Fairs

The conselleiro of Culture and Tourism, Román Rodríguez, underlined today in Vigo the protagonist role that Galicia will have in the 26th edition of the festival Celtic Connections of Glasgow (Scotland) as the territory invited this year by its program Showcase Scotland. This prestigious musical event, which will take place from January 17 to February 3, is consolidated as one of the most relevant winter season worldwide and the most prominent in the field of Celtic sounds.

On this occasion, the Consellería de Cultura y Turismo organized, through the Axencia Galega das Industrias Culturais (Agadic) and under the brand GalicianTunes On Tour, an institutional, professional and artistic delegation with the aim of supporting the external projection of our music and promoting Galicia as a tourist and cultural destination. It includes eight artistic formations, as well as a dozen companies and tour operators, which will have the opportunity to come into direct contact with promoters and international agents in their respective sectors.

This was detailed by Román Rodríguez in the presentation held today at the Museo del Mar de Galicia, in which Vítor Belho, from Nordesía, in charge of the coordination of this artistic and commercial delegation, Rodrigo Romaní, founder and director of the Sondeseu orchestra, Sabela Maneiro, from Tanxugueiras, and Cesáreo Pardal, president of the Galician Tourism Cluster, who collaborates with the Regional Ministry in the organization of the tourist mission.

The director of Agadic, Jacobo Sutil; the territorial delegate of the Xunta in Vigo, Ignacio López-Chaves; and a representation of the artists who will play in Glasgow also attended the event, for which there was live music from a trio of harp, bouzouki and violin, composed of musicians from Sondeseu.

Galician performances
The Galician folk orchestra Sondeseu will take to the main stage of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall during the opening gala of the Celtic Connections on Thursday 17. As part of the general line-up of the event, Anxo Lorenzo and Mercedes Peón will also play in the Scottish city on the 25th and 26th, respectively.

In addition, Galicia will have a special protagonism as the guest territory of Showcase Scotland, with different performances between January 30 and February 2 by Raíces Aéreas (Mónica de Nut), Tanxugueiras, Xabier Díaz & Adufeiras de Salitre, Anxo Lorenzo, Talabarte and Banda das Crechas. The conselleiro explained that this representation was decided by the festival itself after an open call, while affecting the fact that, in addition to the general public, these concerts will be followed by some 200 accredited international delegates, including sales agents, festival managers, record labels, managers and media from a score of countries.

The Xunta collected this invitation from the festival to offer participating groups new opportunities for internationalization not only of their particular careers, but also of Galician music in general. In order to reinforce their presence in the Celtic Connections line-up, different promotional material was published, including a CD with songs by the aforementioned soloists and bands.

Culture-tourism tandem
Román Rodríguez stressed that this relevant presence of Galician music at the festival also serves as a gateway to project from Glasgow to the entire British and European market the advantages of the tandem culture-tourism in Galician key. To this end, the Cluster Turismo Galicia is collaborating with the celebration on February 1st of a specific event to present Galicia as a tourist destination to companies and tour operators based in Scotland.

This action will include a day of workshop between the representatives of a dozen Galician tourist companies with those of as many Scottish operators, a tasting of Galician products from the culinary elaborations provided by the Centro Superior de Hostelería de Galicia or the dissemination of our cultural heritage, natural and heritage through a stand installed in one of the main venues of the festival. Also on day 1, Celtic Connections will host the ‘Galician festa’ in honour of our artists and professionals.