January-February 2008
This year I’m looking forward to something new… I’ll be a participant in one of the concerts in my role as member of the Aberfeldy and District Gaelic Choir. We’ll be singing along with the Gaelic singer Margaret Bennett in a concert that will include, among others, Karine Polwart and the Balkan choir Angelite, who are much like LA’s own Nevenka.
Celtic Connections starts on January 16 and runs through February 3. By the time you’re reading this many of the big-name concerts will be sold out, but it’s quite possible that there will still be good tickets available for a number of different events. Airfares are low in January, so if you’re feeling impulsive, a spur-of-the-moment trip is not entirely out of the question.
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Lost in Translation… The Czech communist government was so zealous in its censorship that it forbade singer Karel Gott using this lyric: “I may as well flip a coin when I ask if you’re sincere when you say you love me.” Why? Because they said it was an insult to the value of the Czech currency!
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Congolese musician Fidele Babindamana played under a stage nickname, in his case “Fidele Zizi.