THURSDAY 30

I Celtic Conversations Strathclyde Suite. lpttt. £3.50. Marion Sinclair and Susie Mcouire discuss Scottish writing.

I Tommy Maltem/Arcady Strathclyde Suite. 8pm. £9.50. From the early days of the folk revival. and still going strong. singer. tale teller. rhymer. banjo plunker and tin whistler Makem has been there. done it. Arcady formed round es-I)e Damian bodhran basher Johnny (Ringo) McDonagh and have evolved to a tight sextet playing fine. straight-ahead Irish and American music. now including singer Niamh Parsons.

I Passeur de Chants/Flora Macheil Adelaides. 8pm. £6. The group comprises six vocalists from across the Channel. incorporating traditional songs and dances ftoiii all over France. MacNeil is one of Gaeldom's greatest singers. a magisterial figure with a huge repertoire. She's here accompanied by daughter Maggie on harp and vocals.

I Martyn Bennett/Sola/Satsa Celtica ()Id Fruitmarket. 9pm. £8.50. Dance and hang out to these sounds. Bennett plays tunes oti top of self-constructed backing tracks; Sola are a threesome (es-Mouth Music. Shooglenifty) creating new dance grooves using vocals. bass. drums and samples; Salsa Ccltica are energetic. melodic Latin dance masters afloat on a sea of percussion.

I BBC Connections lixhibition Hall. 230—430an Free. Live music. hands and guests from the Festival.

I Festival Club Central Hotel. 10.30pm.

l 5 re e .

FRIDAY 31

I Celtic Conversations Strathclyde Suite. 1pm. £3.50. Jack Webster oti his days at the Glasgow Hera/(I.

I Pauline Cato/Tom McConville Piping Centre. 6pm. £5. Two tremendous exponents of Northuitibrian pipes and fiddle. with McConv ille's vocals an added bonus.

I Carol laula/James Malcolm Main Auditorium. 7.30pm. £10.50 (£8.50). Songwriter l.aula's star continues to rise further from her West of Scotland roots.

I Donald Black: The ‘toy’ image or the harmonica or mouth organ in Western music is something that the tew great classical players have always had to struggle against. Not so in the blues tradition or ‘harp’ playing, and not for Scottish players on the ‘moothie’, which in the tremolo-tuned double-reed version is as cheerfully punchy as an accordion, and in the hands and tips at Donald Black, more expressive.

Donald Black, Piping Centre, Tue 28, 6pm

with US tours. trips to the Orient and a recent publishing contract. She also has a great vocal gift. For James Malcolm. see Wed 29.

I liam D’Flynn and the Civen llote Band/Fallen Angels Strathclyde Suite. 8pm. £9.50. Planxty's lead tunestnith continues to perform as a master of the uillean pipes. here with a band that includes guitarist's guitarist Arty McGlynn. For Fallen Angels. see Wed 29. I Xirdela Adelaide's. 8pm. £6. An octet of young women froin the Celtic north of Spain in Voices from Calicia.

I Finbar Furey and Friends Barony Hall. 8pm. £12.50. ()nce resident in Edinburgh‘s Sartdy Bell‘s. Finbar is an astonishing talent on uillean pipes and whistle. and the five-string banjo. He'll he joined by special guests and Northumbrian piper Pauline Cato with fiddler Tom McConville.

I Afro-Celt Sound System/Peat Bog Fairies Old Fruitmarket. 9.30pm. £8.50. Celtic clubbing with big Afi'ican/lrish band that includes samples. sequences arid Afro percussion with Ronan Browne's superb uillean piping. The bagpipe-toting Fairies are Skye-based Celtic rockers with a new album 111 the shops.

I Ceilidh Dance t—beibitinn Ilall. tt).3()ptit. £5. Music by Tapsalteerie.

I McCluskey Brothers Strathclyde Suite. Midnight. £6. Remember the Bluebells‘.’ The core duo are still here.

I Festival Club Central Hotel. 10.30pm. Free.

I Anuna at Midnight Main .»\uditorium. Midnight. £10.50 (£8.50). The well sung. tackin-stagcd Irish choral bit from Riverdance. Here they reveal a talent and range of music that encompasses all of Ireland's tnttsical history from the earliest liturgical pieces to challenging contemporary composition.

I BBC Connections lixliibition Hall.

2 30—4.30pm. Free. l.i\e music. bands and guests from the Festival.

SATURDAY 1

I Ceilidh Dance Exhibition Hall. 3pm. £3.50. Music by Edinburgh's Irish- orientated Islander.

I Feisty Besoms Piping Centre. 6pm. £5. Cheerful variety of repertoire and solo performances from the all-women group of Highland vocalists whose first albutn is imminent.

I Festival Piping Concert Main .-\uditorium. Noon. £6. Annual blow-in- the-bag event with Clasp winner |)r Angus MacDonald. Gordon Duncan and Fred Morrison on Highland pipes; the latter on bellows-blown Lowland pipes; Pauline Cato on Northumbrian small- pipes; Liam ()‘Flynn oti uilleatt pipes. and Brittany's Patrick Mollard on biiiiou aiid any other bagpipe he can find.

I Donal Lunny’s Wheel of the World/Tartan Amoebas Main Auditorium. 7.30pm. £13 (£11). Certain lobe a highlight of the festival. Ireland's tireless innovator brings his latest musical ensemble. See Celtic Connections Music preview.

I Carlos Nunez/Sandy Brechin Band Strathclyde Suite. -pm. £6. Celtic Spain’s- energetic piper and musical collaborator with his band. See Celtic Connections Music preview. For Brechin. see Sun 26. I Matt Molloy and Guests Bttt'tmy Hall. 8pm. £10. Special concert of flute and whistle playing with the Chieftains' Ilute maestro assisted by Irish tinsmiths Mary Bergin and Vinnie Kilduff. England's Michael McGoldrick arid Scotland‘s Marc Duff and Dougie Pincock.

I The Gillies/Folk Divas Strathclyde Suite. 8pm. £9.50. The second album of

CEItiCCODDE‘CCIODS

I Paul Brady: From his precocious days in the Johnstons tolk group, to a stint with Planxty, and a much-cherished album with Andy Irvine, Paul Brady has released an ever-expanding list at internationally-acclaimed albums under his own name, and continues to define a style or songwriting and band arrangement that now owes little to ‘tolk’ music but can be beautiful, lyrically elusive and allusive, and immaculately perionned. Dylan once described him as a ‘secret hero'.

Paul Brady and Mary Cough/an, Main Auditorium, 630”, Wed 29 Jan, 7.30pm.

tunes from the TMSA's 90s Collection tune book has Just been released by the top quality fiddle. pipes. whistle. guitar. keyboards and accordion line-up (including piper Duncan .\Ic(.}illi\'ray and accordionist Freeland Barbour) created to make the recordings. liarlier. notable (iaelic singer lshbel Mc.-\sklll joins Scots singer Sheena \\"ellington in diva mode. I ram White Big Band/Nigel Clark Quintet ()ld Fruitniarket. 9.30pm. £11. Scottish blues and iauy soul from the big man's textured tonsils and art explosive nine-piece band. \s itli spectacular support from some of Scotland‘s greatest modern lit/.1. talents.

I Festival Club Central Hotel. 10. ‘sIIpiii. Free.

I Ceilidh Iislnbition Hall. 10..‘~0piii. £5. Music l'l‘tilll Bella Macllab‘s Band.

I Martin Hayes and Dennis Cabin/Pauline Cato and Toni McConville Strathclyde Suite. 2pm. £6. Already a genius of the Irish fiddle. Hayes has a lovely sense of humour. He's accompanied by his regular guitarist. Cato and McConville. see Fri 3 |.

I Piping Forum Piping Centre. 2pm. £5. 1.iam()'F|ynn. Carlos Nunez. Duncan MacGillivray and others.

I All Day Ceilidh Bash Central Hotel. Logie Baird Suite. 2pm. £5. 1.ive bands. and more live bands.

I Roddy Macleod Piping Centre. 6pm. £5. Director of the Piping Centre in concert with surprise guests.

I Chieftains/Carlos Nunez Band Main Auditorium. 7.30pm. £15. £l 2.50. £8.50 (standing). The great Irish band in

collaboration with the (ialician master piper's batid ill a shared concert. See Celtic (.‘onnections Music preview.

I Tommy Fowler Contemporary Music Project Barony Hall. 8pm. £15. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Scots folk band Iron Horse joined in the first of three annual commissioned "l'ottimy Fowler Contemporary Music Projects'. Fowler is among the brightest of the healthy current crop of Scottish compositional talent.

I Tartan Amoebas/Kadwaladyr Strathclyde Suite. 8pm. £9.50. Lively Iidmburgb ceilidh rockers with an equivalent Breton band who combine boiiibarde and Highland pipes to great effect.

I Battlefield Band/Mairi Maclnnes ()ld Fruitmarket. 9pm. £12.50.’1"he1ong- lasting. world-touring Scots foursome at home with support from TV presenter and Gaelic singer (and songwriter) Maclnnes. I Festival Club Central Hotel. 10.30pm. Free.

MONDAY 3

I Emmylou Harris Main Auditorium. 7.30. £15. £12.50.

Ballads. country. folk and rock frotn the American star with her band. In support. Martin Hayes is one of the world's. and Ireland's. greatest traditional fiddlers.

For full listings of other Folk music events in Glasgow and Edinburgh this fortnight. see our nomtal listings on page 51.

The List 24 Jan-6 Feb 1997 21