Leprechauns, Guinness and Potatoes...

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S WEEK!

It is that time of the year again when Ireland takes over with their national holiday, St Patrick's Day. Not only is it celebrated in Ireland but people all over the world take the chance to wear green, drink Guinness and appreciate the wonderful holiday given to them by the Irish. So here in Glasgow we have St Patrick's Day Festival 2012. This isn't just a regular day festival, no, this lasts a whole seven days! Celebrating St Patrick's Day in Glasgow starts on the 10th March and the excitement and events last all week ending on the 17th March when it's actually St Patrick's Day.

''The Glasgow St. Patrick's festival esteems to promote and celebrate the rich Irish cultural heritage of Glasgow and Scotland'' according to the St Patrick's Day Festival 2012 website. The festival has a mix of events on that anyone who is interested can attend. 

The week started of with a welcome dinner dance where there was a variety of bands playing live Irish music. On Saturday, there was more live music from one of Bob Dylan's supporting acts Michael McGoldrick and also from Emma Sweeney an up and coming fiddler from Glaswegian band Yuptae. And on Monday, you could go along to Merchants Square and try learning and speaking Irish for free!

Today, Wednesday, there is live dancing on in Merchants Square where you will be able to see the Glasgow Set Dancers doing what they do best at 7:30pm. Another free event which is on in the evening is Irish Movie Night in Sloans. Three different Irish films will be shown tonight and  Thursday night where you can learn more about the history of Ireland.

The week continues with more live music and on Friday there will be a competition, Battle of the Bands. The winner will then get the chance to play on Saturday at the Main Stage in Merchant City for all of Glasgow to hear.

And of course on the day itself there will be events and live bands in Merchant city so you can celebrate St Paddy's Day in style with your family and friends. If your old enough (18+) and think that you can drink more Guinness then why not continue the celebrations at the after party and club in Admiral Bar where entry is free!

Have fun celebrating! 

Doctor Come Musical Genius

''Immense vocals, beautifully honest songwritting and rich musicianship'' is the way Emeli Sandé is described on her official website. And to be honest, I couldn't agree more.

Born and raised in the north of Scotland, Aberdeen, Sandé moved to the largest city of sunny Scotland (Glasgow) for university. She has always said that having an education was not only important to her parents, but for herself as well. So after studying medicine for four years in Glasgow, she decided to call it quits taking the biggest risk of her career life. She told the BBC, 

"On the medical school course I had seen people who'd dreamed of being doctors since they were four as I had dreamt of doing music since that age - that was my inspiration."  

So, in 2008 when her sister filmed a video of her singing her favourite song 'Nasty Little Man' and entered it in Trevor Nelson's BBC Urban Music competition and won, Emeli had to decline an offer for a record deal. Through hard work and dedication Emeli managed to write and co-write songs for famous music artists such as Cheryl Cole, Tinie Tempah and Chipmunk. Fact: Emeli actually wrote the song 'Diamond Rings' which Chipmunk released with her featured on it!


So despite only releasing her first solo single in August 2011 called Heaven, Sandé managed to take home her first Award only a few short months later. Yes, that's right, she won the Critic's Choice Award at the Brit Awards in February this year(you can read more about the 2012 Brit Awards on one of my previous posts). Not only that, she has been nominated for other awards too! 


Is this the year that Emeli Sandé takes the world by storm?


Here is her hit single Next to Me. Enjoy!

P.S. Emeli is playing a gig in Glasgow on Tuesday 10th April but tickets are already sold out! So jealous for those of you who managed to get your hands on one.

We Will Rock You!

Ahh...it is that time of year again; shorts, ice cream, sunglasses and most importantly...        FESTIVAL SEASON

Britain is the home to many of the world's music festivals including names like Glastonbury, O2 Wireless and T in The Park. Our (Scotland's) two festivals which we are oh so proud of are T in the Park and RockNess. Both of them take place during the summer with RockNess in June and T in the Park in July. RockNess is relatively small compared to T in the Park with only around 30000 festival-goers attending over the duration of the weekend.

RockNess is a baby compared to T in The Park as it began on 24th June 2006 as a one-day festival with acts like Fatboy Slim taking to the stage. The following year it already increased to a two-day festival with camping and acts such as Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk gracing the stages. 

Now, in 2012, festival-goers can be excited to hear and (if standing close enough!) see Mumford & Sons, Biffy Clyro and Deadmau5. This years lineup has a good mix between indie, rock and dance music where people will hear a variety of styles throughout the full weekend. You can click here to see the full line up. 

RockNess is also unique in terms of what else they offer to the public except from a brilliant weekend filled with top bands. This year RockNess is offering an exclusive transport system from England to the festival site called The RockNess Express! ''It'll be a journey like no other- bands, DJs, entertainment provided by Festivals favourite Bearded Kitten, Scottish food, cocktails, goodie bags and more surprises along the way. This is one ride you do not want to miss!'' according to the RockNess website. The only downside to the RockNess Express is that it doesn't stop anywhere in Scotland! Hopefully next year they will have a solution to that issue. 

Another benefit about RockNess is that they offer lots of early bird tickets and student discounts where you are able to pay for your ticket in three instalments so for those who find it hard to save lots of money at once can still buy a ticket. Also if you live within a certain area around the festival site then you can get your ticket for free! 

Are you now moving house to live next to Nessie?

The Brit Awards

And the Brit Award 2012 for the best host of the Brits is ....James Corden! 

Okay..maybe not quite, but I did enjoy having him present this years Brit Awards as there was never a boring moment and he deserves all the respect for his cheery personality. The way which he handled the situation when a random person in the audience decides to walk in front of the camera twice whilst he is trying to present and also when he has the awkward task of interrupting Adele during her thank you speech for the biggest award of the night, Mr James Corden sure did manage to keep his game.

21 year old Ed Sheeran managed to win not one but two awards for Best Male Artist and Best British Breakthrough Act despite feeling really shy and awkward when making an acceptance speech. Although Sheeran got back into his comfort zone when he took to the stage to perform his hit song Lego House wearing his casual attire. 

Boy band One Direction managed to snatch up the award for Best British single whilst Coldplay won Best British Group. Bruno Mars, Rhianna and Lana Del Ray all managed to win Brit Awards in the International categories.

Another memory from the evening was the emotional speeches given about Whitney Houston and Amy Whinehouse who have both recently passed away (R.I.P). I'm sure everyone in the audience was touched by them and will always remember them for their wonderful artistic values.

Last but not least, old-school boy band Blur took to the stage performing a few of their hit songs such as Girls & Boys, Song 2 and Parklife but not before achieving the Outstanding Contribution to Music award. The camera swiftly focused in on a very happy Alan Carr and Holly Willoughby dancing along to all the tunes after a successful night at the Brit Awards.

Oh the night of the 21st February 2012 sure was eventful!

Scottish and Proud

Bagpipes.

Often when one thinks of Scottish music they associate it with our one, wonderful, 100% pure Scottish instrument: the bagpipes (known as the doedelzak in Dutch). But this is definately not all our wee country has to offer; especially in the past few decades where we have produced some amazing music talent. From Snow Patrol  to The Proclaimers, we have a long list of Scottish-and-Proud bands and singers emerging on to the music scene. One of the more recent artists which we have seen grow into a some-what international superstar is Emeli Sandé (full name Adele Emeli Sandé).   

Snow Patrol aren't actually Scottish (they're Irish) but the band met and started in the Scottish city of Dundee in 1994, so they do have a strong connection with Scotland. Whereas The Proclaimers consist of identical twin brothers from Leith, Scotland. Both of these bands have been seen performing regularly at music festivals over the past few years like T in The Park and V Festival. In fact, The Proclaimers have recently announce that they will be playing a gig in the O2 Academy Glasgow on the 14th November 2012! You can buy your tickets for this gig here. (I can't wait to get mine!)

Other Scottish acts such as KT Tunstall and Paolo Nutini are both singer-songwriters whose music is influenced by more traditional Scottish folk music. Personally, I think they both use their accent to their advantage in their music making it unique compared to other artists. 

Fact: Paolo Nutini was once the supporting act for KT Tunstall before one of her gigs.

Here is one of The Proclaimers most recognized songs which makes us Scots proud.
P.S. The amount of times this song has been played full blast along with my dad and I singing when we are in the car together is countless!