Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow
Celtic Connections:
The opening concert of Celtic Connections 2007 worked on several levels. It was a chance to bring home a project that was kick-started at the festival two years ago and has gone on to raise money for the children of the south-east Asian tsunami, and it offered something of a microcosm of this year's programme.
It also emphasised at various points the connections between music from both sides of the Atlantic.
The opening song, an exploration of gospel roots and Celtic ancestry, sung by bluegrass specialist Jim Lauderdale and Irish expatriate Maura O'Connell, certainly boded well. It didn't all turn out to be quite this raw and rootsy. But if amassing a large cast and diverse repertoire to a common cause resulted in the overall feel of the evening erring a mite on the polite side, there were also several outstanding contributions.
Instrumental sets from Flook, playing the late Gordon Duncan's rip-roaring Pressed for Time, and a variation on the Altan line-up lifted the mood, blending the informality of a jam session with sure musicality, and the buzz and dynamism created by Maura O'Connell returning for her second half spot was a real bright spot.
Darrell Scott and Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, from Irish band Danu, blended their respective roots to fine effect on Scott's own This Beggar's Heart, Scott's voice effortlessly marrying blues, bluegrass and soul styles, and Beth Nielsen Chapman led the entire cast on a finale that paid homage to New Orleans's troubles to an accompaniment that imagined Bo Diddley getting together with the Chieftains.
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