Norman Chalmers

Nuala Kennedy - Tune In

12 May 2010

(Compass Records) From her early days at Edinburgh College of Art, and nights in Sandy Bells pub playing flute with the capital’s crosssover music scene, young Kennedy’s exploratory curiosity has always led her away from her musical roots in the…

Celtic Connections - Bearfoot

13 Jan 2010

As we know, Glasgow can be a cold place in January, but one band that won’t be fazed by icy temperatures is Alaska’s Bearfoot. The bluegrass quintet grew up with the music (all their parents played some form of American roots music) and have gone from…

John McCusker’s Under One Sky

13 Nov 2008

Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Tue 25 Nov; Music Hall, Perth, Fri 28 Nov; Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Mon 8 Dec John McCusker’s head has been in the clouds a lot lately – flying all over Europe and the Americas in a private jet, courtesy of Mark Knopfler. ‘Yes…

Lau and The Ainslie/Henderson Trio: Reinventing the Reel

27 Mar 2008

FOLK Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Thu 27 Mar; Tolbooth, Stirling, Fri 28 Mar; CCA, Glasgow, Thu 3 Apr ‘The band started about two-and-a-half years ago,’ says master fiddler Aidan O’Rourke. ‘Martin (Green), Kris (Drever) and I were hanging around…

Ceilidh Culture

13 Mar 2008

FOLK Various venues, Edinburgh, Fri 21 Mar–Sun 12 Apr Ceilidh Culture, Edinburgh’s spring fling of acoustic music and the traditional arts has this year moved from its council house, and is now being run by a team from the Usher Hall. Rather than…

Ceilidh Culture

Various venues, Edinburgh, Sat 24 Mar-Sun 15 Apr

13 Mar 2007

ROOTS FESTIVAL Edinburgh’s Ceilidh Culture, the council-led celebration that runs for three weeks around Easter, brings together the city’s traditional arts under one umbrella. Eclectic sounds range from the percussion-driven dance grooves of the…

Celtic Connections Americana

The new world

15 Jan 2007

Is Scotland slipping across the ocean. Are young Scots morphing into Americans? The broad church of Celtic Connections has from its inception flown performers across the Atlantic, to audiences who might make the delighted discovery of a new musical…

L'Occidentale Dr Fanfare

Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Tue 30 Jan

15 Jan 2007

CELTIC CONNECTIONS First, a credo. ‘We have arrived at the time of Fusion. The era of conventional folk music had to travel through the social and cultural storms of the 20th century in order to emerge fully in the 21st. Some medievalists claim that…

Celtic Connections

Various venues, Glasgow, Wed 17 Jan-Sun 4 Feb

20 Dec 2006

CELTIC AND BEYOND Glasgow’s massive Celtic Connections festival comes in with the New Year and a new man at the helm. Musician, producer, radio presenter and now CC’s artistic director, Donald Shaw (pictured) admits, ‘It’s been a nightmare - but…

Funky String Band

Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, Fri 17 Nov

11 Nov 2006

FIDDLE 2006 Their first album sneaked out around 18 months ago, on Shooglenifty’s record label, and now ‘Nifty front man and fiddler Angus Grant, with mandolin maestro Luke Plumb and non-Shooglenifty member Peter Daffy are back in the studio making a…