Well my Celtic Connections experience of 2008 is over for this year but what a great time I had last week....
My stint at the festival began on the 22nd singing 2 songs in a concert titled 'A' Adam's Bairns'. I recorded the songs last year (The Slave's Lament and Both Sides the Tweed') on a CD of the same name. The CD is a compilation of songs chosen by Dr Fred Freeman (the mastermind behind the 'The Complete Songs of Robert Burns' series) and was a project organised by the National Library of Scotland to document Scotland's cultural history in music.
The finished CD will be sent to every school in Scotland, I hope the kids listen to it. I had only previously heard my own 2 songs so it was great to hear the others though the stage was a tight squeeze with about 15 of us crammed on at the one time!On Thursday 24th Jan, me and the band were part of a showcase concert of 5 Scottish bands in the massive ABC on Sauchiehall Street. I hadn't played that room before and with such a big stage the four of us were stood really far apart which I think we all found a little disconcerting, so it's our new thing to stay close! It was a great night though brought to a close by Shooglenifty who were on top form.
After having a good blether at the festival club with folks that we only ever seem to see at Celtic Connections Jamie and I had a leisurely day on Friday hanging out in Glasgow. Being country dwellers we don't often go to the cinema so thought we'd do that for the afternoon. I am notorious for falling asleep through films and was secretly looking forward to a wee nap in the dark but didn't get anywhere near nodding off as we went to see 'I Am Legend' and I was so terrified by those zombie dark seekers I sat bolt upright with fear through most of it...I'm a total woose I know!
On Friday night we made our way to the new BBC headquarters at Pacific Quay where Jamie, Ross and I played a spot on the Iain Anderson's show on BBC Radio Scotland. The wind was howling around the building but there was a real cosy atmosphere inside.
I had a day at home on Saturday before heading back up to Glasgow on Sunday for one final day of busyness. We filmed 'Caledonia' in the morning at the Tron Bar for Mac TV and in the evening played the Strathclyde Suite in the concert hall and a spot at the festival club.
Celtic Connections truly is a unique and brilliant festival and having lived in Glasgow for 6 years it's always great to go back to visit. Thanks to everyone who came along and supported us and who came up and said hello. It's also a great time to catch up with musician friends as for the rest of the year we're all off doing our own thing but Celtic Connections is like a yearly reunion.
Anyway, things are returning to normal today though the festival isn't over yet so maybe we'll sneek in one more visit to watch some gigs this weekend....
Cheerio for now
Emily x
