Family history lesson for singer

Family history lesson for singer

Veteran Jamaican singer Winston McAnuff, who appears with French accordionist Fixi at the Arches for Celtic Connections tonight, is taking advantage of his trip to Glasgow to research his family history.

McAnuff's great grandfather was Scottish and was apparently deported to Jamaica around 1840 on a conspiracy charge. Winston's sons Matthew, who died in 2012, and Kush, who fronts the Uprising Roots Band, were renowned reggae artists and his nephew Jobi captained Blackburn Rovers and Jamaica's football team, the Reggae Boyz.

l celticconnections.com

Young and talented

The latest young musicians to receive awards from the Borletti-Buitoni Trust (BBT) have just been announced, with award winners receiving £30,000 and fellowships coming with £25,000.

Among the latter is the Scottish Chamber Orchestra's 28-year-old principal horn Alec Frank-Gemmill, who has been made Professor of Horn at the Guildhall School of Music.

BBT Fellow guitarist Sean Shibe is currently on a mission to buy a classic Spanish Francisco Simplicio guitar made in the early 20th century. He will be raising funds to fulfil his dream with a special recital of works by Villa-Lobos, Barrios and Ginastera in London at the start of April.

l bbtrust.com

Evening of verse

The Institut Francais d'Ecosse in Edinburgh begins a series of poetry evenings at its Randolph Crescent home on Friday February 7. Vive the [R]evolution will combine verse by Scots and French poets (in translation) and kicks off with Glasgow's Peter Manson, who has translated the work of Stephane Mallarme for Miami University Press and will be considering his experiments with form, alongside examples of his own verse. Further sessions, on April 4 and June 6 will be hosted by nick-e melville and Rody Gorman.

l ifecosse.org

Centenary events

The Usher Hall in Edinburgh has completed the programme for its week of centenary events, beginning on Wednesday March 5 with the return of Rufus Wainwright to the venue, promoting his Vibrate collection of greatest hits.

A recreation of the opening programme from 1914 by the RSNO, the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union and conductors Thomas Søndergård, and Michael Bawtree follows on the Thursday and a Gilded Comedy Gala featuring Arhtur Smith, Doon MacKichan, Phil Jupitus, Barry Cryer and Greg McHugh follows on the Friday and Mogwai have The Pastels and Remember Remember in support on Saturday March 8. The series concludes with the Vienna Tonkunstler Orchestra under the baton of Andrés Orozco-Estrada on Sunday March 9.

l usherhall.co.uk