Celtic Connections: Alasdair Roberts and Muntu Valdo, Tron Theatre, 19th January

Here's a review of a recent Celtic Connections gig written for The Skinny...

Pairing Cameroonian sawa-blues with traditional Scottish folk, Celtic Connections again takes roots music and unearths its global interlinks. Muntu Valdo’s up first, using loop-pedals and a warm personality to fill an otherwise empty stage. On the opener, he conjures a choir from a single larynx; later, an entire band is invoked from one guitar. Both tracks appear on album The One and the Many (“that’s what I’m using” he explains, indicating his crowded pedal board, “my sorcerers and me”), and his expressive vocals ensure that, though the storytelling is lost in translation, our attention is not. “Good encounters bring good stuff,” he smiles after a collaboration with headliner Roberts: a motto for the entire festival.

Alasdair Roberts begins his own set by inviting back his “fairly new friend”, Valdo’s harmonies lifting Babylon’s dark content. A rendition of the macabre Long Lankin ups the body count (infanticide followed by nurse-burning), its sinister lyrics reflected in the band’s woozy recital. Roberts plugs gaps given over to tuning with background notes to certain songs, but there’s less inspiration on display tonight than is found across his recordings. Seems Valdo has no manners – Roberts’ new friend just stole the show out from under him.