About BBC Music at Celtic Connections 2016

BBC Music at Celtic Connections 2016 will see a huge mix of performances from the UK’s biggest winter music festival, showcased across television, radio and here on the Celtic Connections website.
This year’s big names include Idlewild, Rickie Lee Jones, Siobhan Miller and Barbara Dickson, Bwani Junction, The Chieftains, Kris Drever, Julie Fowlis, Gretchen Peters and Baaba Maal.

Celtic Connections is the world’s biggest winter music festival. The first event was staged in 1994 and has grown every year, in 2016 the line up boasts a staggering 300 events and will be hosting over 2000 artistes. The festival also has a long association with the BBC and this year’s coverage will deliver more acts, tracks and sets than ever before, via on line, radio and television.

BBC Two Scotland will have two highlights shows with further programmes on BBC Radio Scotland, Radio 2, Radio 3 and BBC ALBA, all of which you can enjoy here on the website after broadcast.

James Grant and Friends, along with This is the Kit on BBC Radio Scotland’s The Quay Sessions with Edith Bowman start off, and The Janice Forsyth Show pick up the mantle on Thursday January 14 with two hours of performances – including Siobhan Miller and Barbara Dickson, James Robertson, Bwani Junction and Mairi Campbell – and an interview with festival director Donald Shaw.

Travelling Folk will be live on Sunday 17 with the Scott Wood Band, Karen Matheson Trio, and the Calum Stewart Trio.

BBC Radio Scotland’s Vic Galloway and Another Country, presented by Ricky Ross, keep the momentum going with further radio and online sessions.

Vic’s show on Monday 18 includes Trembling Bells, C Duncan and JR Green, while Ricky’s on Tuesday 19 has Angaleena Presley, Noah Gundersen and Rickie Lee Jones.

Travelling Folk takes a disco spin on Celtic Connections midweek, while on Thursday 21 The Quay Sessions will have Idlewild and Frazey Ford. Jamie MacDougall’s Celebration of Scottish Song from the CCA features Arthur Johnston, Fiona Hunter and Mike Vass.

On Burns night, January 25, Radio 2’s Mark Radcliffe will be live with Kris Drever, Julie Fowlis and Barbara Dickson, while BBC Radio Scotland’s Get It On with Bryan Burnett that night has a Burn’s Supper, with a Celtic Connections flavour, live from BBC Scotland’s Pacific Quay.

Mark Radcliffe returns on Radio 2 on Tuesday 26 with Gretchen Peters, Teddy Thompson and Rhiannon Giddens. There will also be a selection from the BBC Radio coverage of Celtic Connections on the Radio 2 Folk Show on Wednesday 27.

Radio 3 will this year broadcast more performances than ever before with three special World on 3 programmes. The first on Friday 15 will have music from Trio da Kali and Les Poules a Colin, with Moh! Kouyate, Kornog and Baaba Maal confirmed for the following week’s programme and Bella Hardy and Caan on the third show. Radio 3 will also broadcast on Wednesday 27 Bela Fleck and Liam O’Flynn in Concert with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

As well as the two BBC Scotland highlights programmes from the roster at the CCA, BBC ALBA will have further related programming including Songs of Gaelic Scotland, a special concert with Anne Lorne Gillies, who has assembled some of the Gaelic world’s most respected singers, and over the course of the hour-long programme, they will explore the universal themes of many of the most loved Gaelic songs - Love, the Sea, Clan and Conflict, Land and Exile. Anne’s guests include such luminaries as Arthur Cormack, Kathleen MacInnes, Angus MacLeod and a special appearance on stage by Anne’s daughter Rachel.

After recording an incredible debut series of specially curated shows in 2015, BBC ALBA’s flagship music brand Seirm returns to the Celtic Connections festival. Featuring a hand-picked, eclectic mix of Gaelic, trad, roots and Americana artists, each evening will offer a specially curated blend from the Celtic Connections roster. Hosted by Mary Ann Kennedy, Seirm will celebrate great, established artists, alongside breakthrough acts. Its performance space will offer an intimate environment, and provide a platform for unique collaborations, bringing together artists for one-off performances.

BBC Scotland coverage culminates in the BBC Radio Scotland’s Young Traditional Musician of the Year from the City Halls on Sunday 31 January