Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Tuesday, 7.30pm
Celtic music may be the focus in Glasgow this month, but the festival is determined to open audiences' minds to melodies from beyond Scottish frontiers. A woman who decided to rescue fado from taverns
and take it to the top stages in the world, Portuguese singer Mariza, is a perfect example. Latin, jazz and African styles flavoured her last delightful music recipe, Terra, which showcased her exceptional voice.
Mary Anne Kennedy's Na Seoid (The Heroes) project will be Mariza's male accompaniment, providing an example of some of the finest Scottish male voices of the moment.
ASTURIAN NIGHT: LLAN DE CUBEL AND ANABEL SANTIAGOThe Old Fruitmarket, Thursday, 9.30pm
From Asturias in the north of Spain, Llan de Cubel will celebrate their 25th anniversary with the festival audience. This is an opportunity to get in touch with the Spanish folk tradition, led by this band of six musicians, which takes its name from an Asturian mountain. Rising young artist Anabel Santiago will perform songs from her last work, Desnuda (Naked, 2007), mixing genres from tango to country, blended with tonada, an ancient Asturian music style.
SALSA CELTICA AND THE LONG NOTESThe Old Fruitmarket, Saturday, 9.30pm
People not used to Celtic music may find it difficult to imagine how salsa could mine Scotland's musical history, but Salsa Celtica's big band shows how.
Formed in 1995 by a group of 11 eclectic musicians from Venezuela, Ireland, Cuba and Scotland, Salsa Celtica began performing in pubs and clubs in Edinburgh and Glasgow. They have become one of the most famous Celtic bands and are proof that Scotland is capable of putting some heat in its music.
The more traditional The Long Notes – Scottish fiddler Jamie Smith, ex-Bumblebees accordionist Colette O'Leary and London-Irish banjo and mandolin ace Brian Kelly – will provide the perfect balance for a night of old and new.
THE ROYAL SCOTTISH NATIONAL ORCHESTRA FEATURING BRANFORD MARSALIS Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Sunday, 7.30pm
Having fallen in love with his way of performing one of her compositions a few years ago in Rotterdam, Sally Beamish rewrote 'Under The Wing Of The Rock' for Branford Marsalis to play at Celtic Connections. The New Orleans saxophonist doesn't need any introduction, but it will be fascinating to discover how Marsalis's jazz virtuosity blends with the classical performance of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Guests such as Arizona-born composer and percussionist Steve Forman, fiddlers Aidan O'Rourke (orchestrated by Stephen Deazley) Patsy Reid and Chris Stout, Scotland's own legendary saxophonist Tommy Smith, and Irish composer and pianist Brian Byrne complete the line-up.
GRIOGAIR LABHRUIDH – NEW VOICESThe Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Strathclyde Suite, Sunday, 1pm
Griogair Labhruidh has always had one objective: to make the Gaelic tradition inherited from his family the centrepiece of his career as a musician. Now one of the most promising Gaelic voices of the future is one of the few artists who writes his own songs in Gaelic.
Labhruidh plays the clarsach, the uilleann pipes, fiddle, accordion and guitar, and will be accompanied by Colla Dòmhnallach (fiddle), Éanna Ó Cróinín (uilleann pipes), Ally MacKenzie (accordion), Sìneag Nic an t-Saor (vocals) and Síle Denvir (clarsach).
