Celtic music scene. | 0:02:11 | 0:02:14 | |
It was on an ambitious scale for a new event. | 0:02:14 | 0:02:16 | |
So, did Scotland's musicians predict the success? | 0:02:16 | 0:02:20 | |
Well, it was so long ago now, I can hardly remember. | 0:02:20 | 0:02:24 | |
I just remember thinking, "This thing is going to work." | 0:02:24 | 0:02:28 | |
You know, "There is an audience here." | 0:02:28 | 0:02:32 | |
Over 27,000 tickets were sold in that first year, | 0:02:32 | 0:02:35 | |
a relief for the staff at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall, | 0:02:35 | 0:02:38 | |
who had come up with the idea. | 0:02:38 | 0:02:40 | |
The main remit that I had was to fill our venue. | 0:02:40 | 0:02:44 | |
Colin Hynd was part of the small events team | 0:02:44 | 0:02:47 | |
whose job was to programme all the performances at the Concert Hall. | 0:02:47 | 0:02:51 | |
He became the festival's first director. | 0:02:51 | 0:02:54 | |
Right up front, | 0:02:54 | 0:02:55 | |
it was basically just to bring music into our own spaces | 0:02:55 | 0:02:58 | |
and use them to the best advantage. | 0:02:58 | 0:03:00 | |
They spoke about the notion of starting this festival | 0:03:00 | 0:03:02 | |
in Glasgow over the winter months, and I was like, "What?!" | 0:03:02 | 0:03:05 | |
I really wasn't sure. | 0:03:07 | 0:03:09 | |
There was a lot of scepticism about the first one, | 0:03:09 | 0:03:11 | |
because people thought it was the wrong time of year, | 0:03:11 | 0:03:14 | |
everyone was skint after Christmas and New Year, | 0:03:14 | 0:03:17 | |
people thought it was the wrong venue, | 0:03:17 | 0:03:19 | |
because, I mean, the Concert Hall was only a couple of... | 0:03:19 | 0:03:21 | |
well, four years old, by that point, | 0:03:21 | 0:03:23 | |
and it was still seen very much as a quite starchy, | 0:03:23 | 0:03:26 | |
classical music venue. | 0:03:26 | 0:03:28 | |
We all felt that our great Scottish traditional artists, our great Celtic musical artists, | 0:03:28 | 0:03:33 | |
were treated, probably, in awe elsewhere in the world, | 0:03:33 | 0:03:36 | |
but actually weren't given the best platforms in their home turf. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:40 | |
My first reaction was, "Fantastic," because nothing happens in January. | 0:03:40 | 0:03:45 | |
Traditionally, after New Year, nothing ever happened in January. | 0:03:45 | 0:03:48 | |
And, immediately, there was possibilities of, | 0:03:48 | 0:03:52 | |
not maybe one gig, but two or three gigs happening at the same time. | 0:03:52 | 0:03:55 | |
Scottish folk rock band Wolfstone, | 0:03:57 | 0:03:59 | |
fronted by fiddle player Duncan Chisholm, | 0:03:59 | 0:04:01 | |
appeared at the opening concert for the first festival. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:04 | |
Here they are at the seventh festival in 2000. | 0:04:04 | 0:04:07 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:05:35 | 0:05:38 | |
My one thing that I remember was seeing the first line-up | 0:05:38 | 0:05:42 | |
and thinking, you know, | 0:05:42 | 0:05:43 | |
there was loads of musicians there that were my heroes. | 0:05:43 | 0:05:46 | |
Another band who headlined at that first festival | 0:05:47 | 0:05:50 | |
were the groundbreaking Capercaillie. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:52 | |
Here they are, recorded in 2002. | 0:05:52 | 0:05:55 | |
# Cha teid Fionnlagh a dh'Eige | 0:05:56 | 0:05:59 | |
# Cha teid Fionnlagh a dh'Eige | 0:06:04 | 0:06:06 | |
# Fionnlagh a dh'Eige | 0:06:06 | 0:06:07 | |
# Cha teid Fionnlagh a dh'Eige | 0:06:11 | 0:06:13 | |
# Fionnlagh a dh'Eige | 0:06:13 | 0:06:15 | |
# Cha teid Fionnlagh a dh'Eige Ged nach posda e feasda | 0:06:19 | 0:06:21 | |
# Cha teid Fionnlagh a dh'Eige Dh'Eige cha teid Fionnlagh | 0:06:21 | 0:06:23 | |
# Cha teid Fionnlagh a dh'Eige Ged nach posda e feasda | 0:06:23 | 0:06:24 | |
# Cha teid Fionnlagh a dh'Eige Dh'Eige cha teid Fionnlagh | 0:06:24 | 0:06:26 | |
# Thoir a nall Ailean thugam Ailean thugam, Ailean thugam | 0:06:26 | 0:06:28 | |
# Thoir a nall Ailean thugam Seatadh e'n t-urlar | 0:06:28 | 0:06:30 | |
# Thoir a nall Ailean thugam Ailean thugam, Ailean thugam | 0:06:30 | 0:06:32 | |
# Thoir a nall Ailean thugam Seatadh e'n t-urlar | 0:06:32 | 0:06:34 | |
# Cha teid Fionnlagh a dh'Eige | 0:06:34 | 0:06:36 | |
# Cha teid Fionnlagh a dh'Eige | 0:06:42 | 0:06:43 | |
# Thoir a nall Ailean thugam Ailean thugam, Ailean thugam | 0:06:49 | 0:06:51 | |
# Thoir a nall Ailean thugam Seatadh e'n t-urlar | 0:06:51 | 0:06:53 | |
# Thoir a nall Ailean thugam Ailean thugam, Ailean thugam | 0:06:53 | 0:06:55 | |
# Thoir a nall Ailean thugam Seatadh e'n t-urlar | 0:06:55 | 0:06:57 | |
# Cha teid Fionnlagh a dh'Eige Ged nach posda e feasda | 0:06:57 | 0:06:59 | |
# Cha teid Fionnlagh a dh'Eige Dh'Eige cha teid Fionnlagh | 0:06:59 | 0:07:00 | |
# Cha teid Fionnlagh a dh'Eige Ged nach posda e feasda | 0:07:00 | 0:07:02 | |
# Cha teid Fionnlagh a dh'Eige Dh'Eige cha teid Fionnlagh | 0:07:02 | 0:07:04 | |
# Thoir a nall Ailean thugam Ailean thugam, Ailean thugam | 0:07:04 | 0:07:06 | |
# Thoir a nall Ailean thugam Seatadh e'n t-urlar | 0:07:06 | 0:07:08 | |
# Thoir a nall Ailean thugam Ailean thugam, Ailean thugam | 0:07:08 | 0:07:10 | |
# Thoir a nall Ailean thugam Seatadh e'n t-urlar | 0:07:10 | 0:07:13 | |
# Cha teid Fionnlagh a dh'Eige | 0:07:13 | 0:07:15 | |
I remember that year there was a compilation CD | 0:07:32 | 0:07:36 | |
with maybe 20 tracks on it, some of whom I knew, | 0:07:36 | 0:07:39 | |
and some which I'd never heard of, | 0:07:39 | 0:07:40 | |
and I used it as a little bit of a programme guide | 0:07:40 | 0:07:43 | |
for how to buy my tickets. | 0:07:43 | 0:07:45 | |
I think the first band I went and saw was Cherish The Ladies, | 0:07:45 | 0:07:49 | |
and they did a massive performance in the Royal Concert Hall. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:52 | |
What a night! | 0:07:52 | 0:07:54 | |
And the festival's just gone from strength to strength ever since. | 0:07:54 | 0:07:58 | |
I remember calling the girls to tell them | 0:07:58 | 0:08:00 | |
that we were going to Scotland in the middle of January. | 0:08:00 | 0:08:03 | |
They were all like, "What?!" | 0:08:03 | 0:08:04 | |
I said, "Yeah, there's this new festival taking place in January," | 0:08:04 | 0:08:07 | |
and they said, "January?!" But, by God, we went there, | 0:08:07 | 0:08:10 | |
and we had one of the greatest times of our lives. | 0:08:10 | 0:08:13 | |
Irish-American band Cherish The Ladies | 0:08:13 | 0:08:15 | |
quickly established themselves as firm favourites | 0:08:15 | 0:08:18 | |
after the first festival, | 0:08:18 | 0:08:19 | |
and have been back at Celtic 14 times since. | 0:08:19 | 0:08:22 | |
Here they are, performing in the main auditorium | 0:08:22 | 0:08:25 | |
at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in 1998. | 0:08:25 | 0:08:28 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:09:13 | 0:09:15 | |
This was like having two weeks of just everybody that I might have wanted to see | 0:09:15 | 0:09:20 | |
in one place, right on my doorstep... | 0:09:20 | 0:09:23 | |
So, it was like a hefty dip into the student loan for a couple of weeks. | 0:09:23 | 0:09:27 | |
That was the year I first saw Dick Gaughan. | 0:09:33 | 0:09:35 | |
He was playing with Sileas, and I saw Dervish and Deanta, | 0:09:35 | 0:09:39 | |
purely on the strength of the tracks | 0:09:39 | 0:09:41 | |
that I heard on that compilation album. | 0:09:41 | 0:09:43 | |
And I think I went to see Shooglenifty that year as well, | 0:09:43 | 0:09:46 | |
and I totally loved it. It was just buzzing. | 0:09:46 | 0:09:49 | |
Shooglenifty in 2007 at Glasgow's Old Fruitmarket, | 0:10:01 | 0:10:05 | |
just one of the venues now used by the festival | 0:10:05 | 0:10:08 | |
because, although it may have started at the Concert Hall, | 0:10:08 | 0:10:11 | |
it quickly spread across the city, | 0:10:11 | 0:10:13 | |
offering a greater range of concerts, | 0:10:13 | 0:10:15 | |
from folk club style to night club style, | 0:10:15 | 0:10:18 | |
seated, standing, or dancing. | 0:10:18 | 0:10:21 | |
In just a few years, the audience had more than doubled. | 0:10:21 | 0:10:24 | |
I don't think, in fairness, | 0:10:24 | 0:10:25 | |
anyone realised how big the festival would become. | 0:10:25 | 0:10:28 | |
I don't think anyone realised the potential of it, | 0:10:28 | 0:10:31 | |
or, you know, it may have been seen that it was even a one-off, | 0:10:31 | 0:10:35 | |
that there would be a few concerts and... | 0:10:35 | 0:10:38 | |
So, then, as it grew over the next two or three years, | 0:10:38 | 0:10:41 | |
I think that's when we realised the size of the festival. | 0:10:41 | 0:10:44 | |
The growth hasn't surprised me in any way, on any level, | 0:10:52 | 0:10:55 | |
because I genuinely believe that when you're putting together a festival | 0:10:55 | 0:11:01 | |
with the integrity that Celtic Connections has, | 0:11:01 | 0:11:04 | |
then that is going to draw people. | 0:11:04 | 0:11:08 | |
La Bottine Souriante, from Quebec, | 0:11:08 | 0:11:10 | |
were a sensation when they first made the trip to Glasgow. | 0:11:10 | 0:11:13 | |
Performing in the Arches in 2002, | 0:11:13 | 0:11:15 | |
we filmed them with special guest, dancer Sandy Silva. | 0:11:15 | 0:11:19 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:12:52 | 0:12:55 | |
One of the fastest-selling concerts every year | 0:12:56 | 0:12:59 | |
is the Transatlantic Sessions. | 0:12:59 | 0:13:01 | |
First staged in 2004, it always features a stellar line-up | 0:13:01 | 0:13:05 | |
from both sides of the Atlantic, and explores the musical links | 0:13:05 | 0:13:08 | |
between the Celtic countries and North America. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:11 | |
The more time I've spent in America, | 0:13:13 | 0:13:15 | |
the more I've realised the connection... | 0:13:15 | 0:13:18 | |
..between Scottish, Irish music and bluegrass, Americana... | 0:13:20 | 0:13:25 | |
American roots music in general. | 0:13:25 | 0:13:27 | |
In fact, the Irish and Scottish immigrants... | 0:13:27 | 0:13:31 | |
the influence of their music and the culture they brought over | 0:13:31 | 0:13:35 | |
is prevalent all the way down the eastern seaboard. | 0:13:35 | 0:13:39 | |
So, there's the connection, | 0:13:39 | 0:13:40 | |
and here's Scotland inviting back the new generation | 0:13:40 | 0:13:44 | |
to come and be a part of this festival, and I think that that's... | 0:13:44 | 0:13:47 | |
It just works. It really works. | 0:13:47 | 0:13:50 | |
Transatlantic Sessions started life as a BBC television programme | 0:13:57 | 0:14:01 | |
which features musicians performing in informal sessions. | 0:14:01 | 0:14:05 | |
Celtic Connections then decided to transfer these collaborations | 0:14:05 | 0:14:08 | |
to the Concert Hall stage. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:10 | |
Here are the musicians from Transatlantic Sessions | 0:14:10 | 0:14:12 | |
led, as ever, by musical directors Jerry Douglas and Aly Bain in 2009. | 0:14:12 | 0:14:17 | |
Well, you only get two days run-up, | 0:14:50 | 0:14:52 | |
so, if you're bringing maybe 20, 22 people or something, together | 0:14:52 | 0:14:57 | |
from America, Scotland, Ireland, we're all getting together, | 0:14:57 | 0:15:00 | |
making, you know, a two-and-a-half hour concert in two days, | 0:15:00 | 0:15:04 | |
and it only happens because of the generosity, I think, | 0:15:04 | 0:15:08 | |
of each individual musician. | 0:15:08 | 0:15:10 | |
But when you're surrounded by people who know what they're doing | 0:15:10 | 0:15:13 | |
and who are great musicians and singers...it works. | 0:15:13 | 0:15:18 | |
It can be kind of rocky at times, but it works. | 0:15:18 | 0:15:21 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:15:21 | 0:15:23 | |
Transatlantic Sessions has become | 0:15:26 | 0:15:28 | |
the jewel in the crown of the festival, I think. | 0:15:28 | 0:15:31 | |
It encapsulates in one show what the festival is about. | 0:15:31 | 0:15:35 | |
It's a festival within a festival, if you like. | 0:15:35 | 0:15:37 | |
And I think that...it throws up spontaneity on the night, | 0:15:37 | 0:15:44 | |
professionalism, great singers, great music, | 0:15:44 | 0:15:48 | |
traditional music, crossover, bluegrass, Americana... | 0:15:48 | 0:15:52 | |
I think it has all the elements | 0:15:52 | 0:15:54 | |
of what the festival tries to achieve every year. | 0:15:54 | 0:15:57 | |
Obviously, Jerry Douglas and Aly Bain have been musical directors pretty much from the start | 0:15:57 | 0:16:02 | |
and a lot of the house band are regulars... | 0:16:02 | 0:16:04 | |
So, there's that relaxed side to it, | 0:16:05 | 0:16:08 | |
but then, each year, the line-up of guests... | 0:16:08 | 0:16:11 | |
I mean, obviously, it's primarily guest singers... | 0:16:11 | 0:16:15 | |
That's carefully chosen each year. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:18 | |
So special to be back for Transatlantic Sessions | 0:16:18 | 0:16:21 | |
and with all these wonderful players from the States, | 0:16:21 | 0:16:26 | |
Tim O'Brien and of course Jerry Douglas, and from over here, | 0:16:26 | 0:16:30 | |
to work with Aly again is just great... | 0:16:30 | 0:16:33 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:16:33 | 0:16:35 | |
# I am a back-seat driver from America | 0:16:42 | 0:16:47 | |
# They drive to the left on Falls Road | 0:16:47 | 0:16:52 | |
# And the man at the wheel's name is Seamus | 0:16:52 | 0:16:56 | |
# We pass a child on the corner he knows | 0:16:56 | 0:17:02 | |
# And Seamus says, Now, what chance has that kid got? | 0:17:02 | 0:17:06 | |
# And I say from the back, I don't know | 0:17:06 | 0:17:11 | |
# He says, There's barbed wire at all of these exits | 0:17:11 | 0:17:16 | |
# There was no place in Belfast for that child to go | 0:17:16 | 0:17:21 | |
# Cos it's a hard life It's a hard life | 0:17:21 | 0:17:23 | |
# It's a very hard life | 0:17:23 | 0:17:26 | |
# It's a hard life wherever you go | 0:17:26 | 0:17:31 | |
# If we poison our children with hatred | 0:17:31 | 0:17:36 | |
# Then a hard life is all that they'll know | 0:17:36 | 0:17:40 | |
# There was no place in Belfast for that child to go | 0:17:40 | 0:17:45 | |
# A cafeteria line in Chicago | 0:17:50 | 0:17:55 | |
# A fat man in front of me | 0:17:55 | 0:17:59 | |
# Is calling black people trash to his children | 0:17:59 | 0:18:05 | |
# He's the only trash here I see | 0:18:05 | 0:18:09 | |
# And I'm thinking this man wears a white hood | 0:18:09 | 0:18:14 | |
# In the night when his children should sleep | 0:18:14 | 0:18:19 | |
# But they'd slip to their windows and they'd see him | 0:18:19 | 0:18:24 | |
# And they'd think a white hood's all they'd need in this life | 0:18:24 | 0:18:28 | |
# But it's a hard life It's a hard life | 0:18:28 | 0:18:31 | |
# It's a very hard life | 0:18:31 | 0:18:33 | |
# It's a hard life wherever you go | 0:18:33 | 0:18:38 | |
# And if we poison our children with hatred | 0:18:38 | 0:18:43 | |
# Then a hard life is all that they'll know | 0:18:43 | 0:18:48 | |
# There ain't no place in Chicago where a child can go alone now | 0:18:48 | 0:18:53 | |
# It's a hard life | 0:19:06 | 0:19:10 | |
# I was a child in the sixties | 0:19:12 | 0:19:16 | |
# Dreams could be held through TV | 0:19:16 | 0:19:21 | |
# We had Disney and Cronkite and Martin Luther | 0:19:21 | 0:19:26 | |
# I believed, I believed, I believed | 0:19:26 | 0:19:29 | |
# I will always believe | 0:19:29 | 0:19:31 | |
# I am a back-seat driver from America | 0:19:31 | 0:19:36 | |
# I am not at the wheel of control | 0:19:36 | 0:19:41 | |
# I've been guilty, I've been war and I have been roots of all evil | 0:19:41 | 0:19:46 | |
# Finally, I will drive on the left side of the road | 0:19:46 | 0:19:50 | |
# Cos it's a hard life It's a hard life | 0:19:50 | 0:19:53 | |
# It's a very hard life | 0:19:53 | 0:19:55 | |
# It's a hard life wherever you go | 0:19:55 | 0:20:00 | |
# And if we poison our children with hatred | 0:20:00 | 0:20:05 | |
# Then a hard life is all that they'll know | 0:20:05 | 0:20:09 | |
# There'll be no place on this Earth where a child can grow | 0:20:09 | 0:20:14 | |
# If we've made it a hard life wherever they go | 0:20:14 | 0:20:18 | |
# Hard life! # | 0:20:34 | 0:20:39 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:20:39 | 0:20:42 | |
Thank you! | 0:20:43 | 0:20:45 | |
I think there's a magic about Transatlantic Sessions. | 0:20:45 | 0:20:47 | |
It's hard to define, but it's really centred around that spontaneity | 0:20:47 | 0:20:52 | |
and that feeling of, "It's a one-off." | 0:20:52 | 0:20:55 | |
You're never going to see all these people | 0:20:55 | 0:20:57 | |
on the one stage together again. It's just this one-off selection. | 0:20:57 | 0:21:02 | |
Essentially, it's an ego-free arena, and it works best... | 0:21:02 | 0:21:06 | |
And we've all got egos, but it works best | 0:21:06 | 0:21:08 | |
if you acknowledge that you have to leave it at the door. | 0:21:08 | 0:21:10 | |
# Is tu as fhearr don tig osan | 0:21:10 | 0:21:14 | |
# Is brog shocrach nam barrall | 0:21:14 | 0:21:18 | |
# Cota Lunnainneach dubh-ghorm | 0:21:18 | 0:21:22 | |
# Is bidh na cruintean ga cheannach | 0:21:22 | 0:21:26 | |
# O hi o o hu o | 0:21:26 | 0:21:30 | |
# O hi o o hu o | 0:21:30 | 0:21:34 | |
# Hi ri ri o hu eile | 0:21:34 | 0:21:38 | |
# O hi ri ri ri o gheallaibh o | 0:21:38 | 0:21:43 | |
# Thig mo chrios a Dun Eideann | 0:22:15 | 0:22:18 | |
# Is mo bhreid a Dun Chailleann | 0:22:18 | 0:22:22 | |
# Gheibh sinn crodh as a' Mhaorainn | 0:22:22 | 0:22:26 | |
# Agus caoraich a Gallaibh | 0:22:26 | 0:22:29 | |
# O hi o o hu o | 0:22:29 | 0:22:33 | |
# O hi o o hu o | 0:22:33 | 0:22:37 | |
# Hi ri ri o hu eile | 0:22:37 | 0:22:41 | |
# O hi ri ri ri o gheallaibh o. # | 0:22:41 | 0:22:46 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:23:25 | 0:23:28 | |
My impression is that...the process of opening that door | 0:23:28 | 0:23:32 | |
to bring all these musicians from other cultures, | 0:23:32 | 0:23:36 | |
Celtic and non-Celtic, into Scottish music, into Irish music, | 0:23:36 | 0:23:41 | |
to stimulate collaboration, has been very healthy for Celtic music. | 0:23:41 | 0:23:47 | |
The impact Celtic Connections has had on the Scottish music scene is considerable. | 0:23:47 | 0:23:52 | |
It's helped to change people's idea of traditional music | 0:23:52 | 0:23:55 | |
as well as developing the music itself. | 0:23:55 | 0:23:57 | |
In 2006, Capercaillie founding member Donald Shaw | 0:23:57 | 0:24:01 | |
became the festival's artistic director. | 0:24:01 | 0:24:04 | |
Most people in this country, | 0:24:04 | 0:24:05 | |
their perception 25, 30 years ago of traditional music | 0:24:05 | 0:24:08 | |
would be Andy Stewart, wearing a kilt on the Hogmanay show, | 0:24:08 | 0:24:11 | |
singing A Scottish Soldier. | 0:24:11 | 0:24:13 | |
That's changed so much. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:16 | |
I think that folk music has come to the fore | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
and...kind of the real music of this country, the heart and soul, | 0:24:19 | 0:24:23 | |
and as that's happened, and more and more musicians have taken up the music, | 0:24:23 | 0:24:28 | |
that's when you have bands totally at home with their own music, | 0:24:28 | 0:24:31 | |
comfortable with their instruments | 0:24:31 | 0:24:33 | |
and looking for another place to take the music, | 0:24:33 | 0:24:36 | |
a new way to express how traditional music can be performed. | 0:24:36 | 0:24:39 | |
For me, that's really what the ethos of the festival is about: | 0:24:39 | 0:24:43 | |
the old tradition and the new tradition. | 0:24:43 | 0:24:45 | |
The music that is at the heart of Celtic Connections | 0:25:52 | 0:25:54 | |
is Scottish traditional and folk music. | 0:25:54 | 0:25:56 | |
That is, and always will be, the heart of this festival, | 0:25:56 | 0:25:59 | |
and there's something about this festival | 0:25:59 | 0:26:01 | |
that helps to just make that seem...worthy. | 0:26:01 | 0:26:04 | |
You know, worthy of people's attention | 0:26:04 | 0:26:07 | |
as much as any mainstream or other genre of music. | 0:26:07 | 0:26:10 | |
So, I think that's the most important thing for me. | 0:26:10 | 0:26:13 | |
An international gathering of musicians on this scale | 0:26:13 | 0:26:16 | |
is bound to involve a good dose of fun | 0:26:16 | 0:26:19 | |
and some great informal musical sessions. | 0:26:19 | 0:26:22 | |
And some of the connections which happen every year | 0:26:22 | 0:26:24 | |
are the social ones, which take place in the Festival Club. | 0:26:24 | 0:26:28 | |
In its best setting and in its heyday, | 0:26:28 | 0:26:31 | |
it took place in the old Railway Hotel at Glasgow Central. | 0:26:31 | 0:26:35 | |
The club combines a late-night performance venue | 0:26:37 | 0:26:40 | |
as well as space for informal music-making. | 0:26:40 | 0:26:42 | |
Often housed in the same hotel where the musicians stay, | 0:26:42 | 0:26:45 | |
it's the place where festival-goers and musicians rub shoulders, | 0:26:45 | 0:26:49 | |
a place where young musicians get to meet their heroes | 0:26:49 | 0:26:52 | |
and learn their craft. | 0:26:52 | 0:26:53 | |
You had sessions and long-lost reunions | 0:26:54 | 0:26:59 | |
and fights and, you name it, | 0:26:59 | 0:27:01 | |
going on there until three, four, five in the morning. | 0:27:01 | 0:27:05 | |
You'd suddenly hear this beautiful song starting and the whole place would fall quiet, | 0:27:05 | 0:27:09 | |
because it was mainly an audience of musicians. | 0:27:09 | 0:27:12 | |
That's where I used to sit with Ishbel MacAskill | 0:27:12 | 0:27:15 | |
and sing spiritual hymns mixed with Judy Garland songs, mixed with Gaelic song | 0:27:15 | 0:27:20 | |
or Phil Cunningham, trying to drag him back to his bed at night, | 0:27:20 | 0:27:24 | |
you know, when he'd had a bit too much to drink, | 0:27:24 | 0:27:27 | |
or me and Eleanor Shanley or Sinead O'Connor, you know, | 0:27:27 | 0:27:29 | |
we'd all just sit and shoot the breeze | 0:27:29 | 0:27:32 | |
about what guitarist broke our hearts, you know. | 0:27:32 | 0:27:34 | |
There would be Shane MacGowan in one of the little corners, | 0:27:36 | 0:27:39 | |
having a deep and meaningful chat at two in the morning. | 0:27:39 | 0:27:43 | |
Go down there for breakfast at 7:30 in the morning, | 0:27:43 | 0:27:46 | |
again, there he still was, still carrying on. | 0:27:46 | 0:27:49 | |
It's tough going, though. | 0:27:49 | 0:27:51 | |
I remember two years in a row, I was there every night. | 0:27:51 | 0:27:55 | |
Every night. | 0:27:55 | 0:27:56 | |
Student loan out the window! | 0:27:56 | 0:27:58 | |
More than the concerts, I remember the sessions, | 0:27:58 | 0:28:01 | |
because it was such a big thing for me, | 0:28:01 | 0:28:03 | |
meeting these people and playing with these people, | 0:28:03 | 0:28:06 | |
and that was the big thing for me. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:07 | |
It was there that people met. | 0:28:07 | 0:28:09 | |
It was there that you felt that the music and the collaborations | 0:28:09 | 0:28:12 | |
and how everything came together, audience and artists alike, | 0:28:12 | 0:28:15 | |
it was real. | 0:28:15 | 0:28:17 | |
The Festival Club in the Central Hotel | 0:28:49 | 0:28:52 | |
was our first ever performance as the Treacherous Orchestra. | 0:28:52 | 0:28:56 | |
Filmed here in the Old Fruitmarket in 2012, | 0:29:00 | 0:29:03 | |
Treacherous Orchestra have gone from strength to strength, | 0:29:03 | 0:29:06 | |
following a late-night chance encounter in the club. | 0:29:06 | 0:29:09 | |
I was literally about to go home. | 0:29:10 | 0:29:12 | |
It was about three in the morning at the Festival Club on Sunday night, | 0:29:12 | 0:29:16 | |
I suppose it would be about four years ago... | 0:29:16 | 0:29:19 | |
and this crowd of guys were kind of getting all their stuff on stage, | 0:29:19 | 0:29:23 | |
looked completely chaotic... | 0:29:23 | 0:29:25 | |
We didn't have an official gig that year. | 0:29:25 | 0:29:28 | |
We'd made our way onto the stage at the very end of the night. | 0:29:28 | 0:29:31 | |
-The last night, was it? -Yeah. | 0:29:31 | 0:29:33 | |
The first two or three minutes was pretty chaotic, musically, | 0:29:33 | 0:29:36 | |
and then it just blossomed into this amazing kind of juggernaut of sound. | 0:29:36 | 0:29:40 | |
If it wasn't for Celtic Connections, | 0:29:40 | 0:29:42 | |
we wouldn't have bothered...to take it so seriously. | 0:29:42 | 0:29:46 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:30:47 | 0:30:50 | |
I think Celtic Connections has really made a point of | 0:30:50 | 0:30:53 | |
supporting up-and-coming talent, always. | 0:30:53 | 0:30:56 | |
Musician and broadcaster Danny Kyle | 0:30:57 | 0:31:00 | |
hosted an open stage at the festival. | 0:31:00 | 0:31:02 | |
He died in 1998, and the Danny Awards were established in his name. | 0:31:02 | 0:31:07 | |
Many artists, including Karine Polwart, | 0:31:09 | 0:31:11 | |
got a helping hand through winning a Danny. | 0:31:11 | 0:31:15 | |
Here she is at the 2004 Festival. | 0:31:15 | 0:31:18 | |
# Caught between the air | 0:31:20 | 0:31:23 | |
# And the windless deep | 0:31:23 | 0:31:27 | |
# You float like a lily flower | 0:31:27 | 0:31:33 | |
# And you look just like you fell | 0:31:33 | 0:31:37 | |
# To Earth to sleep | 0:31:37 | 0:31:41 | |
# And you're waiting for your waking hour | 0:31:41 | 0:31:48 | |
# And I swear to God | 0:31:48 | 0:31:51 | |
# I saw an angel hand attend you | 0:31:51 | 0:31:56 | |
# But that was just the dancing of the light | 0:31:56 | 0:32:02 | |
# No mortal or immortal | 0:32:02 | 0:32:06 | |
# Did deliver or defend you | 0:32:06 | 0:32:10 | |
# All hands have forsaken you tonight | 0:32:10 | 0:32:15 | |
# Are you dreaming of a lover | 0:32:17 | 0:32:20 | |
# Who will carry you away | 0:32:20 | 0:32:24 | |
# And keep you from the crying of the crowd? | 0:32:24 | 0:32:31 | |
# No cradle in the rushes | 0:32:31 | 0:32:35 | |
# You are broken like the day | 0:32:35 | 0:32:39 | |
# And darkness all around you like a shroud | 0:32:39 | 0:32:45 | |
# And I swear to God | 0:32:45 | 0:32:48 | |
# I saw an angel hand attend you | 0:32:48 | 0:32:53 | |
# But that was just the dancing of the light | 0:32:53 | 0:33:00 | |
# No mortal or immortal | 0:33:00 | 0:33:04 | |
# Did deliver or defend you | 0:33:04 | 0:33:08 | |
# All hands have forsaken you tonight | 0:33:08 | 0:33:13 | |
# When they finally surrounded you | 0:33:40 | 0:33:44 | |
# Did any of them face you? | 0:33:44 | 0:33:48 | |
# And did you curse the moon and stars above? | 0:33:48 | 0:33:55 | |
# Those cruel arms abandoned you | 0:33:55 | 0:33:59 | |
# For water to embrace you | 0:33:59 | 0:34:03 | |
# Won't you lay your head, my waterlily love? | 0:34:03 | 0:34:09 | |
# And I swear to God | 0:34:09 | 0:34:13 | |
# I saw an angel hand attend you | 0:34:13 | 0:34:18 | |
# But that was just the dancing of the light | 0:34:18 | 0:34:25 | |
# No mortal or immortal | 0:34:25 | 0:34:28 | |
# Did deliver or defend you | 0:34:28 | 0:34:32 | |
# All hands have forsaken you tonight | 0:34:32 | 0:34:37 | |
# Caught between the air | 0:34:40 | 0:34:43 | |
# And the windless deep | 0:34:43 | 0:34:47 | |
# You float like a lily flower | 0:34:47 | 0:34:54 | |
# And you look just like you fell | 0:34:54 | 0:34:58 | |
# To Earth to sleep | 0:34:58 | 0:35:01 | |
# And you're waiting for your waking hour | 0:35:01 | 0:35:08 | |
# And you're waiting for your waking hour. # | 0:35:08 | 0:35:14 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:35:18 | 0:35:21 | |
Each year, Celtic Connections plays host to the BBC Radio Scotland | 0:35:28 | 0:35:32 | |
Young Traditional Musician of the Year awards. | 0:35:32 | 0:35:35 | |
The winner in 2011 was a fiddle player from Orkney, Kristan Harvey. | 0:35:35 | 0:35:40 | |
Winning the award, | 0:35:43 | 0:35:45 | |
it sort of changed everything for me and my career. | 0:35:45 | 0:35:48 | |
Up until that point, I was taking part in the sessions | 0:35:48 | 0:35:51 | |
and getting to know people on the scene and it was all great, | 0:35:51 | 0:35:54 | |
but I wasn't really getting a chance to go out and perform | 0:35:54 | 0:35:58 | |
as much as I would have liked to. | 0:35:58 | 0:36:01 | |
So, winning the award sort of changed everything | 0:36:01 | 0:36:03 | |
from that point onwards. | 0:36:03 | 0:36:05 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:37:19 | 0:37:21 | |
The festival has played an important part in creating new music. | 0:37:27 | 0:37:31 | |
The New Voices commissions every year | 0:37:31 | 0:37:34 | |
are offered to a range of artists, | 0:37:34 | 0:37:36 | |
allowing them to compose and experiment musically. | 0:37:36 | 0:37:39 | |
Rachel Sermanni from Carrbridge benefited from a commission in 2011. | 0:37:39 | 0:37:44 | |
I'm so thankful that I was given that opportunity. | 0:37:46 | 0:37:49 | |
It made me really excited. | 0:37:49 | 0:37:50 | |
I'd never had a concert that lasted that long, | 0:37:50 | 0:37:54 | |
with so much pressure, but... | 0:37:54 | 0:37:57 | |
but, em... | 0:37:57 | 0:37:59 | |
it fills you with belief, as well. | 0:37:59 | 0:38:01 | |
New Voices at the festival helped to raise Rachel's profile. | 0:38:03 | 0:38:06 | |
Here she is at the Old Fruitmarket. | 0:38:06 | 0:38:09 | |
# Don't cheat, says the soul | 0:38:09 | 0:38:11 | |
# It's just meat on his bones | 0:38:11 | 0:38:12 | |
# It smells sweet but your conscience | 0:38:12 | 0:38:14 | |
# Will eat at your inners | 0:38:14 | 0:38:16 | |
# I'm calling from my cage | 0:38:16 | 0:38:21 | |
# You'll regret that you locked me away | 0:38:21 | 0:38:24 | |
# I had told you | 0:38:32 | 0:38:34 | |
# Hold tight to my hands | 0:38:34 | 0:38:36 | |
# I speak truth, why did you not | 0:38:36 | 0:38:38 | |
# Hold your ground? | 0:38:38 | 0:38:40 | |
# You let go to run with his soul | 0:38:40 | 0:38:43 | |
# And now that he let go | 0:38:43 | 0:38:45 | |
# You're falling down | 0:38:45 | 0:38:50 | |
# Well, if I've been hiding | 0:39:01 | 0:39:03 | |
# While you've been deciding | 0:39:03 | 0:39:05 | |
# To throw all I have for you out on the floor | 0:39:05 | 0:39:09 | |
# I've been calling, calling | 0:39:09 | 0:39:11 | |
# Calling your name | 0:39:11 | 0:39:13 | |
# And now that you're falling | 0:39:13 | 0:39:15 | |
# I'm hoping again | 0:39:15 | 0:39:17 | |
# That you'll listen to me | 0:39:17 | 0:39:19 | |
# You'll listen to me | 0:39:19 | 0:39:22 | |
# You will | 0:39:28 | 0:39:30 | |
# Not give in. # | 0:39:30 | 0:39:32 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:39:43 | 0:39:46 | |
From the beginning, Celtic Connections has proactively combined traditional and classical music. | 0:39:47 | 0:39:53 | |
Each year, new orchestral music is commissioned, | 0:39:53 | 0:39:55 | |
with Celtic music at its heart. | 0:39:55 | 0:39:57 | |
I think of all cross-fertilisations and crossovers, | 0:39:59 | 0:40:02 | |
the one between traditional music, in Scotland, certainly, | 0:40:02 | 0:40:06 | |
and classical music is the most challenging. | 0:40:06 | 0:40:09 | |
The musicians, on the face of it, are speaking the same language, | 0:40:09 | 0:40:13 | |
but maybe vastly different dialects. | 0:40:13 | 0:40:15 | |
Traditional musicians are terrified by the technical ability, | 0:40:17 | 0:40:20 | |
if you like, of orchestral musicians. | 0:40:20 | 0:40:23 | |
And then the musicians of the great orchestras | 0:40:23 | 0:40:26 | |
are intimidated and terrified by the fact that traditional musicians | 0:40:26 | 0:40:30 | |
walk onto a stage without any sheets of music and do what they do. | 0:40:30 | 0:40:34 | |
So, there has been this kind of mutual feeling of terror, | 0:40:34 | 0:40:38 | |
and I think those collaborations have slowly melted that fear. | 0:40:38 | 0:40:44 | |
Shetland fiddle player Chris Stout | 0:40:48 | 0:40:50 | |
combined his traditional music upbringing | 0:40:50 | 0:40:52 | |
with his classical music training | 0:40:52 | 0:40:54 | |
to write this three-movement piece for the festival in 2007. | 0:40:54 | 0:40:58 | |
The overwhelming feeling on the first rehearsal | 0:41:38 | 0:41:41 | |
was sort of the magnitude of the situation, | 0:41:41 | 0:41:43 | |
to be surrounded by such incredible musicians playing your music. | 0:41:43 | 0:41:47 | |
It's kind of a lifelong journey | 0:42:03 | 0:42:05 | |
to understand and bring these musics together, because... | 0:42:05 | 0:42:08 | |
even socially, they come from very different places | 0:42:08 | 0:42:11 | |
and musically, they can be very different, | 0:42:11 | 0:42:14 | |
but there are so many similarities as well, | 0:42:14 | 0:42:16 | |
and getting that opportunity to compose without the pressure | 0:42:16 | 0:42:20 | |
of how I was representing the traditional music of the past | 0:42:20 | 0:42:24 | |
or how I was doing this, that or the next thing, | 0:42:24 | 0:42:27 | |
just to compose music | 0:42:27 | 0:42:29 | |
and bring these two giant worlds of music together in some way, | 0:42:29 | 0:42:33 | |
was great. | 0:42:33 | 0:42:34 | |
Dynrost is the old name for a stretch of water | 0:42:40 | 0:42:42 | |
known as the Rost, | 0:42:42 | 0:42:44 | |
which is a stretch of water which lies between Sumburgh in Shetland, | 0:42:44 | 0:42:48 | |
the south end of Shetland, and Fair Isle, | 0:42:48 | 0:42:50 | |
and it's where the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean meet. | 0:42:50 | 0:42:53 | |
The Dynrost tune is a very, very slow, calm tune. | 0:42:56 | 0:43:00 | |
It's about the rare moments when the water does go calm | 0:43:00 | 0:43:03 | |
and it's an easy passage. | 0:43:03 | 0:43:05 | |
Celtic Connections has been the premier, you know, place | 0:43:49 | 0:43:52 | |
for those kind of collaborations to happen, | 0:43:52 | 0:43:55 | |
and not just collaborations with orchestras and classical musicians, | 0:43:55 | 0:43:59 | |
but collaborations of all kinds. | 0:43:59 | 0:44:01 | |
The way that it's brought together | 0:44:01 | 0:44:02 | |
musicians from the traditional music world | 0:44:02 | 0:44:04 | |
and the independent music scene, | 0:44:04 | 0:44:06 | |
and traditional musicians with jazz musicians, | 0:44:06 | 0:44:09 | |
it's always been about encouraging experimentation and innovation | 0:44:09 | 0:44:12 | |
as much as it is about supporting, you know, | 0:44:12 | 0:44:15 | |
old style and kind of traditional heartland stuff. | 0:44:15 | 0:44:19 | |
I think those two things sit really comfortably alongside each other | 0:44:19 | 0:44:22 | |
in the Celtic Connections programme, and no-one bats an eyelid any more, | 0:44:22 | 0:44:26 | |
to have those things as part of one programme, | 0:44:26 | 0:44:28 | |
and I think that's a sign of how healthy the scene is overall. | 0:44:28 | 0:44:31 | |
THEY SING IN HAITIAN CREOLE | 0:44:31 | 0:44:34 | |
The music featured at the festival has often included performances | 0:44:48 | 0:44:52 | |
that leave some people searching for the Celtic connection. | 0:44:52 | 0:44:55 | |
It used to be that every interviewer said, | 0:44:57 | 0:45:00 | |
"What has that band got to do with Celtic music?" | 0:45:00 | 0:45:03 | |
I think a lot of folk you hear every year | 0:45:03 | 0:45:05 | |
arguing about whether something is Celtic enough to be in it, | 0:45:05 | 0:45:08 | |
-but I always think, "Why can't you make new connections?" -Yeah. | 0:45:08 | 0:45:11 | |
The eternal question, "Where's the Celtic connection in that?" | 0:45:11 | 0:45:15 | |
And that wasn't really the point. | 0:45:15 | 0:45:17 | |
The point was that our musical world | 0:45:17 | 0:45:19 | |
could MAKE a connection with these other musics. | 0:45:19 | 0:45:22 | |
The best way I could explain it would be that the festival | 0:45:22 | 0:45:26 | |
has now evolved into one that's more about connections than Celtic. | 0:45:26 | 0:45:30 | |
But, you know, we definitely have...guidelines, you know. | 0:45:32 | 0:45:36 | |
I mean, there is... | 0:45:36 | 0:45:38 | |
I can usually explain why every single artist is playing, | 0:45:38 | 0:45:41 | |
in terms of that act's relevance to folk music, or roots music. | 0:45:41 | 0:45:48 | |
In 2011, Tom Jones made his Celtic Connections debut. | 0:45:53 | 0:45:57 | |
There's much talk about, | 0:45:59 | 0:46:00 | |
"What's Tom got to do with Celtic music, apart from being Welsh?" | 0:46:00 | 0:46:04 | |
Well, the relevance was clearly about the fact | 0:46:04 | 0:46:07 | |
that he'd just recorded an album of great, old-time blues songs. | 0:46:07 | 0:46:12 | |
Once you start getting into old-time American blues, R&B, soul, | 0:46:14 | 0:46:19 | |
you're going to find folk music right at the heart of it, | 0:46:19 | 0:46:22 | |
if you look deep enough. | 0:46:22 | 0:46:24 | |
# I'm going down | 0:46:29 | 0:46:32 | |
# To the crossroads | 0:46:32 | 0:46:35 | |
# With no devil | 0:46:35 | 0:46:37 | |
# Well, I'll make a deal | 0:46:37 | 0:46:40 | |
# I'm going down | 0:46:40 | 0:46:43 | |
# To the crossroads | 0:46:43 | 0:46:46 | |
# With no devil | 0:46:46 | 0:46:48 | |
# Well, I'll make a deal | 0:46:48 | 0:46:51 | |
# Maybe there ain't no Heaven | 0:46:51 | 0:46:54 | |
# No burning Hell | 0:46:54 | 0:46:57 | |
# Maybe there ain't no Heaven | 0:46:57 | 0:47:00 | |
# No burning Hell | 0:47:00 | 0:47:03 | |
# No | 0:47:03 | 0:47:04 | |
# Hey, hey | 0:47:11 | 0:47:13 | |
# Ooh | 0:47:29 | 0:47:35 | |
# When I die | 0:47:40 | 0:47:42 | |
# Where will I go? | 0:47:42 | 0:47:45 | |
# When I die | 0:47:45 | 0:47:48 | |
# Where will I go? | 0:47:48 | 0:47:50 | |
# Will somebody tell me | 0:47:50 | 0:47:53 | |
# Will somebody tell me | 0:47:53 | 0:47:56 | |
# Will somebody please tell me | 0:47:56 | 0:47:59 | |
# Where will I go? | 0:47:59 | 0:48:02 | |
# Maybe there ain't no Heaven | 0:48:02 | 0:48:04 | |
# Or no burning Hell | 0:48:04 | 0:48:07 | |
# Maybe there ain't no Heaven | 0:48:07 | 0:48:10 | |
# No burning Hell | 0:48:10 | 0:48:13 | |
# Maybe there ain't no Heaven | 0:48:13 | 0:48:16 | |
# Maybe there ain't no Hell | 0:48:16 | 0:48:18 | |
# Maybe there ain't no Heaven | 0:48:18 | 0:48:21 | |
# No burning Hell | 0:48:21 | 0:48:24 | |
# No | 0:48:24 | 0:48:26 | |
# Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey | 0:48:31 | 0:48:35 | |
# Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. # | 0:48:42 | 0:48:46 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:48:50 | 0:48:53 | |
I'm all for broadening the festival, because I think it... | 0:48:53 | 0:48:57 | |
I think it's gone beyond our music now. | 0:48:57 | 0:49:01 | |
It's an international festival, and we can always find links | 0:49:01 | 0:49:04 | |
wherever we look, even if they're quite remote links, | 0:49:04 | 0:49:07 | |
but I think it's good to expose our young musicians to... | 0:49:07 | 0:49:12 | |
you know, to music from different countries. It gives them ideas. | 0:49:12 | 0:49:16 | |
I think it's great. | 0:49:16 | 0:49:18 | |
Scotland, like Ireland, is a small country, | 0:49:18 | 0:49:20 | |
and very fiercely proud of its music, which is great. | 0:49:20 | 0:49:25 | |
But it can also lead to kind of a hothouse atmosphere, | 0:49:25 | 0:49:29 | |
in which things are very self-referential and very, | 0:49:29 | 0:49:33 | |
you know, a closed world, | 0:49:33 | 0:49:35 | |
and I think Celtic Connections has helped bring in new ideas | 0:49:35 | 0:49:40 | |
and new collaborations and new influences into that world | 0:49:40 | 0:49:46 | |
in a way that can't be unhealthy. | 0:49:46 | 0:49:49 | |
World music star Marta Sebestyen from Hungary. | 0:49:49 | 0:49:53 | |
SHE SINGS IN HUNGARIAN | 0:49:53 | 0:49:56 | |
As well as music from all over the world, | 0:51:05 | 0:51:07 | |
Celtic Connections always recognises world-class home-grown talent. | 0:51:07 | 0:51:12 | |
And one of the standout concerts from the festival in 2012 | 0:51:12 | 0:51:16 | |
was a tribute to Paisley-born singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty. | 0:51:16 | 0:51:21 | |
Here's his old friend and musical collaborator, Rab Noakes. | 0:51:21 | 0:51:25 | |
Around the time of Gerry Rafferty's death, Martha, his daughter, and I, | 0:51:25 | 0:51:29 | |
talked about what the legacy would be, | 0:51:29 | 0:51:32 | |
and a concert celebrating his life and his recorded work | 0:51:32 | 0:51:36 | |
and songwriting work, with a number of artists performing his songs | 0:51:36 | 0:51:41 | |
was obviously high on the list. | 0:51:41 | 0:51:42 | |
I mean, I knew that he was hugely respected as a songwriter, | 0:51:42 | 0:51:46 | |
but I think I was amazed at the reaction worldwide. | 0:51:46 | 0:51:52 | |
We could have actually done a week | 0:51:52 | 0:51:54 | |
with different performers every night from around the world. | 0:51:54 | 0:51:58 | |
So many people said, | 0:51:58 | 0:51:59 | |
"This guy has been a massive influence on what I do musically." | 0:51:59 | 0:52:04 | |
A lot of us loved Paul Brady as a traditional singer, | 0:52:04 | 0:52:07 | |
so to hear him do that big song of Rafferty's was amazing. | 0:52:07 | 0:52:10 | |
# Winding your way down on Baker Street | 0:52:10 | 0:52:14 | |
# Light in your head and dead on your feet | 0:52:14 | 0:52:18 | |
# Well, another crazy day | 0:52:18 | 0:52:20 | |
# You'll drink the night away | 0:52:20 | 0:52:22 | |
# And forget about everything | 0:52:22 | 0:52:25 | |
# This city desert makes you feel so cold | 0:52:27 | 0:52:31 | |
# It's got so many people but it's got no soul | 0:52:31 | 0:52:35 | |
# And it's taken you so long | 0:52:35 | 0:52:37 | |
# To find that you were wrong | 0:52:37 | 0:52:39 | |
# When you thought it held everything | 0:52:39 | 0:52:42 | |
# You used to think that it was so easy | 0:52:44 | 0:52:48 | |
# You used to say that it was so easy | 0:52:48 | 0:52:52 | |
# But you're trying | 0:52:52 | 0:52:55 | |
# You're trying now | 0:52:55 | 0:52:58 | |
# Another year and then you'd be happy | 0:53:01 | 0:53:05 | |
# Just one more year and then you'd be happy | 0:53:05 | 0:53:09 | |
# But you're crying | 0:53:09 | 0:53:11 | |
# You're crying now | 0:53:11 | 0:53:15 | |
# Way down the street, there's a light on in his place | 0:53:35 | 0:53:39 | |
# He opens the door, he's got that look on his face | 0:53:39 | 0:53:43 | |
# And he asks you where you've been | 0:53:43 | 0:53:45 | |
# You tell him who you've seen | 0:53:45 | 0:53:47 | |
# And you talk about anything | 0:53:47 | 0:53:50 | |
# He's got this dream about buying some land | 0:53:52 | 0:53:56 | |
# He's gonna give up the booze and the one night stands | 0:53:56 | 0:54:01 | |
# And then he'll settle down | 0:54:01 | 0:54:02 | |
# In some quiet little town | 0:54:02 | 0:54:05 | |
# And forget about everything | 0:54:05 | 0:54:08 | |
# But you know he's going to keep moving | 0:54:10 | 0:54:14 | |
# You know he's never going to stop moving | 0:54:14 | 0:54:17 | |
# Cos he's rolling | 0:54:17 | 0:54:20 | |
# He's a rolling stone | 0:54:20 | 0:54:23 | |
# And when you wake up it's a new morning | 0:54:26 | 0:54:31 | |
# The sun is shining, it's a new morning | 0:54:31 | 0:54:35 | |
# And you're going | 0:54:35 | 0:54:37 | |
# You're going home. # | 0:54:37 | 0:54:40 | |
So, with the festival selling four times as many tickets | 0:56:27 | 0:56:30 | |
as it did in the first year, | 0:56:30 | 0:56:32 | |
and with seven times as many musicians | 0:56:32 | 0:56:34 | |
coming to Glasgow to perform at over 300 events, | 0:56:34 | 0:56:37 | |
it's a very happy birthday for Celtic Connections. | 0:56:37 | 0:56:40 | |
Here's to the next 20. | 0:56:40 | 0:56:42 | |
The festival will be here in 20 years, yeah. I won't! | 0:56:42 | 0:56:45 | |
The festival will definitely be here in 20 years, I think, yeah. | 0:56:45 | 0:56:48 | |
Commerciality gets its teeth into everything, almost, | 0:56:51 | 0:56:56 | |
and does quite a lot of damage by its demands and expectations. | 0:56:56 | 0:57:02 | |
And what's impressive about Celtic Connections | 0:57:02 | 0:57:05 | |
is that it seems to have resisted all of that. | 0:57:05 | 0:57:09 | |
So, what you're left with, then, | 0:57:09 | 0:57:11 | |
is something with a massive core credibility. | 0:57:11 | 0:57:14 | |
I mean, we never had anything like that when we started. | 0:57:18 | 0:57:20 | |
I mean, imagine... | 0:57:20 | 0:57:22 | |
I could never imagine a thing like Celtic Connections. | 0:57:22 | 0:57:25 | |
What a platform! | 0:57:25 | 0:57:26 | |
Celtic Connections is just a place where I can return to, | 0:57:32 | 0:57:36 | |
like, for a little bit. | 0:57:36 | 0:57:37 | |
It's like those video games where you have to go home | 0:57:37 | 0:57:40 | |
to get energised again and then you go back into the year. | 0:57:40 | 0:57:43 | |
Very often, you can have a young, up-and-coming, | 0:57:49 | 0:57:52 | |
very promising, exciting band from our own doorstep | 0:57:52 | 0:57:56 | |
opening for some of the world's great superstars. | 0:57:56 | 0:58:01 | |
That means that audiences and artists alike | 0:58:01 | 0:58:04 | |
are being exposed to what is great about our own music. | 0:58:04 | 0:58:07 | |
It's been more than just a festival for the scene, I think. | 0:58:13 | 0:58:16 | |
It's been...a kind of vehicle to realise musical dreams. | 0:58:16 | 0:58:20 | |
If you'd like to see more Celtic Connections music, | 0:58:28 | 0:58:31 | |
visit the website... | 0:58:31 | 0:58:34 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:58:48 | 0:58:50 |