The internationally acclaimed festival, Celtic Connections, will illuminate Glasgow’s stages, venues, and winter evenings from 18 January to 4 February 2024. Joining the international lineup will be exceptional artists from Wales including Adwaith, Black Feathers, Lleuwen, No Good Boyo, Patrick Rimes in Celtic Odyssée and Pedair.

Taking place during Celtic Connections will be Showcase Scotland – a four-day event that introduces musicians from Scotland and partner nations to international delegates. This week, Wales will complete a three-year partnership and on Saturday, 27 January there will be a roundup presentation by Arts Council of Wales’s international agency, Wales Arts International supported by Welsh Government. This is the third and final presentation in which 10 artists from Wales have been showcased to international delegates.  

Dafydd Rhys, Chief Executive of Arts Council of Wales said:

“The international work we deliver through our agency Wales Arts International, and our partnership with Welsh Government, helps us to develop, connect, and promote high quality arts from Wales. We know that art has the power to connect and help us understand each other and the world around us. The artists taking part at this weekend’s prestigious Showcase Scotland and Celtic Connections event in Glasgow represent some of our country’s most exciting talent.”

The partnership was launched in 2022 by First Minister Mark Drakeford who said:

“Music is at the heart of Welsh communities and is central to our wellbeing. Our music has been shaped with diverse music internationally, and in these difficult times music brings hope here in Wales and reaches out to a vast and changing Celtic cultural diaspora internationally.” 

The first Spotlight in 2022 was digital due to the Covid pandemic and featured Cynefin, Eve Goodman, N’famady Kouyaté, No Good Boyo, Pedair and The Trials of Cato. 

In 2023, Wales shared the stage with Brittany and presented Cerys Hafana, Gwilym Bowen Rhys and chamber folk trio Vri. The showcasing artists have since been traveling internationally to audiences from the Hebrides to the Basque Country, Dubai, the USA and Canada.

In 2024, when the main spotlight is on Norway, Wales Arts International will present Welsh and Breton language artist Lleuwen, and folk quartet Pedair, who ignited much interest at the digital showcase in 2022. This is their first Celtic Connections appearance.

Pedair, winners of the Welsh Album of the Year Award 2023, draws on the talents of four of Wales’ most prominent and award-winning folk artists: Gwennan Gibbard, Gwyneth Glyn, Meinir Gwilym and Siân James. Pedair breathe new life to traditional materials, with new arrangements on harp, guitar, piano and accordion. They will also be performing alongside the sublime Manchester-based singer-songwriter duo, The Breath, on 27 Saturday 27 January at The Barnoy Hall.

Pedair harpist and singer Gwenan Gibbard said:

"This will be the first time that Pedair has performed live as part of Showcase Scotland in Glasgow. We have performed as individual artists at the Celtic Connections festival in the past, but we look forward very much to be there together this year. It's a great opportunity to showcase our music to representatives from all over the world and it will be a privilege to be there performing music in the Welsh language.”

Lleuwen will premier her new work, The Lost Welsh Folk Hymns which that didn’t make it to the hymn books. This work is the result of 10 years of research and collaboration with Sain Fagans National History Museum. Lleuwen performs with archive recordings and combines old words with new music to express a timeless message.

To close the three-year partnership, Eluned Hâf, Head of Wales Arts International, said:

“I want to thank Showcase Scotland and Celtic Connections for presenting incredible and diverse artists from Wales who have taken our music across the world on the back of the connections they’ve made.

Events like Showcase Scotland and WOMEX offer a key opportunity for artists to be booked for international work and for Wales, our culture language and talent to be presented to the world.  There is no such thing as one Celtic identity. It’s as diverse as our nations. We value our Celtic connections world-wide from the ancient connections with Brittany to festivals across the world presenting our diverse musicians to new audiences.”

The next showcase partnership with an open call opening this week is the Horizons regional stage at WOMEX 24 in Manchester which will feature artists from Wales. For more details see: Applications open for WOMEX 24

Dafydd Rhys added:

“We are committed to creating an environment to help artists from a range of musical genres to develop and showcase their creative potential, both at home, and internationally. We want to make sure that opportunities are available as far and wide as possible including at the WOMEX Showcase Festival which will allow artists from Wales to participate at this important global gathering in Manchester this year.”

In addition to the industry spotlight, the public performances by artists from Wales at Celtic Connections this year include:

  • Patrick Rimes will be part of the Celtic Odyssée at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 25 January 7:30pm
  • The Black Feathers at The Glad Café, 25 January 8:00pm
  • Adwaith at CCA, 27 January 8:15pm
  • NoGood Boyo at The Hug and Pint, 27 January 8:45pm

Tickets for Celtic Connections 2024 are available from www.celticconnections.com