CONCERT OF THE MONTH: Scottish Chamber Orchestra 50th Birthday Concert
The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Thursday, January 18; City Halls, Glasgow, Friday, January 19
This is a landmark month for the SCO which turns 50 this year (its first gig was in Glasgow’s City Halls on January 27, 1974). It’s also a busy one. Later in the month they will be playing at Celtic Connections, firstly with Altan and RANT (January 24, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall) and two days later at the same venue with Aife O’Donovan, Lau, Maeve Gilchrist and Paul Buchanan of the Blue Nile.
But to mark the 50h birthday the orchestra is staging these two concerts conducted by Maxim Emelyanychev. Mozart and Haydn are on the menu. Emelanychev and his friend Dmitry Ablogin will perform the former’s Concerto in E-flat for two Pianos. Elena Langer’s Suite: Figaro Gets a Divorce is also on the programme. Not sure there will be any birthday cake though.
Andy White
Georgian Hotel, Coatbridge, January 19; Partickhill Bowling Club, Glasgow, January 20; Leith Depot, Edinburgh, January 21; Border Club, Hawick, January 22
The Belfast singer and poet now based in Melbourne released his first EP, Religious Persuasion all the way back in 1985. But he’s still going strong in the 21st century. A new album, Good Luck I Hope You Make It, combining spoken word with hip hop beats, was released yesterday. To promote it, he’s playing four gigs around Scotland this month.
Erland Cooper
Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, January 20
The Scottish composer and recent Herald Magazine interviewee Erland Cooper is in the capital this month to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Queen’s Hall. To mark the occasion he will premiere a new work especially written for the occasion, as well as dip into his glorious back catalogue with selections from the recent Folded Landscapes and his Orkney trilogy which was inspired by his childhood home.
DakhaBrakha
Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow, January 20
There is no doubt that the brightest light in the January murk is the return of Celtic Connections. The music festival returns to Glasgow with another capacious programme that takes in folk, trad, classical, contemporary and pop. Opening with the European premiere of Chris Thiles’ new symphonic work ATTENTION!, played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and accompanied by Rachel Sermanni, this year’s Celtic Connections sees performances from acts as diverse as King Creosote and Angelique Kidjo, Skipinnish and stunning new voice Becky Sikasa. But none of them, we’re betting, will have better hats than DakhaBrakha.The Ukrainian quartet offer a contemporary take on the music of their homeland and the result is a reminder of just how thrilling world music can be.
The Orb
The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen, January 25; La Belle Angele, Edinburgh, January 26; Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow, January 27
Ambient pioneers The Orb return to Scotland this month ahead of the release of new album SETI (which stands for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence if you don’t know), out in February. Alex Paterson and Andy Falconer have described it as “ambient unplugged”. How that translates to their Orboretum Tour appearances in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow should be worth hearing. Tie-dye T-shirts optional (though maybe not entirely suited to the time of year).
Callum Easter and the Roulettes
Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, January 25; St Andrews West, Glasgow, January 26
Fresh from playing with Young Fathers and supporting Noel Gallagher last year, Callum Easter is in Edinburgh and Glasgow near the end of the month with his new band The Roulettes. His appearance at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh is part of Burns and Beyond mini festival which also sees appearances by Anna Meredith and Nadine Shah (see below). Easter is criminally underappreciated in his homeland, but hopefully things are beginning to take a turn for the better for Dunbar’s greatest gift to Scottish music and any chance to see him live should be seized with both hands. He also plays a mean accordion.
Margo Price
Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, January 27
One of Celtic Connections’ best bookings this year is Price who has shown that country music is as vital a form as ever (even if Nashville isn’t as interested in her as it should be). The singer released two albums last year, Strays and Strays II, which saw her collaborate with Mike Campbell of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers and Sharon Van Etten. Price, like Van Etten, is first and foremost a singer-songwriter these days but she hasn’t totally given up on her country origins. She’s just given them a fresh lick of paint and new sound. Kentucky’s Kelsey Waldon is the support act.
Nadine Shah
Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, January 28
On a day off between dates supporting Depeche Mode (see below), Nadine Shah comes to Edinburgh to play a headline set for Burns and Beyond. Shah has been a consistently thrilling and joyous talent since she first emerged just over a decade ago. She has a new album - Filthy Underneath - out next month, and the early signs are that it’s a fine, fierce thing. Anyone who has heard her recent single Topless Mother is probably constantly repeating “Sinatra, Viagra, Iguana” under their breath even now.
Andrew Wasylyk
Mackintosh Church, Glasgow, January 30
It’s quite possible that the best gig we saw last year was Andrew Wasylyk’s show at St Luke’s in June, a thrilling live rendition of the sunkissed and shadowy nostalgia of his best tunes. For this Celtic Connections gig, the Dundee composer will be joined onstage by an eight-piece ensemble for this Celtic Connections show, with support from former Teenage Fanclub member Gerard Love.
Depeche Mode
OVO Hydro, Glasgow, January 31
Finally, you can see out the month in the company of Martin Gore and Dave Gahan as they bring their Memento Mori tour to Scotland with the aforementioned Nadine Shah in support. They have sold some two million tickets for this current tour which will take them all around Europe. The Mode’s story - from fresh-faced Basildon snythpoppers to arena-filling EDM monsters, via addiction and loss - is one of the most remarkable in modern pop and deserves to be celebrated. Here’s your chance.
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