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ENTERTAINMENT: Celtic Connections launches ‘hybrid’ online music festival

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GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - OCTOBER 05: Celtic Connections, the UK’s premiere celebration of roots music, will return in full force for 2022 with an exciting and eclectic programme of events taking place in Glasgow from Thursday 30 January to Sunday 6 February 2022.Breathing life and soul into much-loved venues across the city, the 18-day programme of events spanning traditional folk, roots, Americana, jazz, soul and world music, marks a welcome revival for the scene as more than 1,000 musicians come together once again in celebration.The January blues are set to be well and truly banished as Glasgow comes alive with hundreds of performances, landmark musical collaborations, talks, workshops, film screenings, theatre productions, ceilidhs, exhibitions, free events and late-night sessions.Celtic Connections 2022 will be the 29th edition of the world-famous event, which made a successful transition online for 2021, entertaining more than 30,000 people in 60 countries during the darkest of Januarys. This year, the event returns to its roots as Europe’s largest winter festival, delighting live audiences with moving performances for its loyal audiences to experience in person.This year’s opening concert, 'Neath the Gloamin' Star, will be a poignant moment for many, featuring a ream of talent from a younger generation of musicians and songwriters.The show, named after a beloved old Scots folk song, sets the scene as a celebration of a precious heritage that is now being taken forward into a new tradition. Three musicians who will play as part of the evening, Paul McKenna, Innes White and Hannah Rarity, visited Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall to launch the programme.(Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

Celtic Connections

By Bill Heaney

Celtic Connections have launched a “hybrid” online version of the musical festival after shows had to be cancelled due to Covid restrictions on crowds.

Performances will now be shown online with some screened to smaller audiences at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall.

A small number of larger-scale shows will be rescheduled until later in the year.

Last year’s festival was also forced to go ahead online due to the pandemic.

Covid restrictions in Scotland currently mean that no more than 200 people are allowed at indoor seated events.

That rule is expected to be lifted in the weeks ahead, but would not come in time for the start of the 18-day programme on Thursday 20 January.

More than 1,000 musicians were due to take part in the event, which spans traditional folk, roots, Americana, jazz, soul and world music.

A new programme including artist line-up and ticketing information will be published next week.

A statement from the Celtic Connections organisers said: “Although the festival has not been able to return on the scale initially planned, and the majority of programmed shows have been impacted in some way, we are still working extremely hard to stage as many performances as we can in 2022.

“We are continuing to engage with the Scottish government regarding in-person shows due to take place from 24th January onwards and will be able to confirm our approach in line with any ongoing restrictions following the first minister’s update next week.”

During the last “live” festival in January 2020, about 130,000 people attended more than 300 events. Organisers said more than 2,100 artists from around the world had taken part.

Celtic Connections was first held in 1994 and is considered to be one of Europe’s top winter music festivals.

The initial programme is elsewhere on The Democrat.

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