An opening-night tribute to the pioneering Scottish musician Martyn Bennett, appearances by Craig Armstrong, Eddi Reader, King Creosote, Fairport Convention and American rock band Lambchop will be highlights of next year's Celtic Connections festival, it has been announced this morning.
The Celtic Connections festival, Glasgow's perennially popular annual festival of roots and traditional music, will run from January 15 to February 1.
The programme features many key strands from previous years, including historically themed shows, shows in memory of signature artists, Americana, indie music and many collaborations, as well as a new theme that highlights the story of hand made instruments from around the world.
Donald Shaw, artistic director of Celtic Connections as well as founder of Capercailie, said: "In recent years, the festival has grown into a celebration of musical genres from all corners of the globe and this will be just as prominent in 2015.
"At no other festival do musicians embrace the opportunity to collaborate with musicians from different countries and musical genres than they do at Celtic Connections.
"We will not only be celebrating world class music next year, but there will be a number of concerts that highlight the amazing stories behind the making of hand-made instruments from across the world.
"It is easy to forget about the love and care that goes into creating these personal and exceptional instruments and there is a connection to be drawn between the uniqueness of the musical collaborations we endeavour to showcase at the festival and the creative qualities of these individual instruments.
"In a year that celebrates the 100th anniversary of the great folk song collector Alan Lomax, Celtic Connections will celebrate great tradition music revolutionaries such as Martyn Bennett and Ewan MacColl."
The Opening Night will be a show dedicated to Bennett, which the festival describes as "one of Scotland's great musical visionaries."
To commemorate ten years since his death at the age of 33, the Opening Night of the festival will feature a full orchestration by experimental classical violinist Greg Lawson of Bennett's last album Grit.
The album sampled voices from traditional music such as Lizzie Higgins and Sheila Stewart MBE and "placed them against a soundscape of beats and samples and started the evolution of Celtic fusion," the festival said.
There will be a tribute night, curated by his sons Calum and Neill, to singer, songwriter, song collector, author, broadcaster, playwright, actor, director, poet and activist Ewan MacColl (1915-1989).
MacColl established the country's first folk club and started the ground breaking Radio Ballads series.
Band of Friends will be a celebration of the life and music of Rory Gallagher.
Named for one of his best-loved tunes, Crossing the Minch will pay tribute to Pipe Major Donald MacLeod MBE (1916-1982) and it will feature a multi-generational cast includes pipers Calum MacCrimmon, John Wilson, John Mulhearn, James Duncan Mackenzie and Rona Lightfoot, plus Alasdair White, Charlie MacFarlane and the Glenfinnan Ceilidh Band.
The hand made instruments theme will feature The Fiddletree, a show inspired by a book of the same name which was written by violin maker Otis Thomas.
It tells the story of how he made a violin from a sugar maple tree that grew beside his house in Cape Breton.
The gig will include tunes all played by fiddles, clarsach, mandolin and cello which have all been build from this same tree.
In the same theme, there will be a multi-media performance - incorporating music-hall songs, regimental marches and reworked traditional ballads with film and spoken narrative - from Sam Sweeney, of Bellowhead, about the history of a fiddle which he bought which dated to 1915.
The award winning Hollywood composer Craig Armstrong, who is from Glasgow, will also be part of the festival.
He will perform in full his new album, It's Nearly Tomorrow, which will include guest singers Paul Buchanan of The Blue Nile and Suede's Brett Anderson.
The second half of the show will revisit some of his cinematic work including Moulin Rouge, Great Gatsby and Romeo + Juliet, and will feature the orchestra of Scottish Opera.
There will be a repeat performance of an acclaimed part of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games cultural programme, From Scotland With Love, a mix of Scottish Screen Archive material with a bewitching original score by Kenny Anderson, also known as Mercury-nominated indie-folk musician King Creosote.
Anderson will perform with a nine-piece band.
Jeff Tweedy, otherwise known as the single name Tweedy, and considered one of the US's premiere song writers, will be performing at Celtic Connections 2015.
Lambchop will be performing their classic album Nixon.
Fairport Convention will be playing the Celtic Connections stage for the first time since 2006.
Eddi Reader will perform her first headline show in six years.
Patty Griffin will perform as part of Transatlantic Sessions and Grammy award winning diva of African song Angelique Kidjo will be performing alongside the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
New Irish "supergroup" Usher's Island - with Donal Lunny, Andy Irvine, Paddy Glackin, John Doyle and Michael McGoldrick - will be making their Celtic Connections debut.
Other bands and events will include Skerryvore, Nathaniel Rateliff, the Roaming Roots Revue, Manran, the Bruce 700 collaboration to mark the Battle of Bannockburn - performers include Angus MacDonald, Iain MacDonald, Aidan O'Rourke, Lori Watson, Innes Watson, Christine Hanson, Fraser Fifield, Dick Lee, Duncan Lyall, Mary McMaster, Donald Hay, Daniel Thorpe, Griogair Labhruidh, Kathleen MacInnes and Rod Paterson and The Elizabethan Session
Councillor Archie Graham, chair of Glasgow Life, which runs the city's museums and venues, said: "After what has been a fantastic year for Glasgow - when the city was under the international spotlight for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games - events such as Celtic Connections prove that Glasgow is not just a one hit wonder and that we have a plethora of world-class events all year round that enhance the city's reputation as a major tourist destination.
"Year on year the festival firmly places Glasgow on the world music map. Celtic Connections is internationally renowned and attracts visitors and musicians from all over the world. Celtic Connections contributes to a hugely positive cultural and economic impact for Glasgow and the rest of the country."
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