Celtic Link - Your weekly roundup - Issue 3

The pick of must-read news stories from around the Celtic World

Nov 13, 2023

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In this week’s newsletter:

🇮🇪 The Book of Kells Interactive Experience
🇮🇪 Two Irish destinations make the Nat Geo Cool List
🎶 Scottish traditional music awards voting open
🗣️ Scottish culture and traditions under threat
🎶 Welsh folk songs reinterpreted in a new album
⛰️ Historic Cornish hilltop purchased for the nation
🇮🇲 Manx dancers celebrate new standing stones in Australia
🎶 Olivia Bradley’s new album offers a new twist on Irish classics

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The Celtic World This Week

📣 Featured News Item

Ireland

🇮🇪 The Book of Kells Experience at Trinity College, Dublin

Ireland’s greatest cultural treasure is part of an exhibition that brings to life the famous Book of Kells in what has been described as a ‘360° immersive journey’. The exhibition at Trinity College Dublin, which has been the Book of Kells’ custodian since 1661, promises to take visitors into the pages of the ninth century manuscript.

Here are the key things you need to know about the Book of Kells:

Written in Latin around 800 AD, the Book of Kells contains the four books of the New Testament.
It was likely written - at least in part - on the Scottish island of Iona before being brought to Kells in Ireland to keep it safe from Viking invaders.
The manuscript’s intricate and stunningly beautiful illuminations across its 680 vellum (calfskin) pages make it the finest example of Celtic Christian art.
The Book of Kells was highly influential in the Celtic Revival. Jewellery, metalwork, embroidery, pottery and furniture based on designs from the manuscript started to appear from the mid-19th century.
Images from the Book of Kells have been adopted as Irish national symbols. Its artwork has appeared on the country’s coins and banknotes in recent years.

Experience Ireland’s greatest cultural treasure like never before. In the Old Library, awe at the wonder of the Book of Kells, and marvel at the Long Room, considered to be one of the world’s most beautiful libraries.

The exhibition runs until December 10th 2023 and details can be found HERE

📰 In other news…

🇮🇪 Two Irish destinations make the Nat Geo Cool List

Who wouldn’t want to be on a ‘Cool List’? Especially one compiled by National Geographic.

'“Ahead of the new year, we’ve crossed the world to find the 30 most exciting destinations for 2024”, says the legendary publication. And two Irish destinations - one from each side of the border - have been selected this year.

Starting in Northern Ireland, Belfast is rapidly becoming a must-visit destination for savvy travellers. National Geographic cite Titanic Belfast - ‘the world’s most authentic retelling of the iconic story’ - as a major draw.

South of the border, the Wild Atlantic Way along Ireland’s rugged west coast is described as ‘one of Europe’s most exciting road trips’.

Featuring the edge-of-the-world lighthouse at Fanad Head; Galway’s legendary oysters; the lunar-like landscape of the Burren; and the paintbox-palette town of Kinsale.

They both sound pretty cool to us!

Check out the whole National Geographic Cool List HERE

Scotland

🎶 Vote for your favourite Scottish traditional music artists

The nominees have been announced for the 21st MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards. More than 110 artists and organisations are in the running across 22 categories, showcasing the abundance of talent in Scotland’s traditional music scene.

The winners will be announced at the annual award ceremony at Caird Hall in Dundee on 2nd December 2023. The ceremony itself will host some legends of Scottish music, including ‘Skye folk-fusion group Peatbog Faeries, acclaimed Gaelic songstress Joy Dunlop and her band, and Celtic party-starters Mànran’.

Scotland’s traditional music continues to thrive because our heritage, which draws from rich indigenous languages, is passed on from generation to generation.

You can find the list of nominees and vote for your favourite artists HERE

🗣️ Scottish culture and traditions under threat

Experts are warning that Scotland’s ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’ is under threat. These are aspects of culture which do not exist in physical form, but are passed down through generations, including stories, traditional music, oral history and skills such as peat cutting.

Scotland has an incredibly rich cultural heritage with roots that run deep through our history, our environment, our language, and our stories.

Experts at the University of the West of Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland say that Scotland needs a dedicated framework to ensure folklore, art and traditional skills are not lost through neglect. Unlike in many other countries, no framework exists across the United Kingdom to ensure these traditions are preserved.

Wales

Welsh folk musician reinterprets his homeland’s classic songs

A new album sees Cardiff-based folk musician Gareth Bonello - who performs under the name of The Gentle Good - delving deep into the rich traditions of Welsh music.

Chosen by The Guardian as its folk album of the month for September, Galargan is described as ‘a stripped-back exploration of Welsh folk song performed with solo acoustic guitar, vocal and cello…suffused throughout with a sense of romantic escapism and sadness born from the sorrow of these times.’

The album was recorded in the artist’s Cardiff kitchen and a small cottage in the wilds of Cwm Elan, a river valley in Powys sometimes known as the ‘Welsh Lake District’.

Galargan (“lament” in Welsh) sees him burrow into his national identity and history to excavate songs full of longing…Bonello’s voice is as comforting as warm water and honey throughout, wrapping around lilting syllables and so many mesmerising, slow-moving moments. (The Guardian)

Check out the album here: 'Galargan' on Bandcamp

Cornwall

Historic Tregonning Hill purchased by Cornwall Heritage Trust

A site with an astonishing range of important archaeological remains has been safeguarded for the future. Cornwall Heritage Trust has acquired the 70-acre site in west Cornwall, preserving year-round public access.

The granite hill overlooking Mounts Bay near Helston is a critical part of Cornwall’s heritage. As well as a hilltop fort, the landscape also contains barrows, two prehistoric enclosed hamlets, a well-preserved medieval strip field system; extensive mineral workings and part of a china clay works notable for being the place where William Cookworthy discovered china clay. It is even believed that John Wesley preached at the site.

The site has a multi-period archaeological landscape which includes a wide range of historic monuments.

Read the full story HERE

Isle of Man

Flying the flag for Manx dance ‘down under’

Manx dance heritage was on show in Queensland, Australia last month as part of the celebrations for the installation of the Celtic Nations Standing Stones in Brisbane.

The Manx Dancers of Brisbane performed at the ceremony which was organised by the Celtic Council of Australia. The organisation has a wide repertoire of traditional Manx dances and appears at a variety of Celtic events in Australia.

Photo: Anglo & Celtic Australia

The Standing Stones project was initiated by The Celtic Council of Australia as a national monument to honour all Celtic peoples who helped pioneer Australia. The first place to take up the idea was the town of Glen Innes in New South Wales, with stones dedicated in 1992.

And finally…

🎶 Some music to round things off

US-based singer and musician Olivia Bradley has released her new album, Misty Morning Shore. For Bradley, a member of the Celtic Angels, this is her debut solo album consisting of eight tracks, a mix of Irish songs (one in Irish Gaelic) exploring themes of love, heartbreak, loss, freedom, sacrifice, leaving home to start a new life, and longing for what's left behind.

Olivia’s style is described as:

‘Sung with a powerfully clear, emotional, and lyrical style that magnifies, yet never overpowers the songs she selects.’

We’d definitely second that!

Check out this track for a taste of the album: Sample Track: County Down

Olivia is a vocalist, performer, bodhran player, and open champion level Irish dancer based out of Atlanta, Georgia. Steeped in a background of Irish music and dance, and blessed with perfect pitch, Olivia weaves her classical training and dramatic sensibility from musical theatre together with her Irish and Scottish roots to bring traditional songs, stories, and ballads to life for modern audiences.

You can find the whole album here: Misty Morning Shore on Spotify

Thanks for reading.

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