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The maudlin, magical world of Celtic Connections

The opening night offered a speedy aural bar crawl along the avenues and alleyways of Scottish music – albeit Scottish music unplugged and largely defanged

Graeme Thomson
Ross Wilson, a.k.a. Blue Rose Code, performing at Celtic Connections in 2018.  PAULINE KEIGHTLEY / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
EXPLORE THE ISSUE 01 February 2025
issue 01 February 2025
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  • Celtic Connections: Glasgow 850

    Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow

  • Celtic Connections: Blue Rose Code and Rhona MacFarlane

    Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow

Is it possible to find a common thread running through the finest Scottish music? If pushed, one might identify a quality of ecstatic melancholy, a rapturous yet fateful romanticism, in everything from the Incredible String Band to the Cocteau Twins, the Blue Nile to Frightened Rabbit, Simple Minds to Mogwai.

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