A contingent of Manx musicians are looking forward to representing the island at this year’s Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow.

The festival gets under way on Thursday next week (January 18) and continues until February 4.

Ruth Keggin will again be singing in the collaborative Celtic Odyssee project, following on from its success at the Festival Interceltique de Lorient in the summer.

The concert features artists from the eight Celtic nations and takes place at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Thursday, January 25.

Ruth told Island Life: ‘As well as the camaraderie of performing along with other musicians that I have so much respect for, I am always excited to share songs in Manx with audiences.

‘Songs are such a brilliant way of introducing people to Manx Gaelic; people always approach me after gigs saying that they’re keen to go and find out more about Manx after hearing the songs.

‘For me, hearing that gives me almost as much of a rush as actually singing.’

Isla Callister will be playing fiddle with two bands, HEISK and TRIP.

‘There’s a bunch of Manxies coming up to play at Celtic this year which is great,’ she said. ‘I’ll miss a few of them due to gig clashes but I’m looking forward to rounding off Celtic Connections by dancing to Mec Lir at Saint Luke’s.’

Six-piece folk band HEISK, who are redefining the traditional music landscape by infusing Scottish roots with contemporary energy and a commitment to gender equality, are playing in the Tramway on January 25.

Isla said: ‘We’ll be celebrating Burns night this year the HEISK way - with dancing, sequins and glitter.

‘It will also mark the release of our brand new album Headstrong which reclaims the word and celebrates the strong women, witches and goddesses that inspired the music. Manx witch Tehi Tegi also gets a feature track - you can listen to the single now.’

See the album cover left.

And Isla will be playing in Glasgow-based six-piece TRIP at the New Auditorium at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on January 27.

‘It’s a gorgeous venue and one of the biggest Glasgow shows we will have done to date,’ Isla said. ‘We’ve been working away on the new material for our new album so audiences will be a able to catch a preview.

‘We’re sharing the bill with Scots singer and good friend Beth Malcolm - it’s set to be a real celebration of contemporary traditional music.’

Elizabeth Davidson-Blythe and Daniel Quayle will be performing in Glasgow Royal Concert Hall’s Strathclyde Suite on January 25 on the bill with Alana MacInnes Trio and ELIR. The duo released their debut album The Coast Road in 2022 and started touring the previous summer.

Elizabeth said: ‘We’re really looking forward to sharing our music at Celtic Connections this year. It will be our first time playing at the festival, although we’ve both attended the festival in the past.

‘It feels like a big deal for the festival to be recognising Isle of Man-based acts and it’s really exciting for us to be able to contribute to that and do our bit to promote Manx music and culture abroad.’

And genre-busting quartet Mec Lir will be performing at Saint Luke’s on the penultimate night of the festival, February 3. The band features Tomas Callister (fiddle), Adam Rhodes (bouzouki), David Kilgallon (keyboard) and Scots drummer Greg Barry. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Mec Lir performing.

They made their gig debut at Festival Interceltique de Lorient in 2014.