Forging Connections across trad music world for 30 years
Whenthefirstperformerstook to the stage of Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall for the launch of a new festival 30 years ago, Scotland’s music scene was a very different place.
Dedicated festivals at the height of summer were virtually non-existent, never mind the depths of winter.
Launched months before the firsttinthepark,celticconnections would become one of the biggest success stories of Scottish culture in modern times and the single most important showcase of traditional music inacalendarnowpackedfullof festivals.
Celtic Connections is almost unrecognisable from its first edition, which was staged entirely within the then four-yearold concert hall to fill a substantial postchristmas gap in its programme.
The 2024 event, which runs across nearly 30 stages, will see around1200musiciansappearing in more than 300 shows by thetimeitcloseson4february.
Ticket sales are running almost 20 per cent ahead of last year, with festival favourites Skerryvore, Valtos, Skipinnish, Julie Fowlis, Talisk and Rura selling out shows at the biggest festival venues, including the Barrowland Ballroom, SWG3 and Kelvingrove Museum.
Donald Shaw, creative producer at Celtic Connections, said: “It’s the kind of festival with artists that people really love and will come back to see them again and again. They know their shows sell out and want to get in there quick.
“That really allows us to concentrate on getting shows with emerging artists or shows that are a bit more experimental over the line.”
The popularity of acts championed at Celtic Connections, and younger festivals such as Hebcelt, Skye Live and Belladrum, has exploded over the last decade, with musicians and band seven launching their own events.
Lisa Whytock, who founded the Active Events agency in 1990, is executive producer of Showcase Scotland, the international music industry gathering staged at Celtic Connections.
She said: “It was impossible to build at our in scotland 34 years ago, as there were no venues, particularly north of Dundee.
"Festivals such as Celtic Connections, Belladrum, Eden, Party in the Palace and Hebcelt have provided platforms for new and emerging artists, bringing them back as mid-sized performers and eventually headliners.
“Scotland has long been too small a nation for artists to sustain careers professionally. The advent of social media and projects such as Showcase Scotland, which is focused on delivering an international platform for artists, has meant that they have been able to build solid careers and incomes.
“They are not reliant on record label support and this has produced more of an independent, free-thinking bunch of musicians. They are ambitious in their ideas and confident in themselves. They are releasing their own albums, marketing their own tours and building their own shows.”
Mr Shaw added :" Scottish traditionalmusic has now become a brand which has appeal right across the country and across all ages, which it just didn’t used to have. Lots of people who didn’t think they were into folk music are going to gigs now.
“Artists like Skipinnish, Tide Lines, Skerryvore and Peat & Diesel have built up good, loyalaudiences by filling halls over and over. It’s no wonder they’re looking to do their own events.”
Michael Pellegrotti, co-director of the Skye Live festival, launched a new Glasgow festival, The Reeling, last summer.
He said: “One of the key factors has been the introduction of more contemporary sounds and bigger live production by many of the leading bands.
”There are more sophisticated techniques being deployed in recordings and almost all of the bigger artists now tour with a lighting designer.
"This has brought a much younger audience to gigs and festivals, with the shows providing an experience similar to what they might expect from more mainstream and international touring artists.”
Craig Corse, founder of the CCM Live agency and producer of the Orkney Folk Festival, said :“there’ s a huge strength in artists knowing who’s actually going to their gigs and listening to their music, and focusing
Celtic Connections is the kind of festival with artists that people really love and will come back to see them again and again
Donald Shaw
on growing that. Social media really has put that power in artists’ hands, as the data can give really finely-tuned impressions of audience breakdowns – which can then be targeted when advertising tours and new music. Those that have done well recently really have seized that.”
Alasdair Taylor, mandolin player with Elephant Sessions, who are launching a new festival with the Black Isle Brewery, near Inverness, this year, said: “Using social media and building an online presence can be really helpful.
"However we’ve found festivalsto be a massive factor when building audiences, playing to new audiences can be hugely valuable. It’s about turning up and winning over audiences that don’t know you.”
One of the biggest new events, the Hoolie at the Hydro in Glasgow, was instigated by broadcaster and musician gary inn es, who plays with the band Mànran. He said: “The change in the Scottish traditional music scene over the last three decades has been phenomenal, from a plethora of bands who continue to push boundaries to genre-bending collaborations and performances that showcase the possibilities and talent within the field.
"The fantastic appetite for the tradition can be seen by events such as Hoolie in the Hydro, which really show that our genre has a rightful place on our biggest stages .”