King Creosote, Steve Mason, Hannah Peel, Lankum, Chris Difford, Butler Blake and Grant, Mark Radcliffe, and Fatoumata Diawara are among the wide-ranging acts who will perform at the upcoming Celtic Connections festival.

The annual global party is nigh, with an as-ever vibrant programme scheduled to take place in Glasgow between Thursday 18 January to Sunday 4 February 2024.

Venues across the city, such as the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and Barrowland Ballroom, as well as The Pavilion Theatre and Barony Hall, are set to welcome audiences for what will be one of the biggest capacity Celtic Connections to date.

Over the event’s 18 days, 1200 musicians will perform to well over 100,000 attendees at more than 300 shows, with North America, Australia and West Africa as well as around Europe and the UK – a fr cry from the 66 gigs at the first-ever Celtic Connections in 1994.

As ever there’s a slew of indie-oriented acts on the bill, including King Creosote, Steve Mason, Kathryn Joseph, Federation of the Disco Pimp and Col. Mustard and the Dijon, Raveloe, Hannah Peel, Fatouna Diawara, Lankum, Chris Difford, Lavinia Blackwall, Mark Radcliffe, (Bernard) Butler (Norman) Blake and (James) Grant (pictured), Andrew Wasylyk, Fay Fife in her slightly less punk guise as The Countess of Fife, and The Filthy Tongues.

Also, bridging the gap between folk and indie is The John Martyn Project, celebrating the London Scot’s legacy with a special show at the Mackintosh Church.

And among the acts making the Celtic “connection” are Berlin’s Jembaa Groove, whose West African highlife is influenced by Berlin’s hip hop and jazz scene, and An Dannsa Dub, who fuse traditional Scottish folk, dub reggae and dance through a blend of cèilidh and sound system sessions.

Brittany’s Skolvan, veterans of Breton music, will join forces with multi-instrumentalist Irish group Shorelines Trio, and award-winning Kyiv world music quartet DakhaBrakha, make their Celtic Connections debut following a three-year wait created by covid and war.

And Scots Women – Generations o’ Change will honour the original singers of the first Scots Women event in 2001, as well as welcoming a new wave of Scottish female folk singers, the revived show overseen by Musical Director Iona Fyfe and hosted by Scots poet Len Pennie.

Celtic Connections 2024 will take place from Thursday 18th January to Sunday 4th February. Full programme and tickets purchasing at www.celticconnections.com.