During the Celtic Connections festival 09 I went to see the final of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year Final 2009. Celtic Connections is a massive winter festival held in Glasgow which attracts 100,000 people to events all over the city centre. When the festival is on there is an exciting buzz in the air with 300 events taking place in 14 venues over 18 days. As the artistic director says it is “more than just a folk festival” it “has touches of jazz, rock...” - http://celticconnections.com and music from all over the world. I am really glad I went to see the event because it was even more exciting than going to some of the other amazing concerts in the festival as there had to be a winner at the end, so there was an extra dose of nerves for the competitors, and the audience could sense that.
The event was presented by Mary Ann Kennedy and was broadcast live on BBC Radio Scotland. There were 6 competitors from all around Scotland: fiddlers Ruairidh Macmillan, Jack Smedley and Daniel Thorpe, Gaelic singer Kenneth Nicolson, Piper Lorne MacDougall, and Singer/Guitarist Adam Holmes.
The City Halls provided the venue for the showcase of young Scottish talent and I loved the atmosphere there. It is a really grand place with a high ceiling and the sound seemed to fill the space around the audience. I had been to the Old Fruitmarket before in the same area, but it was my first time in the City Halls and I was pleasantly surprised by what a large space it was and how the BBC Scotland and Celtic Connections drapes hanging from the roof symbolised what a big deal the event was.
You could tell that all competitors were nervous but it was obvious how excited they were to be there and how excited the audience was too. Being a traditional musician myself and having played in the festival in 2006 in 3 of the festival venues, I found it particularly enjoyable to be back in the buzz of Celtic Connections. The festival itself is an amazing celebration of music from Scotland and all over the world, and the particular concert I was at showcased just how talented Scotland's up-and-coming musicians are.
The quality of their music was inspiring. They all had completely different styles which contributed to 6 unique performances. I didn’t envy the judges having to pick a winner out of the cream of the crop of Scotland’s young traditional musicians. The songs were all sung from the heart, showing the audience how much the experience meant to the artist, and the sets of tunes played were arranged to perfection with seamless transitions between tunes. It was very exciting waiting for the result and eventually the winner was chosen live on radio: fiddler Ruairidh Macmillan from Nairn. You could see how much it meant to him to win and the audience went crazy when he played a victory set of tunes.
Personally I think the event was well worth going to see, not just for the performances, but for the excitement of the competition. When waiting for the result I was on the edge of my seat like the other members of the audience and the event reminded me of the young talent that Scotland has which sometimes people might forget about. I spoke to some people I knew that were also in the audience and they thought the same as they were blown away by the performances saying they were even better than they thought they would be.
I think music is of great importance all over the world. In Scotland it is about enjoyment, but also about showing our culture and showcasing what we have to offer the rest of the world. Proof of how big an impact Scotland has in music is Celtic Connections itself with hundreds of musicians and thousands of people coming to experience the magic of the festival.
One thing that I think is particularly successful is the education programme which lets 13-14,000 school children experience Scotland’s music scene by coming to workshops and seeing concerts with world-acclaimed artists. I experienced the children’s excitement myself back in 2005 when the group I was in played in did one of the concerts for them in the Royal Concert Hall. Their excitement was overwhelming and you could see that they were gaining respect for traditional music and gaining knowledge about their culture. It is really important for the younger generations to be proud of their heritage, in particular the music of their country.
"Traditional arts are a vital component of Scotland's artistic landscape and the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring there are adequate arrangements in place to support them, allowing the traditional arts to fulfil their role in Scotland's culture, heritage, economy, education and community life." -Linda Fabiani
