Celtic Connections reviews: Saltfishforty & Red Tail Ring | RCS Showcase | Tannahill Weavers

Even by the standards of Celtic Connections’ original unique selling-point, as the opposite and antidote to January’s customary gloom – even casting back over all 24 previous festivals – it’s rarely enjoyed a happier opening weekend. Friday and Saturday’s programme totalled 34 concerts, many of them sold out, plus more than a dozen workshops and talks, the National Whisky Festival, and an international conference on “Pedagogies, Practices and the Future of Folk Music in Higher Education”, at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) – home to the UK’s first ever trad-based degree programme, founded over 20 years ago.