Le Vent du Nord and Breabach

The gig I went to see at the Strathclyde Suite was headlined by Quebecois band Le Vent du Nord (‘The North Wind’) who featured here this time last year as I saw them supporting La Bottine Souriante, also at Celtic Connections. The support act was Scottish band Breabach. Actually though in both halves the two bands came and played together – this was taken towards the end of the show, and although not a great photo (I was too far back, this is the least bad photo!) it was a great gig, we thoroughly enjoyed it. They are touring together around Scotland at the moment and Quebec later this year – catch them if you can!

This blog is going to take a wee break-ette – I’ll be back with more photos in mid-Feb!

Strathclyde Suite

The final Celtic Connections gig I went to was at the Strathclyde Suite, which is upstairs at the Royal Concert Hall. This shows some of the lights before the gig started – I’ll show the band tomorrow.

The Legendary Gypsy Kings and Queens (2)

These two photos feature the other singer who performed as part of the Legendary Gypsy Kings and Queens show, Esma Redzepova from Macedonia. She was actually the reason I wanted to see the show (I saw her perform a few years ago when I was in Sibiu* in Romania), and she certainly didn’t disappoint. However I must say that all the other acts were also so good that even if she hadn’t been performing I would have more than got my money’s worth! What a brilliant night.

* Folks, Sibiu Daily Photo has its final photo tomorrow. It’s been brilliant reliving my few months there – if you’ve not seen it check out a beautiful little city

The Legendary Gypsy Kings and Queens (1)

Back to Celtic Connections, and a show at the Royal Concert Hall called “The Legendary Gypsy Kings and Queens”. This featured 2 house bands (Kaloome from France and Mahala Rai Banda from Romania) who were both amazing, and a number of singers and dancers. These pictures show the bands with singers Florentina Sandu from Romania and Jony Iliev from Bulgaria, and dancers Aurela Sandu and Tantzica Ionita.

(click on any of the pictures for a larger version)

Sparkly

Today is theme day among the City Daily Photo Blogs, and the theme this month is Wood. Unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to take an appropriate themed photo, and looking through my old pics all the wood-related ones have already been used on this blog. So instead I’m sneaking in another picture of the lights around the GoMA (any excuse!).

Magical

A quick break from Celtic Connections photos – although I did take this whilst on my way to the Fruitmarket. This is of course the area round the side and back of the Gallery of Modern Art, and one of my favourite Glasgow views. This is the most magical space, I just love standing underneath these lights.

Balkanarama (3)

The top two pictures are a band called Black Cat (from Edinburgh – I’m guessing their name is inspired by the utterly brilliant film Black Cat White Cat) – their MySpace page is here. The bottom two pictures are a band called Besh o droM from Hungary (on MySpace here).

Balkanarama (2)

Maybe I’m weird, but one thing I really enjoyed about this gig, as well as the music, was the visual stuff that was going on above the stage. Some of it was really funny, with some enjoyable references for anyone familiar with the Balkan region.

Balkanarama (1)

The next day we were back at the Fruitmarket for their Balkan night. We were greeted on our arrival by a couple of musicians and dancer in the audience space.

Imagined Village (2)

I hope these give a flavour of the energy of the gig – it was quite quite brilliant