Traditional music festival kicks off with orchestral tribute to innovator Bennett
GLASGOW’S winter festival of traditional and roots music, Celtic Connections, has kicked off with a tribute to one of the nation’s most innovative musicians.
The event staged a world premiere of an orchestrated version of Grit by Martyn Bennett, the musician and composer who died 10 years ago at the age of 33.
Bennett mixed samples of traditional song with dance beats, and the concert was a reconstructed version of the album created by violinist and composer Greg Lawson for an orchestra of folk, jazz and classical musicians.
Last night’s gig was the first of the 18-day festival that will see 2,000 musicians perform in 300 shows across the city. It is in its 22nd year.
Meanwhile, another Connections act, American soul singer Chastity Brown was performing in Edinburgh, ahead of her gig at Oran Mor on Saturday night.
Tennessee-raised Brown, who has appeared on BBC 2’s Later... With Jools Holland and won critical acclaim for her 2013 album Back-Road Highways, kicked off her UK tour at the Pleasance Theatre. Brown’s mix of gospel, roots and soul with blues and country is likely to ensure a packed house at Oran Mor.
Other Connections performers include African diva Angélique Kidjo, the RSNO, Hollywood composer Craig Armstrong presenting music scores he has composed for films such as The Great Gatsby and Moulin Rouge and Congolese band Konono No.1 who make music from salvaged car parts.
The festival also features a tribute night to poet and political activist Ewan MacColl curated by his sons Calum and Neill. MacColl, who died in 1989, established the country’s first folk club and started BBC radio’s ground-breaking Radio Ballads series.
Donald Shaw, artistic director of the festival, who this week confirmed the festival was exploring an expansion festival in New York, said: “As ever, we can’t wait to showcase the very best of Scotland’s traditional music alongside a huge array of eclectic international acts such as Brazil’s Criolo, Mali’s Songhoy Blues and India’s Ganesh Kumaresh.” On January 6 we reported that the footballer Islam Feruz had changed his agent. Feruz was represented by the authorised Football Association agent Mr Ebrahim Sanneh and continues to be so.
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