Open Stage Danny Kyle Award
Item Posted: Wednesday 15th March , 2006
DANNY KYLE AWARDS
Many reviews of January’s Celtic Connections devoted more column inches to the festival’s problems than top the music itself. There were cancelled gigs, bands in the brochure which had apparently never been contracted, and teething problems at the newly refurbished City Halls. These combined to stretch the loyalty of concert goers, ammunition for negative press, and a severe headache for the organizers. Hopefully the genuine lessons to learn will be taken on board and the festival will run more smoothly next year. As Sue Wilson wryly and sensibly commented in the Herald:
‘While some in the media have talked up rumblings of discontent into a full-scale backlash, the best outcome would be if this year’s tribulations translated into pressure to put the festival on the kind of financial and infrastructural footing it merits.’ But whatever false starts and problems there were should not be allowed to detract from the enormous good that the festival does. Apart from bringing in vast amounts of money into the Glasgow economy (estimated at over £4 million), at an otherwise lean time of the year, it is specifically mentioned in the USA as one of the factors which have made Glasgow one of the ‘must see’ destinations for American tourists.
From commissioned pieces from well established names like Phil Cunningham, to the New Voices commissions which INSIDE SCOTLAND reviewed some weeks ago there is plenty of new music from established musicians and composers, but giving a performance opportunity to up and coming musicians has always been one of the planks of the festival. This takes place, in the main, as part of the Danny Kyle Open Stage.
Part of an obituary to Danny read: ‘Danny was one of the best known and best loved persons on the Scottish folk music scene. He was involved in virtually every good folk festival in Scotland; people chose their festivals just by his name. His popular Open Stages are legendary. He had a great sense of humour, he knew how to get on with people, he always wore the ugliest ties and a bonnie bonnet. On Sunday, 5th July 1998, Danny Kyle has passed away. He leaves a gap in the Folk Music World that will hardly ever be filled.’ So the open stage at Celtic Connections is a fitting memorial, and his name, music and pranks will live on, even amongst those who never knew, or saw, him.
In 1998 Danny had his first Open Stage on Celtic Connections, and it was a huge success. His good friend Gibb Todd took over the job, continuing to run the shop as Danny would have done ever since, now flying in from his home in Australia for each of the festivals.
Danny's Open Stages had given many performers the first-ever possibility to play in front of an audience, and in front of a microphone. Others profited from the attention of people in the music business in the audience, or just profited from the encouragement Danny gave. These possibilities have been behind the concept of Danny Kyle Open Stages at Celtic Connections ever since.
Danny Kyle's Open Stage is open for new and non-professional performers. Anyone can get up and have a go at 'stardom'. And he may make his fortune with this stage appearance as first year’s finalist Colin Reid showed. Danny and his open stage opened doors for this young guitarist from Belfast - he was requested several times back to play at the Open Stage and also in the Festival Club, and he played a main event of Celtic Connections, this in turn led to the production of his debut album, recorded by Tony McManus. Since then a number of acts have spring boarded from success at the awards to stardom – Malinky (in the original line-up), Dòchas, Croft No5 (then playing as Grampian Young Farmers), Paul Anderson, Brolum and, more recently, Lori Watson 3, are some that spring to mind.
Although Open Stages are by no means exclusive to Celtic Connections, Gibb Todd told me that ‘there is nothing like it in the world. More aspiring professional musicians apply than anywhere else, and there is a unique atmosphere.’ Gibb and Liz Clarke have the joyful, but maybe difficult, task of trawling through cds and tapes sent in by literally hundreds of hopefuls. Of these eighty-five are chosen to play during the festival. Although traditional music is preponderant, all genres are considered. Finalists have included American style indie ballads, country and techno fusion. Sometimes, as with the main acts the Celtic connection is remote if not impossible to discern, but this does not in any way restrain audience enthusiasm, as was clear from the positive reaction last year to a Kurdish trio of asylum seekers from Newroz.
Given that ‘contestants’ are only told whether they have made it through to secure a place on stage, sometimes only days – or even hours- before they are due to play, you would think that the musicians outside the central belt would be almost precluded from the performances. Such is the commitment of these young people that they will come to the festival anyway –and hope for the good news to come though. Last year a group came especially from Italy, not knowing if they had a slot. Luckily they did. Although lack of funding is given as a reason for the very short notice given, it does seem a pity that musicians cannot be given more notice.
Those applying do not get paid, even their expenses. For many the opportunity to play in public, and in front of many festival and venue organisers, is too great to pass up. The trade off, Celtic Connections might argue, is that concerts are free to the public, and over 4500 attend the Open Stage over the period of the Festival. Of course organisations such as RSAMD and Strathclyde provide a lot of the applicants. Indeed they have been described as a ‘conveyor belt’ for the Open Stage, which is not entirely complimentary. But it must be remembered that for many students keen on furthering a career in professional playing, this may be one of the few opportunities they have to play to a large group in public, and applying to the Open Stage could be seen as a logical part of their course work.
The growth in numbers applying, the popularity of courses at RSAMD, the explosion of numbers learning at workshops such as the Scots Music Group in Edinburgh, Glasgow Fiddle Workshop and many school initiatives around Scotland hopefully means that the future of traditional music looks healthy. All those involved should be applauded. At the same time there is some issues: Where are all these performers going to play, and can they make a respectable income out of the enormous amount of pleasure they give the public. Although there has been an increase in the number of venues, from large festivals to community halls, putting on professional concerts, they are sometimes restrained from paying what artists are worth by the audience numbers and/or lack of funding. The number of venues, and the number of paid performances, is certainly not growing in line with the growth in numbers of those wishing to make a living in music. The music ‘scene’ will not be secure for the future while there is any leftover of an attitude which is prevalent in all the arts – that to be truly creative an artist is at their best when ‘starving in a garret.’!
Judges are chosen from various places and each day performers will be assessed by an industry person, as Friend of Celtic Connections and a member of the public. The judges will be marking on stagecraft, presentation, musicality and audience rapport. ‘With so many acts to choose from, with so many styles and instruments involved, isn’t it difficult to be objective when you have judges with such a wide range of tastes?’ I asked Gibb Todd. He replied: ‘You might think so, but we try to use a scoring system which minimizes the problem. At the end of the day the judges are pretty much in accord, and few disagree with the final selection, although the last couple of places can be hard to choose.’
If you play or sing and would like a chance of playing in front of a warm and keen audience of 250 at next year’s Celtic Connections Danny Kyle Open Stage send a brief biography and a cd or tape of your music to:
Gibb Todd and Liz Clark, Danny Kyle Open Stage, c/o Celtic Connections, Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2.
Next week: Profiles of the 2006 Danny Kyle Open Stage winners.