Passions: Early nights, clean living and hibernation must wait when Celtic Connections is calling

Glasgow’s winter music festival was launched 30 years ago

There is a point in every year, around the middle of December, when an overwhelming feeling of excitement and panic comes over me.

It’s got nothing to do with Christmas markets, mulled wine, shopping, pantos or fairy lights.

It is the moment of realisation that it is only a month until the start of Celtic Connections.

The idea of launching a new music festival in Glasgow city centre in the middle of January was dismissed by many as downright mad when it was first announced.

Surely nobody in their right mind would be in the mood to go to a festival in the dead of winter at the most depressing time of year?

A more pressing concern for the management at the then fledgling Royal Concert Hall was how to fill some of their quietest weeks in their programme.

But the first festival fired the imagination and enthusiasm of bands and audiences when it was launched nearly 30 years ago.

The Old Fruitmarket is one of the most popular venues used for the Celtic Connections music festival. Picture: Gaelle Beri

And the very reasons which seemed to be against the festival working were the very reasons Celtic Connections took off right away in 1994 and has been heading in pretty much the same direction ever since.

I count myself as something of a veteran of the festival, having had extensive visits to everyone since 1997. It was only in its fourth year, but had already spilled out from the Royal Concert Hall into numerous venues across the city.

These days it is so vast that the festival appears to deploy almost every venue in Glasgow, embraces almost every possible style of music, and has a programme that seems almost impossible to get your head around.

It is arguably the closest thing Glasgow has to the Edinburgh Festival and is one of three events launched in the city over the last 30 years - along with its comedy and film festivals – which are as good as anything you can experience in Scotland.

The Treacherous Orchestra at the Old Fruitmarket during Celtic Connections. Picture: Gaelle Beri

Celtic Connections has become a crucial launchpad for new projects, collaborations and albums, as well as a key Scottish festival for artists and bands to graduate to bigger stages.

But Celtic Connections is also an extended social occasion and reunion for the many fans and musicians who block off their diaries for two and a half weeks and head there every year.

While the thoughts of some people will understandably turn to early nights, clean living and hibernation in January, they will have to wait for all those bound for Glasgow.

Brian Ferguson is Arts Correspondent of The Scotsman